Abstract The Lengyel culture (4800–4100 calBC), covering Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, is a hotspot for figurative finds, with especially high numbers occurring in Lower Austria, Moravia and Transdanubia. After the end of the Linear Pottery Culture, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels and applications appear in huge numbers, which is in stark contrast to post-LBK phenomena further to the west, like Hinkelstein–Großgartach–Rössen and the Stroked Pottery Culture (SBK), where such finds are very rare. However, a more fine-grained analysis of the Lengyel culture figurative objects shows that they are not distributed evenly in the course of time. Rather, they appear in large numbers in the first 200 years of this cultural phenomenon and disappear almost completely after 4500/4300 calBC. The article aims to outline the origin, rise and decline of these objects and offers possible explanations for their appearance and fading, which may be related to larger societal changes.
Valeska Becker (Wed,) studied this question.