The Origin, Development and Decline of Lengyel Culture Figurative Finds

2.1 The Spectrum of Lengyel Culture Figurative Finds

Figurative finds are abundant in the Lengyel culture – for this article, almost two thousand objects were collected (cf. Figure 3). Most of them can be classified as anthropomorphic figurines – free-standing or, rarely, sitting statuettes (cf. for this and the following Fiutak, 2021). They appear in great variety; however, two different types can roughly be discerned: The first type constitutes the overwhelming majority of all figurative finds. Figurines of this type have a head which can be rounded or shaped like a truncated cone, a slender upper body, accentuated hips and buttocks and legs which are sometimes pierced horizontally from the front to the back (Figure 4(1)). Arms can be stretched out sideways, reach upwards or downwards or up and to the front. The position of the arms can be chronologically relevant (Podborský, 1985, pp. 94–104). While most of these figurines are standing, some of them are also sitting. Decoration is incised or painted in red, yellow or black. Motifs comprise hair, necklaces, belts and apron-, skirt- or loincloth-like decoration. Breasts and, rarely, incised pubic triangles mark most of the figurines as female. Their size is, on average, ca. 15–25 cm, with some single examples reaching ca. 50 cm (Čižmář, 2008). The second type is characterized by a columnar body with much reduced arms, hips and legs (Figure 4(2)). Figurines of this type are rare but can be found in all regions of the Lengyel culture; decoration is not common.

Figure 3

Absolute numbers of figurative finds of the Lengyel culture used in this article.

Figure 4

Figurative finds of the Lengyel culture. 1 Anthropomorphic figurine, Falkenstein-“Schanzboden,” Austria. 2 Anthropomorphic figurine, Sé, Hungary. 3 Anthropomorphic vessel, Svodín, Slovakia. 4–5 Painted anthropomorphic representations, Aszód, Hungary. 6 Zoomorphic vessel, Breiteneich, Austria. 7 Zoomorphic application, Straß im Straßertal, Austria. 8 Zoomorphic application, Großburgstall, Austria. 9 Zoomorphic application, Eggendorf am Walde, Austria. 10 Zoomorphic figurine, Kühnring, Austria. Various scales (after Fiutak, 2021, pl. 1,0350 and pl. 4,0837; Ruttkay, 2002, 261 Figure 6; Kalicz, 2008, 32 Figure 15(1.3); Berg & Maurer, 1998, 117 Figures 123–124, 118 Figures 130 and 119 Figures 134.137).

One other feature has to be highlighted: Lengyel figurines were made from single body parts (head/neck – upper body – right buttock and leg – left buttock and leg) which were then assembled by pressing them together and smoothing over the lines; sometimes, larger figurines consisted of several layers built on top of each other, which could even consist of different clay types (cf. Kaňáková et al., 2020, with a study on figurines employing various scientific methods; Kaňáková & Nosek, 2025). This curious manufacturing technique is difficult to explain. Maybe, in that way, several people could be involved in the making of one figurine, an argument that is supported by the fact that details in the manufacturing process are quite varied (Kaňáková et al., 2020, p. 19). Certainly, the technology was not chosen to prevent figurines from breaking easily resp. to make them extra durable, because quite the opposite happened: sometimes already during drying, but certainly at a later point in its use life, the inbuilt fault lines would facilitate the breaking of the figurine in a way that was reproducible for every single piece. Indeed, most figurines are broken, and there are hundreds of similar fragments due to the standardized procedure of making them. This is an argument for the hypothesis that the destruction of a figurine was part of its use life and one, maybe its only, purpose (Chapman & Gaydarska, 2007). It is certain that this breaking was part of a repeated behavior Lengyel figurines were involved in: a formal act of high symbolic significance enacted again and again, following precise rules. Many other aspects of this ritual remain, however, in the dark. These concern, for example, the time or occasion it took place and the participants and actors.

A problem with the reconstruction of the use of Lengyel figurative finds is their find context. They are almost exclusively found in secondary positions from which the time and place of their use cannot be reconstructed. At least a part of them were found in structures belonging to circular enclosures, for example at Těšetice-Kyjovice, Vedrovice, Svodín, Běhařovice and Hluboké Mašuvky in Moravia, Ölkam, Friebritz, Strögen, Falkenstein or Kamegg in Lower Austria and Sormás-Török-földek in Transdanubia (Fiutak, 2021); others originate from pits located around circular enclosures or come from settlements which also featured rondels, but there are also fragments coming from settlements without rondels. There is no way of knowing where actions involving the handling and destruction of figurines took place, and furthermore, it is still unknown what happened to missing figurine fragments.

In comparison to the former LBK (cf. below), the numbers of Lengyel figurines are much higher. This can mean that either the frequency in the use of figurines had increased or that a larger number of people participated in their making and breaking (Bristow et al., 2025).

Other figurative finds are much rarer. Anthropomorphic figurines applied to lids, functioning as handles, can be found very sparsely (ca. 17 finds; Fiutak, 2021, p. 132). Their lower bodies merge with the lid; their upper bodies, including heads and arms, are similar to those of free-standing figurines. Anthropomorphic vessels are mostly known from fragments, although some pieces can be reconstructed (Figure 4(3); Ruttkay, 2002). The vessel body mimics the human body, and arms bent upwards are attached to the sides, a position that can also be found in figurines. As for anthropomorphic vessels from the Neolithic in general, their exact purpose is unclear (Schwarzberg & Becker, 2017).

Exclusively at Aszód, Transdanubia, painted anthropomorphic representations on vessels occur (Figure 4(4–5)). These are similar to incised and applied representations from the preceding Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik, LBK; Becker, 2011, pp. 138–142; Zalai-Gaál, 2000), dating from 5500 to 4900 calBC, and the Starčevo culture ca. 6100–5400 calBC (Becker, 2011, pp. 181–184). They can be found on the inside of bowls and are characterized by raised arms and spread legs; it is likely that this type of decoration is inspired by similar finds from the Tisza culture of eastern Hungary, dating to ca. 5000–4450 calBC (Kalicz, 2008, pp. 34–36).

Zoomorphic finds occur as figurines, vessels and applications (cf., e.g., Berg & Maurer, 1998, pp. 58–60 and 117–119; Doneus & Rammer, 2017, pp. 328–329; Kalicz, 1998, pp. 73, 107–108 and 132–135; Podborský, 1985, tab. 124–150). While figurines are free-standing (Figure 4(10)), applications are usually figurines which were attached to vessels and served as handles; sometimes, applications were molded to vessel walls (Figure 4(7–9)). It can be difficult to discern between a figurine and an application if the piece in question is fragmented. Zoomorphic vessels are very rare and comprise a vessel body with attached animal body parts such as the head, the feet and the tail (Figure 4(6)). All of these have in common that the depicted species is very difficult to determine. Ears and horns are hard to distinguish, and the highly stylized heads do not offer much help either. It seems that cattle, sheep/goat and dogs are depicted, with dogs especially common as lid handles; it is tempting to interpret them as guardians of the vessel contents, since one of the uses of dogs in prehistoric times was certainly to guard property, people and other animals; this role may have had a certain symbolical significance (cf. Petrasch, 2004, p. 305; Zalai-Gáal et al., 2011).

When viewed closely, local differences can be discerned with respect to figurine distribution, shapes and decorative styles. Moravia and Lower Austria are closely linked stylistically, displaying strong similarities in shapes and decorations, and with a high density of finds; on the other hand, figurines from Transdanubia and Slovakia are more varied in shape and decoration and occur generally more sparsely, with the exception of some few sites such as Sé and Szombathely-Oladi plató, where large numbers of figurines were found (78 resp. 89; Fiutak, 2021, p. 134). Although all figurative finds of the Lengyel culture are included in this article, a focus will be on anthropomorphic figurines, since they constitute the largest part of such finds (cf. Figure 3).

Lengyel figurines did not appear out of nowhere – figurative finds had a long tradition in this part of southeastern Central Europe. The regions between the Danube bend, the area south of Lake Balaton and the Austrian Waldviertel had been a hub and a junction of southeastern and western cultural influences from the Early Neolithic onwards. The formation of the Lengyel culture and its figurative finds illustrates precisely that and is evidence for an amalgam of local and more southern and southeastern cultural influences. In the following, light will be shed on the figurative finds of the LBK, which directly preceded the Lengyel culture; the Sopot culture of southeastern Europe, which is thought to have had an influence on the formation of then Lengyel culture; and the Vinča culture as a southeastern neighbor of Lengyel. Finally, the Starčevo culture will also be considered as the first Neolithic cultural phenomenon in this region. The Stroked Pottery Culture, on the other hand, will not be reviewed. Figurative finds are very rare in this cultural phenomenon in comparison to both the LBK and the Lengyel cultures and display influences from Lengyel rather than the other way around (Bristow, in review). It is, however, quite interesting that a region with a high number of figurative finds during the Lengyel period, Moravia, featured only so few finds right before. This could point to influences from the southeastern areas of the Lengyel culture into Moravia, as far as figuration is concerned – areas in which a proto-Lengyel phase is present.

2.2 Possible Origins: LBK (5500–4900 calBC)

In terms of cultural history, the Lengyel culture follows the latest developments of the LBK, which date to around 4900 calBC. After 4900 calBC, the formative phase of the Lengyel culture emerged, probably first in Transdanubia, but with early developments also in Slovakia and Lower Austria.

The LBK features figurative finds such as anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels and applications, very much like the Lengyel culture (Becker, 2007, 2011). Another similarity is the fact that in both cultural phenomena, two different body types can be observed. Like in the Lengyel culture, the LBK has figurines with a columnar, monolithic body (Figure 5(6–8)) and others with a more realistically shaped form (Figure 5(1–5)). Other features such as shapes and decorations are, however, very different. LBK figurines are slender, without a pronounced chest or hip region (Figure 5(1.4.5)). Although some of them have female traits like breasts (Figure 5(3.5.6)) or an incised pubic triangle (Figure 5(5)), two thirds of them have no marked sex, at least as far as we can determine it. In that way, they seem much less gendered than the Lengyel figurines, which, in their overwhelming majority, are female.

Figure 5

LBK figurines. 1 Nerkewitz, Germany. 2 Maiersch, Austria. 3 Eilsleben, Germany. 4 Nové Vozokany, Slovakia. 5 Petrivente, Hungary. 6 Bad Nauheim-Nieder-Mörlen, Germany. 7 Quedlinburg, Germany. 8 Windecken, Germany. Various scales (after Becker, 2011, 687 pl. 3,1–3, 698 pl. 14,1, 699 pl. 15,1, 705 pl. 21,1.2 and 720 pl. 36,2).

Both LBK and Lengyel figurines are decorated, although painted decoration cannot be found in the LBK. Rather, LBK figurines are decorated with incised lines. Some motifs they feature can be interpreted as items of clothing or jewelry (Figure 5(3.4.6)), similarly to Lengyel figurine decoration (Figure 4(1.2)), but other motifs resemble bones like the spine, the ribs or the femur (Figure 5(1.2)) or tendons.

In comparison, Lengyel figurines have slender upper bodies and accentuated hips and buttocks. Their curious manufacturing technique from single parts cannot be observed in LBK figurines, although these, too, were also almost invariably broken.

2.3 Possible Origins: Vinča Culture (5300–4300 calBC)

Southeastern influences manifest themselves already in the later phases of the Transdanubian LBK. It is especially the Vinča culture (5300–4300 calBC) that played a major role in this respect. Sometimes, LBK and Vinča vessels and figurines and decoration motives occur at the same site, pointing to close contacts (Jakucs, 2020). The Vinča culture of southeastern Europe with its large numbers of figurative finds, tell settlements and a thriving material culture may have been fascinating especially for the people of the neighboring LBK settlements of Transdanubia.

The Vinča culture is extremely rich in figurative finds; on the tell of Vinča-Belo Brdo alone, next to two thousand such objects have been found (Vasić, 1936). Vinča figurines developed out of Starčevo figurines; in fact, the lowest layers at the eponymous tell site of Vinča-Belo Brdo date to the Starčevo culture (6100–5400 calBC). Early Vinča figurines are depicted as standing, rarely sitting, and sometimes have slightly accentuated hips or buttocks which are, however, significantly smaller than during the Starčevo culture (cf. for this and the following: Tasić, 2008). While in the beginning their legs are modelled separately, they merge in the course of time into one solid base (Figure 6(2.3.5.7–9)). A new trait is the depiction of the face as triangular and sometimes seemingly detached from the rest of the head, possibly to indicate the wearing of a mask (Figure 6(1.3.6)). In the course of time, the triangular shape becomes more pentagonal (Figure 6(2.4)). Usually, only eyes and nose are outlined on the face, the mouth is absent. Arms are stretched out sideways or set on the hips; very rarely, figurines carry infants. Decoration is, in the beginning, rare, but becomes more frequent in later phases. It consists of incised lines filled with whitish or yellow paste and red and black paint, depicting items of jewelry, clothing like aprons or skirts and jackets, necklaces and bracelets, hair and headgear (Figure 6(4.5.7–9)). Some parts of the figurine can be pierced, such as the sides or the top of the head/mask, the shoulders, arms and hips, maybe to insert further decoration.

Figure 6

Vinča figurines (1–9) and Lengyel figurines (10–12) for comparison. 1 Vinča-Belo Brdo. 2.5 Museum of Požarevac. 3 Supska. 4 Staro Selo-Selevac. 6 Žarkovo. 7 Grabovac. 8 Banjica. 9 Popović. 10 Unterpullendorf. 11 Těšetice-Kyjovice. 12 Sé. Various scales (after Becker, 2011, 869 pl. 183,2.4, Srejović, 1988, 92, 122–123 and Becker et al., 2024, 135 Figure 9(6–12)).

Besides anthropomorphic figurines, the Vinča culture also features anthropomorphic applications and vessels, especially lids with eyes and horn-like protrusions, giving the pieces an owl-like appearance (Spasić, 2015; Tasić, 2008). Zoomorphic figurines and vessels can also be found, depicting species like sheep, goats, pigs, birds and frogs/toads.

Without a doubt, the Vinča culture played a big role in the formation of Lengyel culture figurative finds. Both cultural phenomena abound with such objects and have similar types. Anthropomorphic figurines share common traits such as accentuated hips and buttocks and decoration elements like necklaces and especially skirts or aprons (Figure 6(5.8.9.12); compare also Figure 4(1.2)). Hairstyles seem similar sometimes as well (Figure 6(4.10)). There are, however, also differences: Lengyel figurines are much more standardized than their Vinča counterparts. They do not appear to wear masks, and their bodies are slenderer. Their legs are modelled separately, and it is only in the rarely occurring columnar figurines that the legs are molded together to form a base, like the Vinča figurines have. The unique technique of constructing figurines from single body parts, which is prominent in the Lengyel culture, has no equivalent in Vinča.

2.4 Possible Origins: Sopot Culture (5100–4400 calBC)

Another cultural phenomenon which becomes important at the turn from the LBK to the Lengyel culture is the Sopot culture (Burić, 2015; Kramberger, 2015; Oross et al., 2016; Regenye, 2002). It can be found in an area from Slovenia and western Hungary to the Danube in a west-east direction, and from the Danube bend in the north to the Sava River in the south. Its origins are unclear; both the Starčevo culture and considerable Vinča influence may have played a role in it. The absolute chronology of the Sopot culture is still under discussion, and new radiocarbon dates with secure find contexts are largely amiss. It seems there are great regional differences in the development of this cultural phenomenon (Botić, 2023).

Sopot culture sites in Hungary have been known for almost 100 years, with the finds from graves at Bicske-Galagonyás unearthed in the 1930s (Petres, 1959) as the earliest evidence, although their cultural attribution was not recognized at the time. Further research yielded Sopot culture remains at Hidas, Izmény, Becsehely, Keszthely-Csórégödör, Szentendre, Kaposvár-Gyertyányos, Segesd, Veszprém, Ajka and Nemesvámos-Baláca (Barna, 2017, pp. 33–34).

Recent large-scale excavations, for example at the sites of Becsehély, Alsónyék, Sormás-Mántai-dűlő and Sormás-Török-földek in Transdanubia, have contributed to a better understanding of the role the Sopot culture played in the formative phase of the Lengyel culture (Barna, 2017; Osztás et al., 2016; Pavúk, 2003a). At these sites, a transition from LBK to Sopot to early Lengyel can be observed, indicating the importance of the Sopot culture as a motor for the transition. This is true, for example, for pottery development; however, the question still remains open whether the origin of circular enclosures (rondels), which are a very common phenomenon in the early Lengyel culture, also lies in the Sopot culture (Barna, 2017, pp. 90–92; Literski & Nebelsick, 2012, p. 438). Although their exact purpose is still debated, they are likely linked to communal and possibly ritual activities (Pavlů & Zápotocká, 2013; Schier, 2023). While rondels do occur in the Sopot culture, this is also true for other cultural phenomena like the Stroked Pottery Culture (Řídký et al., 2019), and multi-ditched enclosures already occurred during the LBK (Meyer & Raetzel-Fabian, 2006).

Sopot culture figurines are rare and have not been discussed in detail yet, although more extensive studies are in preparation (Burić, 2022, p. 453). For now, they seem to be rooted in earlier Starčevo culture figurines but display strong similarities to Vinča culture finds. These similarities appear, for example, in the modelling of the body, triangular faces (Figure 7(1)) and some elements of decoration, like single, double or multiple v-shaped incised lines around the neck (Figure 7(2)).

Figure 7

Sopot culture figurines (1–95) and Lengyel figurines (6–8) for comparison. 1–3 Petrijevci, Croatia. 4 Čepin-Ovčara, Croatia. 5 Vinkovci-Ervenica, Croatia. 6 Brno-Žebětin, Czech Republic. 7,8 Těšetice-Kyjovice, Czech Republic. Various scales (after Burić, 2022, 450 tab. 1,1–2 and 451 tab. 2,1; Balen & Čataj, 2014, 71; Fiutak, 2021, pl. 31,0344, pl. 33,1372 and pl. 46,1695).

Some of these shapes and decorations may have had an influence on the formation of Lengyel figurines. This is true, for example, for some kinds of decoration, such as rows of diagonal incised lines on the back and shoulders, which can be rendered incised or as applied clay bands in Lengyel (Figure 7(6–8)).

2.5 A Look Back? Starčevo Figurines (6100–5400 calBC)

Even though many details of Lengyel figurines seem to derive from Sopot or Vinča figurines, some features remain that are, at a first glance, unique. Those are, for example: a slender neck on many figurines; accentuated hips and buttocks; and a manufacturing technique that uses single body parts which were joined, but not connected tightly, making the breaking of a figurine easy and predictable and leading to similar fragments. None of these features can be found in the preceding LBK either.

This leaves two options: Either these traits are completely new inventions, or they are memories of something older than the LBK, possibly from the Starčevo–Körös–Criş cultural phenomenon of the southeastern European Early Neolithic (6100–5400 calBC). A look at Starčevo figurines reveals that the latter might be true (Becker, 2011, pp. 157–258; Becker et al., 2024, pp. 136–137). Starčevo figurines also have an elongated neck (Figure 8(7.10); cf. Figure 4(1)) and wide and broad hips (Figure 8(6.11–14); cf. Figure 4(1)), overall, even more exaggerated than Lengyel figurines. What is more, Starčevo figurines were also made from single body parts which were either just joined and the surface smoothed over or assembled with the help of small wooden pegs which held the body parts together (cf. Figure 8(12)). When these figurines were burnt, the pegs would also burn, leaving the figurine in an unstable condition and making it easy to break. This odd manufacturing technique led, in both cultural phenomena, to very standardized breakage patterns and hundreds of similar fragments of heads, upper bodies, left and right buttocks (Becker, 2011, pp. 173–176; Fiutak, 2021, pp. 137–140).

Figure 8

Starčevo figurines. 1.9 Starčevo. 2 Vinkovci. 3 Zlatara. 4–7.10–14 Donja Branjevina. 8 Divostin. Various scales (after Garašanin, 1979, pl. 25,3 and pl. 41,6; Leković, 1985, 167 fig. 3; Karmanski, 2005, 88 pl. 6,3, 95 pl. 13,2, 89 pl. 7,1, 90 pl. 8,3, 86 pl. 4,3, 85 pl. 3,2.5.6; Becker, 2011, 806 pl. 121,1 and 810 pl. 125,1.3).

Another parallel may be found in the depiction of hair. In the Starčevo culture, long hair (left open, braided or wavy; Figure 8(6–10)) was depicted by incising short lines on the top and the back of the head and the neck. Similarly, Lengyel figurines often show hair on the head and neck.

In general, the two types of anthropomorphic figurines occur both in the Starčevo and in the Lengyel culture, with a more stylized, columnar body type on the one hand (Figure 8(1–5)) and a more realistic one on the other (Figure 8(6–14)).

In summary, Lengyel culture figurative finds present a fusion of traits of different cultural phenomena, as well as some unique features (Figure 9). Those can best be outlined with the example of anthropomorphic figurines.

Figure 9

Schematic overview of possible influences on Lengyel figurines from other cultural phenomena.

Like in the LBK and the Starčevo culture, two different body shapes occur regarding anthropomorphic figurines: one with a body like a column, and the other with a more realistically shaped body with arms and legs. In contrast to both, however, Lengyel culture figurines with the more realistic body are slender and have accentuated hips and buttocks; LBK figurines are more rigid and less curvy, while Starčevo figurines have buttocks that are even more exaggerated. Otherwise, it seems that the LBK is the culture that least contributed to Lengyel figurative finds – an interesting observation that will be further explored when dealing with the rise of the Lengyel culture (cf. below).

The Starčevo culture figurines have an almost identical breakage pattern as the Lengyel figurines due to a similar manufacturing technique that involves the making of single body parts which were molded together. This interesting feature cannot be found in the LBK but is typical for early Neolithic figurines of southeastern Europe in general. A liking for the depiction of long hair (straight, braided or wavy) can also be found both in the Lengyel and the Starčevo cultures.

The Sopot culture contributed with some distinctive decoration motifs such as diagonal incised lines or applied clay bands on the back and shoulders. Unfortunately, the corpus of Sopot culture figurative finds is still very small and not well researched, so that it is unclear whether there are other shared traits.

Close affinities existed with the Vinča culture, as can be seen by the occurrence of large numbers of figurative finds, which surpasses other contemporaneous cultural phenomena. Furthermore, features like accentuated buttocks and hips can be found in both cultures, and many decoration motifs, especially skirts/aprons, were incorporated in Lengyel culture figurines, possibly also depictions of bracelets or necklaces. Separately modelled legs can be found in Lengyel, not so much in Vinča, but the molded bases of Vinča figurines find a parallel in the columnar figurines of the Lengyel culture. Thus, the Lengyel culture exhibits an amalgamation of various older and contemporary cultural phenomena and merges them to create a unique corpus of figurative finds.

Further similarities and differences could probably also be outlined with respect to anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels, applications and other figurative representations. However, this would go beyond the scope of this article.

3.1 Overview

A basic overview of the find material (Figure 10) shows a very large number of anthropomorphic representations (ca. 1463), with zoomorphic figurines (ca. 180), vessels (ca. 36) and applications (ca. 120) being much rarer.

Figure 10

Overview of the numbers of figurative finds in the Lengyel culture. Note that uncertain finds (figurine or application / anthropo- or zoomorphic vessel) are not shown.

3.2 Chronological and Geographical Distribution

While the figurative objects which were collected all date to the Lengyel cultural complex, a more precise chronological positioning is often not possible, for many objects are stray finds and lack diagnostic chronological features. Thus, only 318 objects remain which could be dated more closely to a chronological phase.

A closer look at those Lengyel culture figurative finds shows some interesting patterns. The most striking one is that they are not spread evenly chronologically (Figures 10 and 11). Most figurative finds date to the early phase of the Lengyel culture, around 4700–4500 calBC. After 4500 calBC, their numbers declined drastically, and in the late developments of the culture, they almost ceased to be used. A small increase becomes visible during the Epilengyel. This is most evident for anthropomorphic figurines but also shows in other anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurative representations such as vessels and applications.

Figure 11

Distribution of figurative finds dateable to the early (top, 4700–4500 calBC) and late (bottom, 4500–4100 calBC) Lengyel phases.

The attribution of figurative finds to chronological phases, as shown in Figure 12 must be read carefully, though. This is because a) the overall majority of finds had to be left out because it could not be dated precisely, and b) the length of the phases differs significantly. Note that the early Lengyel subphases last about a 100 years each, but the subphase with the fewest figurative finds, the latest Lengyel development, lasts roughly 275 years.

Figure 12

Comparison of the numbers of figurative finds in early and late Lengyel.

To include figurative finds with vaguer dates and to display the actual time span of the Lengyel culture without the distortion caused by the varying time spans of the archaeological phases, I employ the aoristic method, which was originally used in criminalistics, but is also a valuable tool in geography and archaeology (Mischka, 2004; Ratcliffe & McCullagh, 1998; Ratcliffe, 2000). It spreads the number of finds between 4700 and 4000 calBC into segments of 25 years in order to model how many figurative finds could have been in use per generation. The finds were grouped into four classes A–D, A meaning they could be dated to one subphase precisely (e.g. MOG Ia, ca. 100 years), B that they could be dated to one phase within the Lengyel culture (e.g. MOG I, ca. 200 years), C that they spanned three subphases (e.g. MOG I–IIa, ca. 350 years) or D with finds just belonging to the Lengyel culture in general. All finds were divided evenly into 25–year slots, from 4,700 to 4,025. The more exact the dating of a find was, the less it had to be divided. For example, a figurine dating precisely to the early Lengyel I phase (4700–4600 calBC) would have to be divided into only four parts of 0.25 each for every 25-year subperiod, whereas a figurine with a less precise date, for example the late Lengyel phase (4500–4100 calBC), would have to be divided into 17 parts of 0.06 for the 17 25-year subperiods of late Lengyel.

In this way, all figurative finds of the Lengyel culture could be used. The archaeological subdivisions of the Lengyel culture were put back in favor of a defined timespan as an independent size class.

Figure 13, created with the help of the aoristic method, displays 25-year intervals on the x axis and numbers of figurative representations on the y axis. The darker the shading of the bars, the more precise the date.

Figure 13

Lengyel culture figurative finds distributed over the whole timespan of the Lengyel culture using the aoristic method.

The figure shows more clearly the imbalance of numbers of figurative finds in relation to time. While the chances of experiencing a ritual involving a figurine were quite high in the early years of the Lengyel culture, the drastic decline of figuration after 4500 calBC and even stronger after 4375 calBC shows profound changes in rituals and worldviews. The chance of participating in such a ritual after 4350 calBC would have been almost zero. It is only with the Epilengyel period that figurative finds experience a slight increase again.

5.1 Explaining the Rise

It is quite striking that the Lengyel culture starts out with a huge number of figurative finds, for other post-LBK cultural phenomena further to the west such as the Stroked Pottery Culture (Stichbandkeramik/SBK) and Hinkelstein-Großgartach-Rössen have almost no figurative finds. We witness therefore a cultural divide after the end of the LBK: in large parts of western and Central Europe, the use of figurines and other figurative finds ceased (Bristow, 2025), whereas more to the east, the opposite is true, and figurative finds appear in higher numbers than ever before (Bristow et al., 2025). Reasons for this have recently been discussed (Becker et al., 2024) and will be briefly summarized in the following.

The transition from the late LBK to the post-LBK phenomena did not go smoothly altogether. Although the extent of disruptive episodes is unclear, there is a lot of evidence of stressful and uneasy times in the late LBK. In the area later occupied by the Lengyel culture, sites of mass graves and violent conflict situations (e.g. Esztergályhorváti, Hungary; Vráble, Slovakia; and Asparn-Schletz, Austria: Barna, 2017, pp. 118–131; Müller-Scheeßel et al., 2021; Teschler-Nicola et al., 2006; Windl, 2009), a steep decline in livestock numbers coinciding with a heavy focus on hunting (Pucher, 2017; Schmitzberger, 2009, pp. 26–29; Smrčka, 2021; Smrčka et al., 2021, p. 84), and a thinning of settlement activity in some places (Regenye, 2010, p. 88; Tóth et al., 2011) along with changing flint trading networks (Mateiciucová, 2017, p. 387), point to troublesome times between 5100 and 4800 calBC.

It is likely that such societal and economic changes left post-LBK communities in distress and unease. To cope and to build new social cohesion, communal activities in specific settings needed to be established. This is possibly an explanation both for the high numbers of figurines in the Lengyel culture and the parallel building of circular enclosures. These largely standardized monuments, consisting of ditches and palisades forming a round ground plan with various entrances, coincide with the making and use of figurines: they were built and used only for a short period of time, possibly no longer than 100–150 years (Petrasch, 2024, p. 397). In the course of their history of research, their interpretation has covered anything from fortifications to meeting sites or places of astronomical observation, or a combination of these. Recently, they have been compared to similar sites during the LBK, whose construction can be associated with a population decrease and the wish to face this threat and strengthen the community by building communal monuments (Petrasch, 2024, pp. 407–408).

The collective work of building a circular enclosure would have brought people from several villages together and united them in a joint project after a time of crisis. The traits pointing to fortification purposes like the steep ditches and the palisades may have been viewed as a symbolic defense against difficult and threatening circumstances.

Lengyel figurines, which can be found in enclosures and nearby settlements (Kaňáková & Nosek, 2025, pp. 19–20), can be seen in a similar light. They are highly uniform in shape and decoration, and they occur in great quantities. This contrasts with figurine use during the LBK, where such finds were so rare that rituals involving them could only have been performed by a single person or a very small, maybe specially selected group of people (Becker et al., 2024, pp. 122–123). Figurines during the early Lengyel period may therefore have been used, just like enclosures, to stabilize communities and cope with hardships endured at the end of the LBK. Repeated rituals involving them always resulted in the same outcome due to their highly standardized manufacturing, which can again be seen as a wish to re-establish control and to harmonize relationships. Maybe, the production from single body parts can be seen in the same vein, as several people could participate in the making of a figurine (Becker et al., 2024, pp. 122–123), meaning that, for example, two or more individuals could work together in making one figurine.

It is noteworthy that Lengyel figurines do not have much in common with their immediate LBK predecessors. This is true for shapes, decoration motifs and manufacturing techniques. Only some basic features with a long and old tradition remain, such as the existence of two body types and the part of the ritual that involved the destruction of the figurine. This distancing and turning to more southeastern European traditions may have been deliberate. If indeed the end of the LBK was caused by a breakdown of societal and ritual structures, a purposeful break with the worldviews of the LKB may have been viewed as necessary to fend off further harm and turn over a new leaf.

5.2 Explaining the Decline

A sharp fall in the number of figurative finds becomes evident already after only about 200 years into the Lengyel cultural phenomenon, and they disappear almost completely around 4300 calBC. Other aspects of the material culture are also subject to change: while pottery shapes changed only slightly at the turn of the middle of the fifth millennium calBC, the use of paint rapidly declined. Yellow, which was much used during the early Lengyel culture, became very rare, and red and white were also not used as often (Doneus & Rammer, 2017, pp. 344–347; Regenye, 2010, pp. 560–561). This culminated in an almost complete abandonment in the use of paint in the latest Lengyel phase (Lengyel IIb) and continued into the Epilengyel phase. Instead, plastic decoration became more frequent.

A drastic change, most likely related to ritual and communal activities, is also visible in the abandonment of circular enclosures. These impressive structures ceased to be built and used after the early Lengyel phase and thus mark a profound change. Their decline coincides with the disappearance of figurines, underlining the connection between them.

Since cemeteries are absent in the western regions of the Lengyel culture, no changes can be observed here. Still, larger burial grounds are known from Transdanubia. Their earliest graves date to the formative phase of the Lengyel culture and end quite abruptly around 4400/4300 calBC. The find spectrum in the Lengyel burials is varied and includes pottery vessels, grinding stones, jewelry made from bone, stone, shells and teeth; furthermore, bone and antler tools occur (Zalai-Gaál, 2002). Rarely, dogs were buried along with humans in the graves; they appear mostly in burials of men with especially rich grave-goods (Zalai-Gaál, 1994; Zalai-Gáal et al., 2011). As representatives made from a new raw material, small copper objects start to appear in rich graves at the end of the early and the beginning of the late Lengyel phases (Horváth & Simon, 2003, p. 73) – from around 4600/4500 calBC onwards; heavier objects such as hammer axes appear in the latest aspects of the Lengyel culture, from ca. 4300 calBC onwards.

Some trends in burial customs are noteworthy. For example, a very small group of people – mostly men – were buried with large stone shaft-hole axes, large amounts of jewelry and pottery in the phase right before the end of burials altogether in the Lengyel culture (phase IIa), while the vast majority of people was buried with smaller stone tools, pottery and less jewelry (Zalai-Gaál, 2002, p. 288). Furthermore, some grave goods associated with specific significance like pig mandibles and boar tusks, but also the custom of removing the skull of the deceased, which were very common at the beginning of the Lengyel culture, dropped rapidly towards its end (Zalai-Gaál, 2002, p. 286). It seems as if traditional worldviews were slowly abandoned as inequality rose (Osztás et al., 2012, pp. 390–392; 2016; Radivojević & Roberts, 2021, pp. 224–225). In the end, inhumation burials ceased completely.

Tracking settlement changes over the course of the Lengyel culture is again difficult, since regional differences have to be taken into consideration. For example, the Morava River Basin and the area around Brno are densely settled in the early Lengyel phase; in the late Lengyel phase, central Moravia and the area east of the Morava River now show higher settlement clusters. A decline in settlement activity is visible during the Epilengyel phase (Trampota & Pajdla, 2022, pp. 202–203), from 4200 calBC onwards. The ongoing evaluation of the Lengyel settlements and burial grounds at Alsonyék may shed new light on the parallel development of houses and burials and the relationships between them (Osztás et al., 2016).

To sum up, between 4500 and 4300 calBC, figurative finds and circular enclosures cease to be in use in the Lengyel culture. Pottery decoration shifts from paint to plastic elements. While settlement patterns do not seem to change much, burials start to exhibit signs of evolving hierarchical structures, before inhumation burials no longer occur after 4300 calBC.

The question now remains as to how these shifts in the Lengyel culture fit into societal developments in the neighboring regions of southeastern Europe.

When we look at the larger picture, the decline of figurative representations in Lengyel falls into a time where figuration also disappears in other areas, especially in southeastern Europe, where it is connected to profound changes with respect to other aspects of society. The most striking example is probably the Kodžadermen–Gumelniţa–Karanovo VI cultural complex with its formerly rich corpus of figurative finds. The last, Copper Age settlement layer of the tell of Karanovo in Bulgaria, the eponymous site for the Karanovo culture, dates to around 4500/4400 calBC. It is followed by a hiatus of over a 1,000 years, until the settling of the tell sets in again with the Bronze Age around 3300/3100 calBC (Nikolov & Petrova, 2016). Other tell settlements of the Karanovo VI cultural complex end between 4500–4300 calBC (Krauß, 2008, p. 142). The last phase of the famous, gold-rich cemetery of Varna I at the Black Sea coast dates to the same time, ca. 4340/4300 calBC (Krauß et al., 2017, p. 297). The changes thus affect burial rites, settlements, the material culture and figurative finds alike. The reasons for this development have been intensely discussed, and most often, they are connected to developments related to the emergence of copper metallurgy (Antonović, 2016; Radivojević & Grujić, 2018; Strahm & Hauptmann, 2009) and the ensuing societal changes.

Obviously, it is not the new raw material which probably changed societies to a point where traditions which had lasted for several 1,000 years were abandoned. But the emergence of copper mining, the growing knowledge of metallurgy, and the creation and use of copper implements are really only the tip of an iceberg of new economic and societal developments occurring in the fifth millennium calBC, with an epicentrum in southeastern Europe. Villages on the western Black Sea coast were engaged in maritime trade networks, exchanging copper from Vurli brjag and Medni rid-Rossen, gold, malachite, marble, carnelian and exotic shells such as spondylus, dentalium and glycymeris (Ivanova, 2012). Other valuable resources were traded by land: copper from the mines at Ai Bunar and similar sites (Gale et al., 2000; Pernicka et al., 1997), salt from large production centers such as Provadia-Solnitsata (Nikolov, 2010; cf. also Nikolov & Bacvarov, 2012), and flint “super-blades” resp. their raw material from Ludogorie (Andreeva et al., 2014). Parallel to the development of early copper smelting, graphite-painted pottery emerged from the onset of the fifth millennium calBC, with its roots in the dark-burnished ware of the late sixth millennium calBC (Radivojević & Roberts, 2021).

Although difficult to determine, inequality seems to have risen in these times, maybe best visible in some astoundingly rich burials in the cemetery of Varna at the Black Sea shore, and in the cemetery of Durankulak ca. 100 km to the north (Windler et al., 2013), but also due to changes in field cultivation and the use of oxen-drawn ploughs (Bogaard et al., 2019). It is likely that this rising inequality was due to the diversification and intensification of work. This includes, for example, the many different tasks involved in the mining, smelting and casting of copper, the boiling of brine, the mining of large flint nodules and the difficult knapping of extremely large blades, trading of goods over large geographical areas, let alone agriculture, stock herding or the production of pottery vessels, some of which were extraordinarily decorated with graphite and gold. Even though it is difficult to evaluate, we can assume that people of different specializations may have formed groups to negotiate their status among the others and that not all professions were held in the same esteem.

While the tell settlements of southeastern Europe with their fairly similarly sized and equipped houses thus continued to display, as they had for a long time, a certain level of egalitarianism, rising inequality and increasing gender differences show in burials (Chapman et al., 2006, p. 171). Although both men, women and children could be buried in richly equipped graves, copper tools, copper and gold ornaments and weapons congregate in male burials, whereas household tools and non-metal ornaments can be found in female burials (Chapman et al., 2006, p. 172). Chapman et al. (2006) have argued that this may be due to newly formed societal structures composed of “great men,” patrons who held power over the distribution of valuable materials and objects, and clients indebted to them. The ensuing inequality, which spiked at the end of the Copper Age in southeastern Europe, may have finally led to the abandonment of tell settlements and cemeteries, a population decline and a stark decline of figurative finds.

Further west, changes around the middle of the fifth millennium calBC are not as pronounced, but still visible. Between 4500 and 4300 calBC, all tell settlements in the Balkans are abandoned. The uppermost and latest layers on the tell of Vinča-Belo Brdo can be dated to around 4500 calBC (Tasić et al., 2015), marking the end of the Vinča culture and thus also the end of a hotspot for figuration that had persisted for almost a 1,000 years. There are only a few figurative finds known from the following Sălcuţa-Bubanj Hum/Crnobuki (southwestern Romania and Serbia, ca. 4500–3900 calBC) cultural phenomena.

In eastern Hungary, during the Tiszapolgár/Bodrogkeresztúr phases (ca. 4500–4000 calBC), tell settlements are likewise given up around 4300 calBC, with people now settling in small hamlets and adopting a more mobile lifestyle (Siklósi et al., 2022, p. 3). Heavy copper shaft-hole axes and gold ornaments can be found in burials and hoards (Siklósi & Szilágy, 2019, p. 5276).

To summarize, a decline in figuration is visible in the time between 4500 and 4300 calBC in southeastern Europe as well as in the territory of the Lengyel culture. In southeastern Europe, this coincides with the abandonment of tell settlements after a bloom in gold and copper metallurgy. In the Lengyel culture, changes are not as drastic. Still, they coincide with the abandonment of circular enclosures, a change in pottery decoration, and slowly evolving hierarchical structures visible in burials and grave goods, with an abrupt stop of inhumation burials after 4300 calBC.

One other aspect must be considered when trying to explain the decline in figuration in the Lengyel culture, and this has to do with its rise. If rituals involving figurines were employed to create formerly broken bonds between communities and re-establish social order, they may have lost their purpose after this had been achieved. This could explain that their use already dropped a 100 years into the Lengyel culture and faded out quickly after only 200 years.

After several 100 years of almost no figuration, some scarce finds reappear in the Epilengyel phase. For now, they are too few to allow more in-depth analyses. There is, however, a possibility that they ring in new orientations both to the west, as seems likely when looking at the gynaikomorphic vessel from Vel’ké Kostol’any with similar finds from the Alpine pile-dwellings, and to the east with anthropomorphic figurines with pierced ears which may allude to areas where such finds still existed in large numbers like the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture. It is, however, not much later that a new set of figurative finds appears with the emergence of the Baden culture (Becker, in print).