Kovács Tibor - Stanczik Ilona (szerk.): Bronze Age tell settlements of the Great Hungarian Plain I. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 1; Budapest, 1988)
Sándor BÖKÖNYI: Animal remains from Bronze Age tells in the Berettyó valley
Table 3. Size variation of cattle based on metapodial measurements site greatest length maximal width withers height (cm) Nobis-index sex Metacarpals Bakonszeg-Kádárdomb Gáborján-Csapszékpart Gáborján-Csapszékpart Gáborj án-Csap székpart Gáborján-Csapszékpart Berettyóújfalu-Szilhalom 203 171 190 200* 211 185 67 49.5 56 64 50 125.45 105.68 117.42 123.60 130.40 114.33 33.0 29.0 29.5 30.3 27.0 Metatarsals Bakonszeg-Kádárdomb Bakonszeg-Kádárdomb Bakonszeg-Kádárdomb Bakonszeg-Kádárdomb 198* 210.5 277 233 43 44 46 50.5 108.31 115.14 124.17 127.45 21.7 20.9 20.3 21.7 similar geographical environment (the border zone between the Berettyó marshland and the dry grassland to its north), as well as to the general trend of Bronze Age animal husbandry (primarily, the appearance of domestic horse and the growing importance of caprovines and, later, pig raising). 4 The only small dissimilarity is the high proportion of pig at BerettyóújfaluSzilhalom which, however, could be the result of a wetter environment. Since the three bone assemblages represented kitchen refuse, their state of preservation was rather poor. There were no complete skulls. The largest skull fragment was the opened skull of a dog from BakonszegKádárdomb. The horn-cores included three complete and five measurable fragments from cattle, two measurable and two unmeasurable pieces from cattle, three unmeasurable specimens from goat, and finally, the nearly complete, but unmeasurable horn-core of an aurochs bull. The long bones included twelve from cattle (2 radii, 6 metacarpals, and 4 metatarsals), one metacarpal from sheep, a radius from goat, and two horse metacarpals. At the same time, the number of measurable bone fragments was considerably high. The different domestic species show rather large variations both in terms of their size and their horn form. For example, the cattle horn-cores included three quite short and thin pieces, two medium-sized specimens and three really large ones which can only be distinguished from those of wild cattle by their curved and twisted form, and furrowed, thin walls. The size variations of cattle can be demonstrated with the aid of whole metapodials which allow the determination of the withers height using Matolcsi's indexes 5 and the definition of sex using Nobis' indexes. 6 Table 3 shows that the withers height of cows varied between 105.68 and 124.17 cm, the only bull above this variation had a withers height of 12545 cm and two oxen had a withers height of 127.45 and 130.40 cm respectively. In spite of the size variations of cattle, one cannot find any transitional individuals between domestic and wild cattle on the Bronze Age sites of the Berettyó valley. Diagram 1 clearly demonstrates that the domestic and wild population do not overlap which proves the lack of local domestication. However, casual cattle domestication does sprodically occur, similarly to other sites. The ratio of cows to bulls is 6:1; however, the sample is too small for such determinations. The same is true of the two or three oxen (it would appear that the cca 200 mm long metacarpal also represents an ox); at the same time, the occurrence of oxen definitely suggests the use of cattle as draught animals. The large majority of the wild aurochs population consisted of small- to medium-sized individuals. There were, however, also a few large animals as shown by the huge incomplete horn-core and a 91 mm long specimen from Bakonszeg-Kádár domb, a scapula fragment of 90 mm distal width, a metacarpal fragment of 87 mm proximal width from Gáborján-Csapszékpart, and another scapula fragment of 89 mm distal width from Berettyóújfalu-Szilhalom. They obviously represent adult bulls which had reached their full size, the others come from cows. A withers height of 66.07 cm can be determined — using Teichert's index 7-from the greatest length of the only complete sheep metacarpal. This lies somewhere in the middle of the size variation range of the Bronze Age sheep of Central Europe. 8 The sheep horn-cores include two measurable, short and rather flat specimens (probably females), and two large, outward twisted horn-cores, triangular at the base (obviously males). Remains of hornless sheep could not be detected; such animals are generally rare in the Bronze Age of Central and South-East Europe. The most important goat remains occurred at Gáborján-Csapszékpart: two left and one right horn-core fragments (unfortunately, none of them is measurable). One left and right specimen is twisted, the other left horn-core is not twisted, but scimitar-shaped. Thus its form is similar to that of wild females' horn-cores, the only difference being that its cross-section has a flat medial and round lateral surface, and a sharp anterior and blunt posterior edge. This undoubtedly implies that it originates from domestic goat, probably a female.
