Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 23 (1978) (Pécs, 1979)

Régészet - Vörös, István: Description of the Animal Bones from the Early Bronze Age Settlement at Szava

ANIMAL BONES FROM SZAVA 141 venilis, 2 individuals (12,5%) in infant and 3 (18,25%) in neonatus age. On the basis of the calibration by agegroup the 16 individuals must have produced about 310 kg utilizable meat. Wild animals The quantity and composition of the osteological material deriving from wild animals is determinated by the composition of the prehistoric fauna and by the form of hunting wich is connected with the food-traditions. The quantity of the animal bones is related with the frequence of the wild animals hunted by the people. The way and level of hunting also can be traced back to the traditions of the prehistoric communities. The bones of 3 wilde swine, 3 red deers, 4 roe deers, and 1 brown hare were found at Szava. The distribution of the bones by body regions

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* is rather peculiar. We hawe enlisted the bones of the „meaty limb" region, utilizable for consumption, by all the three species of the domestic animals (Table II.). At the same time the wild animals are represented by the bones from the head region (A) and the „dry-limb" region only except one vertebra of a brown hare deriving from the trunk region (B) and the phalanges of the wild swine. On the basis of the 4 antler-fragments of the red deer we cannot establish wether these derived from killed animals or were shed antlers. It can be supposed that the shed antlers were gathered. The only thing we can say about the matepodia is that one of them belonged to a male. Each of these bones derived from the „dry-limb" region. The red deers were killed and carved up far-off the site and the utilizable parts of them were brought back to the settlement. In spite of this neither the bones of the head region nor those of the meaty-limb region were found on the excavation-area. It is likely that the deers had been consumed in another part of the site not excavated so far. The situation is the same in case of the roe deer and wild swine. The antlers of roe deers are shed ones so these cannot be taken from killed animals. The limb-extremities of the wild swine were resected in the excavated part of the settlement but the meat was consumed some other place. Two of them were killed in juvenilis age. The fishing is evidenced by a single hone of a large fish. The osteological material from the settlement consists of food refuse. The diaphysises and the epiphysises of the long bones are broken, so the most part of the material can be described as cortical fragments. The bones are fragmentary to such an extent that only 4,74% of them are measurable. The traces of cutting and carving are to be found 11 Ibidem. on the bones in many cases. On the basis of them we can get a picture about the methods which the animals had been carved up with. On the excavation area 5—

б skulls of cattle and 7—8 skulls of pigs had been broken into small pieces. Judging from the damages made by sharp implements on the cattle — and pig — bones it can be supposed that both animals were carved up in the same way. On the basis of the bisected condyli oscipitales it seems likely that the heads had been resected by cutting the neck as close to the head as possible. This way either the atlas was bisected in transverse direction or the condyli were cut off from the basic-occipitalis part of the skull. A similar way of carwing was to be seen on the animal bones from the Bronze Age settlement in Biharugra.

12 The traces of cutting can be found on the extremitybones close to the distalis and proximalis epiphyses. Both epiphyses had been bisected from ventralis direction. The traumatic damage of the sin. pelvis must have been made by cutting into two parts the cattle. Considering the horizontal accumulation of the bones of domestic animals it can be established that the cattle-bones were found in 10 pits and in 3 excavation-blocks, the sheep in 8 pits, the pig in 7 pits and 2 blocks were present (Table II.). The bones were concentrated in two pits. The pits No 8 and No 20 contained the 72,14% of the bones of the domestic animals and 80% of the wild ones. A lot of the bones were gnawn by Canidae which favor the conclusion that the pits were open for seme length of time. The surface of some bones were slightly burnt. On the excavated part of the Szava settlement only three species of domestic animals were found. The horse is not represented though there were a lot of horse-bones on the sites of the Early Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture. None of them was excavated on the sites Salgótarján—Pécskő, Csongrád—Petőfi Tsz

13 and Tuzsér—Kalonga tanya belonging to the Zók culture while they are known from Mezőlak—Tőzegtelep

14 and Nagyárpád— Dióstető (less than 1% of the total number of bones).

15 Considering the rather small extension of the excavation area it can be supposed that the bones of the horses and those of the dogs accumulated some other place within the settlement. Judging from the gnawn bones it can be suggested that there were some Canidae on the site though their bones were not found in the pits. 12 Vörös I.: A Biharugra—Földvárhalom bronzkori telep állatcsontleletei. (Animal bones of the Bronze Age Settlement at Biharugra — Földvárhalom.) FA 29 (1978) 72—92. 13 See Note 9., 241. 14 Ibidem, 382. 15 Information from S. Bökönyi. See: S. Bökönyi: The first waves of domestic horses in Europe. Journal of Indo-European Studies (In Press).