Szilágyi Miklós (szerk.): A Szekszárdi Béri Balogh Ádám Múzeum Évkönyve 10-11. (Szekszárd, 1982)

Éry Kinga: The osteological remains of a Turkish period Balkan Population in the vicinaty of Dombóvár

As the burial rites and the material in question differ from those known in Hungary from the late Middle Ages, it is to be assumed that these individuals belonged to a foreign ethnic group. These foreigners could have been the socalled „Iflaks", i.e. Vlachs. In all likelihood our site can be identified with the former village of „Banka Tol" or „Bikatol" which fell under the jurisdiction of Dombóvár and was mentioned in the Turkish tax rolls; its inhabitants were „Iflaks". This ethnic group came from an unknown part of the Balkans, and was settled by the Turkish occupation army in the depopulated Hungarian villages in South-Transdanubia. These people, as Turkish vassals, lived under relatively good economic conditions; their taxes were much more moderate than those of the Hungarians. Apart from rendering military service, the „Iflaks" were engaged in agriculture and animal breeding. According to a Turkish tax roll, the head of the „Iflaks" of „Bikatol" was VICE VASIN. Furthermore, the following names were found in the tax roll: DRAGUJA VUK, RADOSAV RADUJA, BARBUL GELSURA, RADIBOJ VUK, SIMA DRAS, VITEN RADOVAN, RADOSAV VUKDIRAG. These composite South-Slav - Rumanian names may offer some essential proof as regards the affiliation of this population. According to historical sources, the cemetery could have been opened about 1560, while the decomposition of the bones points to the end of its use 120* 30 years later, i.e. about 1680. It is likely that the end of the burials, or rather the abandonment of this settlement, occurred in connection with the liberation of the district from Turkish rule (1686). From the extent of the decomposition, I. LENGYEL succeeded in differentiating four successive generations among the individuals. The earthwork ruined chiefly part of the graves of the first and fourth generations. The infant - adult proportion amounts to 39 to 61 per cent in the cemetery, thus approaching a distribution to be expected theoretically. The proportion of men and women points to some shortage of men, mainly in the last generation, wich could have resulted from military losses. As regards the population as a whole, life expectancy at birth was 28,2 years. Mortality gradually worsened in the succesive generations: while 50 per cent of the first and second generations reached its thirty-fifth year, 50 per cent of the third and fourth generations died before its twentieth year of age. This substantial change for the worse may be explained, first of all, by the uncongenial geographical conditions. The region, where this community settled, is an unhealthy moorland almost up to our days; it must have been so to an even greater extent during the time of Turkish rule. Mortality in childhood and adult age was much more disadvantageous for women than for men. Women probably suffered more from environmental, causes, mainly while pregnant and confined. However, it is just as possible that work falling to their lot was harder and so overstrained their strength to a greater extent. Considering the missing graves as well, the deceased population in their totality must have amounted to approximately 340 individuals at the end of the burial period of 120 years. Taking into account a stationary population, with an increase of 43 per mille and a mortality of 40 per mille, one may conclude that the initial population must have consisted of about 60 individuals. Sexing was done on the basis of 22 morphological features. The morphological and chemical sex determinations were identical in 95.6 per cent of the cases. The degree of masculinity was unusually slight for males between 15 and 22 years of age (-0.07). However, those between 23 and x years of age reached the value of

+0.69, being thus in a middle position among the examples presented. In their case, the sexual characteristics showed mostly in the large mastoid process, the high, marked contours on the zygomatic facies, the marked eminences on the mandibular angle, the great femoral head ahd the highly protruding linea aspera. On the other hand, the zygomatic arch proved to be effeminately thin. \ The degree of femininity wljs in the value of-0.57 for women between 15 and 22 years of age, which fell to the value of -0.51 for women between 23 and x years of age. Femininity showed mostly for adult women in the thin zygomatic arch, the slight glabellar region, the cotylo - ischiadic index and in the wide subpubic angle. On the other hand their squama occipitalis with nuchal lines and marked eminences on the mandibular angle, as well as the high linea aspera are characteristically masculine. According to the mean values of the metric data and section division of morpho-metric traits, the two sexes show the same characteristics. The mean sigma ratio also proves that the material is homogeneous: the male skull measurements and indices have the value of 102.3, while the same for women is 97.5. The population has the following metric and morphological characters. The skull is short, broad, high, hyperbrachycran, hypsicran, metrio - tapeinocran; sphaero-sphenoid in norma verticalisand bomb-shaped in norma occipitalis. The forehead is medium broad or narrow, metrio - stenometop, slightly or strongly sloped. For half of the skulls the lambdoidal region is slightly depressed. The occiput is moderately curvoccipital or planoccipital. The cranial capacity is great. The mastoid process is large, the zygomatic arch is thin. Their facial skeleton is medium high, medium broad to broad, meso - euryprosop, mesen - euryen. The alveolar prognathism is moderate, the fossa canina is deep. The protuberant nose is medium high, broad, mesorrhin, straight in profile or rarely convex. The orbit is medium broad, medium high, chamaeconch; its form is subrectangular. The mandible is.broad; its ramus is medium high and narrow. The stature is medium tall to tall. The tall stature was due first of all to the decidedly long lower limbs. 250