A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1981 (Debrecen, 1983)

Természettudomány - Szathmáry László: The Skeletal History of the Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin

metopia leptoprosopia, lépten facial ratio and chamaerrhinia is characteristic of the Tisza culture, while the females of the hypothetic Bükk isolation are mesocranial, orthocranial, metriocranial, euryene, eurymetopical. In the hypothetic Bükk isolation the skulls were euryene, chamaeconchic and mesorrhyne, while all these indices have higher values in case of the Tisza population. West of the Danube the cemeteries of the late period of the Lengyel culture can be met with (Dombay, 1960, Gael, 1980, Kalicz, 1969, 1970). But since the territory was occupied by a varied population already in the Middle Neolithic the roots of the population can hardly be detected in the few Middle Neolithic finds. The northern group of the Lengyel culture — in the Vienna Basin and in the South Moravia — (Chochol, 1964, Jelinek, 1973, Jungwirth, 1967, 1973, Jungwirth, Kloiber, 1973, Ehgartner, 1956, Ehgartner, Jungwirth, 1956, Reche, 1909, Schürer von Waldheim, 1919, Strouchal, Jungwirth, 1970, Vicék, 1961c, Vicék, Barta, 1950) is separated from the southern ones unearthed in Lengyel (Malán, 1929, Virchow, 1890), Szekszárd-Ágostonpuszta, Pécsvárad-Aranyhegy (Nemeskéri, 1956), Pari (Kiszely, 1973), Villánykövesd (Zoffmann, 1971) and Zengővárkony (Zoffmann, 1974) by more expressed brachycrania, stenometopia and a trend towards chamaeconchia. The brain-cases are long or medium-long, narrow or medium-broad, high or medium-high. 50 per cents of the brain cases are dolichocranial, 20 per cents are hyperdolichocranial and another 20 per cents are mesocranial. The ratio of the brachycranes is 10 per cents. The males are rather hypsicranial while the females are rather acroeranial. The measurements of the facial skeleton and the forehead vary on a large scale. The upper faces are usually low or medium-high. In most instances the faces and the mandibles are broad, that is why the facial skeletons are of euryene character. The apertúra piriformis with the males is for the most part broad and high. The males are chiefly chamae-mesoknoch, the females, on the other hand, are primarily hypsikonch. Its charasteristic taxons are Mediterranean and Cro-Magnon. The ratio of the Mediterraneans is about 70 per cents nearly the half of which is Atlanto-Mediterranean. The most typical samples are dolichocranial, euencranial with characteristic lambdoid flattenings. The facial skeletons are narrow, the orbits broad and high and the mandibles relatively narrow. The most characteristic cases of the Cro-Magnon-like samples (15 to 20 per cents) are dolichocranial. Their steeply arched brain-cases are aristencranial. The facial skeletons are broad, the orbits are narrow and low and the mandibles are broad. Close upon the 10 per cents of the finds are Nordic. These are usually hybrids. Zoffmann (1974) laid emphasis on the importance of the southern and local influences in the development of the Lengyel population. A special thing about the Lengyel culture is that its skletons involve strongly marked and slightly archaic formations (the Cro-Magnon-like variants of Proto-Mediterranean and AtlantoMediterranean types) which cannot be derived through the earlier finds of the south of the Carpathian Basin. This may be originated from a hypothetic formation which may not have been influenced by the southern migration up to the Late Neolithic (cf. Reche, 1909, Malán, 1929, Chochol 1964). The characteristic differences of the Lengyel and the Tisza culture is difficult to express because of the different components taking part in their formation amid the fullness of exgomay. But while the forehead is narrow in the Tisza culture due to further southern influence, most of the Lengyel finds reach medium values. The skull of the Tisza males is medium low, while that of a Lengyel male is mostly high. The opposite tendency on women is remarkable. The face of the Tisza population is higher, the mandible is usually wider than at the Lengyel culture. Most of the Tisza people are chamaerrhine while the Lengyel people are lepto-mesorrhine. Besides the Lengyel people are more leptostaphyline. The range of variations of the populations of the two cultures, embracing 57