Folia archeologica 37.

Zsuzsanna Zoffmann: A Tiszavalk-tetesi rézkori temető embertani anyaga

ANIMAL REMAINS ÍROM TISZA VAL K-TETES 81 4.2. Aurochs — 1 individual, 1 bone scapula dext. dist.; part of the shoulder-blade in grave 11 M beside hollow pedestalled bowl Nr 5. 4.3. Sheep — 13 individuals, 175 bones Sheep is the most common sacrificial animal in the eMCA cemetery at Tiszavalk-Tetes. No complete skeleton was found in the cemetery. One skull was found only in grave 10 M where it was placed in hollow pedestalled bowl Nr 6 together with a upper hind leg dext. of a sheep. The head was cut off from the trunk at the third cervical vertebra. This explains how the atlas, epistropheus and the 3rd vert, cervic. were found together with the skull in the hollow pedestalled bowl. Sheep mandibula occur at two other places in the cemetery: in grave 17 M — behind the human skeleton, and in grave 22 F at the foot — in this later jaw only one Mj fragm. remains. The corpus mandibulae and the other teeth had crumbled. Except for one skull and two mandibules all the other sheep parts were deposited in the graves without the head in this cemetery at Tetes so that this animal is represented only by the postcranial regions — thorax (rib rows) and limbs ! The sheep were always cut into right and left and front and hind parts. During this process the trunk part was cut off together with the shoulder-blade and the front upper leg from the vertebral column. There are only three dorsal vertebrae in the cemetery: two in grave 3 F, and one in grave 18 F. In both cases they were deposited together into the grave along with the costae. In four cases the rib row is missing: in 2 F, 22 F, 25 F and 10 M graves. In grave 3 F ribs row of both sides are present. Parts of the vertebral column are almost absent as grave finds. The front upper extremity is absent in only two cases grave 17 M and grave 22 F. In the lumbar region the articulated pelvis and upper part of the limb were cut together in two: in right and left halves. In the cemetery the complete hind leg (pelvis-femur-patella-tibia-astragalus [calcaneus)] is absent in two cases: in grave 18 F and grave 22 F while in two graves — 2 F, 9 F — the pelvis-femur prox. part is missing from the hind leg. As is clear from the above data, sheep were sectioned in four parts: in two fore parts — right and left side thorax (costae) + shoulder-blade — upper front regions; and in two hind legs — right and left side pelvic section (pelvis) -f upper hind leg regions (Table 2). It seems that the tradition of "quartering" of sheep was a strictly adhered to custom. Consequently the graves with sheep bones contain rib row, fore and) or hind extremities of the same or from the opposite side of the sacrificed animal. As for the combination of the occurence of right and left side sheep extremities, the following were observed (Table 2): — fore and hind extremities of the same side: 1 M-sin.; 4 M-sin. and dext. (fore and hind extremities from both sides); 9 F-sin.; 10 M-dext.; 3 F-sin. and dext. (fore and hind extremities from both sides); and 25 F-dext. - fore and hind extremities from opposite sides: 2 F-dext. and sin.; 11 M-dext. and sin.; and 19 M-dext. and sin. — fore extremities only in grave 18 F and in grave 10 M with the goat remains fore extremities from both (sin. and dext.) sides. an additional leg section from opposite side: a dext. tibia upper hind leg in grave 19 M in front of the knee. 6 Folia