Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 22 (1977) (Pécs, 1978)

Régészet - Zoffmann, Zsuzsanna K.: Anthropological Finds in Lánycsók, Hungary, from the Early Neolithic Starcevo Culture

ANTHROPOLOGICAL FINDS IN LÁNYCSÓK, HUNGARY, FROM THE EARLY NEOLITHIC STARCEVO CULTURE ZSUZSANNA К. ZOFFMANN In the course of the excavations in Lánycsók (county Baranya) in 1976, in a stratum belonging to the Starcevo culture two tomb also alighted with contracted skeletons belonging to the same culture. The skeletons buried in these graves are up to now the only known finds found in Transdanubia belonging to this culture.

1 Methods for determining the skeletons Sexing was done according to the method of Êry

—Kralovánszky—Nemeskéri,

2 the age of the skeletons was determined according to the Schour

—

Massier'^ and the Nemeskéri—

Harsânyi —

Acsadi'

1 methods. The morphological description and the metrical surveying of the data followed the Martin method,

5 the sizes and incides were classified according to the method of Alekseev-Debecf' as the determination of Angel's

7 served as a basis for the taxonomical analysis. Characterization ot the material The condition of the anthropological material of the two graves is relatively weak due to the bad nature of the grounds.

8 Grave No. 1: 53 to 59 year old iemale. The ovopentagonoid skull is meso- almost brachycranial, metriocranial, broad-low bomb-shaped. In norma lateralis the skull is orthocranial, almost chamaecranial. The forehead is sloping, medium heigh, the skull is rather long and flat. The flatness in the obelion region is slight, the occiput profile is 1 I Should like to express here my thanks to N. Kalicz for handing over the anthropological material and for reading the manuscript. 2 Êry—Kralovánszky—Nemeskéri (1963) 3 Schour

—Massler (1941) 4 Nemeskéri—

Harsânyi—Acsádi (1960) 5 Martin (1928) 6 Alekseev—Debec (1964) 7 Angel (1951) 8 The antropological material was entered into the Archaeological Department of the Janus Pannonius Museum at Pécs under the inventory number of 77. 1. 1—2. curvoccipital. The face is orthognath, the nasal root is shallow. In view of its fragmentary state the profile of the nasal bones cannot be determined. The face is in norma frontalis low-broad, euryen and euryprosop, and due to the respectively strong jaw-angles is square. The forehead is broad, no index could be determined. The nasal root is rather broad, the nasal index would probably have been leptorrhin. The orbit is heigh and a rounded rectangular, according to its index it is hypsikonch. Compared to the gracility of the skull in general, the jaw is robust, the mentum bilateral and the jaw-angles strong. The teeth are placed rather far apart, the abrasio is of 2 to 3 degrees. The upper left M3 erupted slantwise, its crown grew outwards. On the surface of the upper left PM2 and on neighbouring surface of the Ml respectively a small and a big caries were observed. The postcranial skeleton is very fragmentary, its condition is bad, hardly apt for being measured. Stature could be estimated only on the basis of the radius. Similarly to the skull, the skeleton bones are also very gracile. — No pathological changes were observable either on the skull or the other bones. Grave No. 2: two year old child. The skull, as well as the skeleton bones are very fragmentary. The skull cannot be measured. The maximum length of the humerus is 112,5 mm, that of the radius 85 mm, and that of the tibia is 113 mm. Evaluation The female skeleton found in Lánycsók is of mature age, gracile, with a low-medium to medium stature. The skull is meso-brachycranial, with a bend towards a chamaecranic index. The low face is rectangular — euryen and euryprosop. The orbit is hypsiconch, the mandible is strikingly robust. These traits — according to Angel's classification

9 constitute the so-called low9 Angel (1951) Janus Pannonius Múzeum Evkönyve (1977) 22, p. 157—161. Pécs (Hungária), 1978.