Vadas Ferenc (szerk.): A Szekszárdi Béri Balogh Ádám Múzeum Évkönyve 13. (Szekszárd, 1986)

László Bartosiewicz–Alice M. Choyke: Animal exploitation at the site of Csabdi–Télizöldes

Additional analysis based on further data is needed to demonstrate and measure the validity of trends perceived here, thus final conclusions will depend on subsequent excavations. Finally, basic faunal characteristics of the Csabdi-Télizöldes material were studied in the context of Neolithic and Copper Age animal husbandry. For the purposes of inter-site comparisons special emphasis was laid on the relationships between the remains of domestic animal species. While the remains of wild animals may more reliably reflect characteristics of the natural environment of a site, the domestic stock is equally influenced by the natural circumstances and several anthropogenic effects (Figure 1). According to this schematic representation the keeping of each particular domestic species may be influenced by the coincidence of natural factors and human expectations defined by net production as a common denominator. Should the environment be in drastic contradiction with the physiological needs of a domesticated species, human expectations will not be met by net production output and thus the animals in question hold but a marginal position in terms of economic importance. Figure 2 shows a simple model that is an extended version of the ideas presented here. The additional dimension of modes of exploitation is also included in this drawing. Of these, meat production alone may be more or less directly reconstructed on the basis of faunal remains from archaeological sites. Interrelationships outlined in Figure 1. should hold true for each of the domestic species symbolized by vertical segments in this picture. In appropriate manifestation of physiological capacities in a given environment may be tolerated to some extent for cultural reasons, while importation as well as the complementary production of other species may fill the gap in an economic sense. The opposite of these phenomena is environmentally determined successful production and related potential for export or/ and exchange of animals between farming communities. In light of these models, Csabdi-Télizöldes was studied in the context of a case study which included faunal data on 87 Neolithic sites (from aceramic to Copper Age habitations) from Europe and the Middle East. These comparative data were published in review works by Bökönyi (1974), Murray (1970) and Poulain (1984). They represent a wide range of geographical and chronological varieties, so that both environmental and cultural variability are abundantly illustrated. No sites with less than 200 fragments were included in the statistical analysis. Fragment numbers (FN) and minimum numbers off individuals (MNI) for cattle, pig, sheep/goat and dog were expressed both in terms of absolute counts and percentages. In addition to these characteristics FN and MNI for total samples as well as all domesticates were calculated. Finally, the proportion beween total MNI and total FN was also used to characterize the sites. Variables obtained this way were subjected to a factor analysis (Frane et al. 1981) in order to clarify the much discussed relationships between FN and the partially discredited MNI (Gautier 1984). At the x — 1 level of latent roots six factors were obtained. The rotated factor loading matrix is presented in Table 4. The clustering of variables on each of these factors reveals patterns which may be useful in studying Csabdi-Télizöldes as well. The most unambiguous correlation between FN and MNI (both in terms of frequencies and percentages) may be observed in the case of pig (factor 2) and dog (fator 6). According to factor 1 high total fragment numbers are mostly due to the presence of many bones from cattle and sheep/goat. The Caprinae subfamily 184