Póczy Klára: Forschungen in Aquincum 1969- 2002 (Aquincum Nostrum 2. Budapest, 2003)

6. Die Wirtschaft Aquincums im Spiegel der neuen Funde - 6.3. Animals and Roman lifeways in Aquincum (Alice M. Choyke)

A number of Roman period researchers have concluded that cattle (Bos taurus L.) were used mostly for haulage, milk and manure in the same way as was customary in the Mediterranean area.

11 Beef was particularly important in providing meat supplies for the military.

12 Large breeds of cattle appear with the Romans although there has been discussion (BÖKÖNYI 1974, 46) as to whether this is a result of better keeping techniques or improved breeding.

13 It seems clear that these larger breeds are usually found on the great estates of rural Pannónia province where their superior strength would have been important in plowing large fields and hauling over greater distances. Cattle were usually slaughtered at a mature age once they were too worn out for work or their milk production had dropped. Beef, posssibly in a form processed for preservation, was a small but important part of provisioning at military forts and fortresses in the province.

14 Manure for fertilizer must have been a particularly important by-product of this species. Other ogy 15 (1978) 207-232. King showed that in Roman Britain there was a progressive decrease of caprine remains relatve to those of pig and that more Romanized settlements tend to have more pig bones. In Pannónia, comparison of material from a wide variety of sites showed similar trends. However, there also tend to be more wild animals at military sites. See: Bartosiewicz, L., Animal bones as indicators of continuity at Roman Provincial sites. Antaeus (1990-91) 103-124. 11 Maltby, M., The animal bones from Exeter 1971-1975. Exeter Archaeological Reports 2, Sheffield University, Department of Prehistory and Archaeology 31, Sheffield (1976); Davis, S., The Archaeology of Animals. B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1987, 183. 12 KING op. cit. 15. 13 DAVIS op. cit. 1988, 183. Bökönyi early on in his career also identified a large number of wild cattle bones (Bos primigenius Boj.) at the Albertfalva Castrum which was probably inflated. Not as much was known about the large Roman breeds of cattle then so that some of the bones may have been misidentified. Never the less, bones of aurochs are more common at military forts and rural settlements than in urban centers. There is only one bone from this wild species in the bone assemblages from Aquincum - a distal femur from an immature animal. 14 For example at the limes forts of Acs-Vaspuszta, Campona and Albertfalva. 15 Fitz, J., Economic Life, In: (A. Lengyel and G.T.B. Radan eds.) The Archaeology of Roman Pannónia, Budapest, important products derived from cattle included hide,

15 glue from hooves, horn and worked bone objects. Sheep (Ovis aries L.) were much more common than goat at settlements in Pannónia. Sheep seem to have been primarily exploited for their wool.

16 They were exported from various parts of Pannónia to Siscia although sometimes lambs were slaughtered for a better class of meals. The Roman sheep are generally larger than the native Celtic ones in Pannónia (BÖKÖNYI 1974, 178-179) and it is likely they produced a medium fine wool similar to modern day Cotswald sheep. Goats (Copra hircus L.) seem to have been much less important than sheep in the diet although their sizes also increase compared to the native Celtic varieties suggesting that improved forms were introduced into the province as well. The first hornless goats appear during the Roman Imperial period in Pannónia, probably as imports. In Italy, newborn and juvenile pigs (Sus domesticus Erxl.) were considered a delicacy with a large number of recipes devoted to pork prepared in many and varied ways.

17 This too seems to have been the case in Pannónia. At one great villa farm at Nemesvámos -Balácapuszta, a cellar has been preserved with over 4000 bones from young suckling piglets. It is clear that the animals' carcasses were being prepared in this cellar before it was 1980, 325. Round wood-lined pits from Aquincum have been interpreted as the remains of tanneries. 16 FITZ J. op. cit. 325. One of the centers of wool processing was in Siscia where wool from the Karst region was brought in and processed. Mócsy A., Ólom árucímkék Sisciából [Lead labels from Siscia] FolArch 8 (1956) 5—87. 17 Apicius, Cookery and dining in Imperial Rome. Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1977. Apicius may have lived in the time of Tiberius [42 BC.-37 A.D.] although there are two other individuals known for their culinary dedication who may have set down the recipes found in this book. Apicius' chapter on sumptuous dishes (Lib.VII. Polyteles), including delicacies such as spayed sow's womb (vulvae steriles), cracklings, pork skin, tenderloin, tails and feet (callum, lumbelli, coticulae, ungellae), fig-fed pork with wine sauce (in ficato oenogarum), pork cutlets, hunter style (offellae aprugneo more), suckling pig paunch (ventrem porcinum) and ham (pernam). Of the meat dishes in that chapter two thirds are made from various parts of the pig carcass.