Csengeri Piroska - Tóth Arnold (szerk.): A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 55. (Miskolc, 2016)
Régészet - Vörös István: Köröm-Kápolna-domb késő bronzkori település archaeozoológiai vizsgálata
Köröm-Kápolna-domb késő bronzkori település archaeozoológiai vizsgálata 139 ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT AT KÖRÖM-KÁPOLNA-DOMB Keywords: prehistoric animal husbandry, hunting, animal body size and morphology So far, three excavations have been conducted on Köröm-Kápolna-domb by archaeologists of the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc. In 1969, Tibor Kemenczei and in 1996, Magdolna Hellebrandt surveyed the area, while in 2014, Zsolt Gallina led an excavation at the site. Animal remains were identified from slaughter and household processing contexts; the bones are interpreted as kitchen refuse. Six domestic mammalian species were present in the assemblage: cattle, sheep, goat, pig, horse and dog, along with eight wild species: aurochs, red deer, roe deer, wild swine, wolf, fox, brown hare and beaver. In addition, remains of birds, tortoise, frog and fish were brought to light, as well as shell fragments in large quantities. Altogether 4063 pieces of animal remains were recovered, among which 3339 bones represented domestic animals, 319 wild species, while the remaining 219 bones came from birds, tortoise, frog or fish (see Table 1). During the three excavation seasons, 92 archaeological features yielded animal bones (8 houses, 37 pits, 29 beehive-shaped pits, 11 clay extraction pits and 7 large pits, see Table 2). Cattle was the most frequent among domestic species, followed by pig, small ruminants, dog and horse. Cattle of different stature were used for different purposes. Most cattle had small, short horn cores with thin walls. The sheep were relatively large in size. Five rams had spiral horn cores curving backwards, with triangular cross-sections. Goat horn cores were sabre-shaped, of the aegagrus type. The pig stock consisted of large specimens typical for the Bronze Age; swine skulls were wedge-shaped and narrow, with thin walls. Horses were medium-sized. The middle-sized hunting dogs were classified as belonging to the intermedins type, while the macro-medium-sized sheepdogs and the tall sheepdogs with relatively large heads and slender skeletal bones are associated with the matris optimae morphological type known from the Bronze Age. Four species of large game hunted for their meat and four other species exploited for their fur were identified (Table 2). Bone measurements are summarized in Tables 3—10 (domestic mammals) and Tables 11—12 (wild game). In four settlements associated with the Gáva Culture (Köröm-Kápolna-domb, Prügy-Tökföld, Nagykálló-Telekoldal, Poroszló-Aponhát), cattle and swine seems to have been most important of the main domestic species, while sheep and goat were kept in small numbers to complement the stock. Cattle and swine provided meat as well as other animal-based types of raw material, such as fat, bones for tool making and hide. Sheep provided not only mutton but also pelt and wool, while goats could be exploited for their milk (Table 13). In prehistoric times, the quantity of beef provided by one cattle (ca. 250 kg) equaled to the mutton of 10 full-grown sheep (10x25 kg). One pig probably provided ca. 60 kg pork. The cattle stock at these settlements was varied and consisted of animals of different statures. Pigs were relatively large, while at least two types of sheep could be identified: a small, hornless one and a large type having spiral horns with triangular cross-sections (Table 14). Goats with sabre-shaped horns of the aegagrus type were middle-sized. Altogether 10 wild species are known from the mentioned Gáva settlements. Mainly red deer and wild swine females were hunted. Wet environs were exploited for fishing as well as collecting molluscs, tortoise and freshwater bivalves. The fact that only half-shells were found signifies that bivalves were not consumed. The varied ecological zones around these settlements defined the range and frequency of domestic and wild species kept and hunted. Cattle and sheep could graze in forest clearings as well as forest steppe zones, while pigs and goats preferred woodlands. The red deer, wild swine, brown bear and fox live in closed woodlands; roe deer habit fringes of forests and parklands, while polecats mainly live in gallery forests. Wolves prefer woodlands. Beavers need gallery forests with open water surfaces. Aurochs and brown hare both live in steppe parklands. [Translated by Kyra Lyublyanovics] Vörös, István
