Folia archeologica 31.

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

ARCHAEOZOO

I.OGIA 49 III. THE ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE KÖRÖS CULTURE ON THE BASIS OF THE ANIMAL BONES. The following characterization of the "faunas" — i.e. of the animal bone assemblages found in the refuse of the settlements of the culture — is known: the geographical environment had a strong influence on the fauna, first of all on the wild animals. In those settlements which are at the boundary of the gallery forests of the inundation area and the forest steppe the species determined by the environment were present on a larger scale. The significance of the animal keeping and the hunting within the economy of the settlements was more or less of equal importance. The people of the Körös Culture brought with themselves from the Aegean a live-stock whose the composition was characteristic of the Aegean. The most important species of this live stock were sheep and goat. The animal keeping of the culture was alien under the geographical and faunal conditions of Hungary. In the domesticated animal fauna based on the small ruminants the propagation of these animals was insolvable, therefore after the Körös Culture ceased to exist this type of fauna also vanished.

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2 The comparative examination of the animal bone material found in the settlements of the Körös Culture can be made from several viewpoints. The most important task would be the investigation of species dynamic changes based on the inner chronology of the culture. Unfortunately at the time being it is insolvable. At Maroslele-Pana the only Körös Culture settlement where clearly distinguishable find-associations of two phases of the culture are known, (Pit 3 and Pit 4)

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3 only about 2/5 of the animal bone material was investigated and the osteological material of the pits was not separated.

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4 Another possible way of investigation is to study the faunal associations of the settlements according to geographical units: I. Northern Bácska Monostorszeg-Opoljenik (Table 2), Ludas-Budzak, Nosza-Gyöngypart (Yugoslavia), Röszke-Ludvár, Gyálarét-Szilágyi major (Hungary) (Table 1). The percentage of the bones of domesticated animals and wild mammals in the four settlements are: 1. Ludas-Budzak 88,28 11,72 2. Gyálarét-Szilágyi major 73,04 26,96 3. Röszke-Ludvár' 59,70 40,30 4. Nosza-Gyöngypart 39,30 60,70 At Monostorszeg-Opoljenik there were more bones of domesticated animals than those ol wild mammals.

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5 The percentage of the bones of small ruminants-cattle in the four settlements are: 6

2 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1964. 88.; 1974. 21. 0

3 Trogmayer, О., Arch. Ért. 91(1964) 67-, 6

4 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1964. 87-, 6

5 Gubitza, К., op.cit. 246. 4 Folia Archaeologica 1980