Folia archeologica 31.

István Vörös: Zoológiai és palaeoökonómiai vizsgálatok a korai neolitikus Körös kultúra archaeozoologiai anyagán

38 I. VÖRÖS settlements. The archaeozological data can help to compare the animal keeping of the Körös Culture with that of contemporary cultures existed in the adjoining territories of the Körös Culture and of cultures influenced by the Körös expansion. At the same time we have a possibility for the zoological study of the domesticated animals introduced to the Carpathian Basin during the Early Neolithic. I. THE ZOOLOGICAL CHARACTERI^A TION OF THE DOMESTICA TED ANIMALS AND THEIR U

TILI

7A TION Cattle — Bos taurus Linné Considering the number of individuals the cattle played only the second role in the live-stock kept by the Körös people yet this animal produced the greatest quantity of meat (Tables 1,2).

2

1 7,32 —40 per cent of the total quantity of the osteological material found in the sites of the Körös Culture consists of the bones of cattle. We have a knowledge of only few Osteometrie data of catties from Körös settlements (Table 3).

2

2 These data are fairly uniform; the variances of the body measurements are caused by the osteological differences between the sexes. The variability of measurements is wide but the measurements of males and females can be well distinguished it within. The measurement differences between the two sexes are great. For the characterization of the body measurements of catties in addition to the Osteometrie data we can use the determination of the withers-height, too. The withers-height values estimated from the length of the long bones by the Matolcsi method

2

3 are the following (in mms) : At Szajol-Felsőföld, on the basis of 4 radii, 989 (subadult), 1182, 1221, 1281. At Hódmezővásárhely-Bodzáspart, on the basis of 3 metatarsi 1236, 1279, 1318. All the 7 bones represent bulls. The individuals of the live-stock had big-mediocre body dimensions.

24 The withers-height of the bulls of the Körös Culture falls within the measurement range of the withers-height of Neolithic cows published by Matolcsi in 1968. The probable cause of this phenomenon is partly that that he established a wider (222 mms) measurement range for the females of the Neolithic cattle and partly that the measurements of the cattle of the Late Neolithic Lengyel Culture are among those of Copper Age cattle.

2

5 The body measurements of the cattle of the Hungarian Körös Culture correspond to those of the Balkan cattle. They were smaller than the Middle and Late Neolithic cattle of the Carpathian Basin. 2

1 Vide notes 3-20. 2

2 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1954. 10- 11.; 1964. 92.; 1974. 453., 477., 481., 490., 495. 2

3 Matolcsi, J., Historische Erforschung der Körpergröße des Rindes auf Grund von ungarischen Knochenmaterial. Zeitschr. f. Tierzüchtung u. Züchtungsbiol. 87.2(1970) 113., 118. 2

1 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1954. 11-12.; 1964. 91-92.; Vörös, /., op.cit. 3. 2

5 Matolcsi, J., op.cit. 120.; Id., AgrSzl 10(1968) Table 2.