Folia archeologica 47.

István Vörös: A Denevér úti kovabánya agancsleletei (Budapest-Farkasrét)

70 ISTVÁN VÖRÖS In spite of the detailed study made by experts neither the geomorphology nor the stratigraphy of the „flint mine" of Denevér street can be reconstructed with absolute certainty. Accepting the idea that there was a side-valley of N-W direction, perpendicular to the Denevér street, Gábori-Csánk, Vera considered the infilling of the „syncline" as to be the filling up of the mining field.

2 According to her the age of the flint mine - it was determined on the basis of a single fragmentary flint scraper of „Mousterian type" - is Middle Paleolithic. At the same time - being aware of the extreme values of radicarbon data - she did not exculde that the mine was - exploited „later, too" (that is in sensu lato prehistoric times).

3 In the July of 1988 Gábori-Csánk, Vera invited me to study the antler finds from the mine. Gábori, Miklós had made loose cards on the 198 items of the find assemglage with the description of the finds. On these cards there are generally adequate descriptions of the different parts of the antlers (beam, tine, trez/bez tine = ,,banana"-like pieces). Before the beginning of my studies (18.07.1988) Gábori, Miklós asked me to answer their precisely formulated questions regarding the material. That is they expected the archeozoologist's contribution to answer the following questions: 1. To give a typology of antlers, which parts of the antlers occur? Their distribution. 2. How many complete antlers can be reconstructed from the pieces and what is the minimum quantity of individuals they may belong to? 3. Whether the antlers found are cast pieces or belong to hunted animals, that is whether they are trophies (results of hunting) or cast antlers collected? 4. How can be explained the absence of rose on the antlers. 5. The so-called ,,banana"-like tools are very similar to each other, regarding also their dimensions. Why? And which tine(s) of the antler served to make these pieces? 6. To what purpose and in which way the so-called „half-antlers" (lower parts of the stem without the crown and (or upper parts of the beam) were used. 7. The role and distribution of red deer in Middle Paleolithic mammal fauna. What kind of antlers these red deers had? 8. Gábori, Miklós asked for a recent red deer antler to study the structure of the complete red deer antler and to study the position of different antler-parts. As a favour of the forest engineer Köller, Joachim, the Archeological Department of the BTM got a cast antler of a young red deer. In 1990, after the survey of the find assemblage on the basis of archeozoological investigations we made a checking of the descriptions of the cards mentioned above. Later, however, because of administrative difficulties, of the uncertainty as regards the chronology of the finds and because of the failure to organize to prepare a monography, the studies had ceased. Those antler finds which during the excavations were found and recorded as belonging to three levels were numbered (1-180). The other pieces are recorded in the collection as "scattered finds" (BTM Archeological Department, Inv. No, 91.1.1180., 91.2.1-94). On the basis of the excavation documentation I made a reconstruction of the spatial distribution of the finds. For the reconstruction of the horizontal distribution I used the summary plan - in spite of the controversial topographical position of the finds. As for vertical distribution, however, considering also data of depths, I have changed the classification of certain finds into levels (Fig. 2). During the excavations so-called "relative" depth values were measured, which, after completing 2 Gábori-Csánk 1989, 14-15. 3 Gábori-Csánk 1989, 21.