Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

The environment of ancient man (Katalin T. Bíró, Zsófia Medzihradszky, Andrea Torma, István Vörös)

5. The appearance of domestic animais as reflected in archaeological bone samples (P: Palaeolithic, M: Mesolithic, C: Copper Age, B: Bronze Age, I: Iron Age, R: Roman Age, M: Migration period, MA: Middle Ages, PM: Post-medieval period) THE ANIMAL WORLD Zoological remains of the Quaternary are recovered from sedimentary formations in the course of palaeontological and archaeological investigations. The subdivision of the Quaternary is based on mammalian species, particularly on short-lived small mammals. Every mild period and the ensuing cold phase of the Pleistocene was characterised by the emergence of a typical mammalian association. The mammals of the milder phases were less developed (with a smaller body) from an evolutionary point of view compared to their more developed counterparts adapting to the ensuing cold phase with a larger, "glacial" body. These became extinct in the next warm phase, giving way to the next "less developed" members of a new fauna association. Three mammalian associations of this type have been distinguished in the Hungarian Pleistocene, corresponding to different fauna phases called the Villányiam the Biharian and the Pilisian, each of which has been divided into additional sub-phases. The most important large mammal species of the Hungarian Pleistocene are shown in Fig. 4. The study of the animal bone samples from Hungarian archaeological sites allows the reconstruction not only of the fauna of a particular period, but also of species favoured by ancient hunter/gatherer communities, which in turn allows an insight into their lifeways. The hunters of the Palaeolithic based their hunting strategies on herd animals. The mobility and the behaviour patterns of large mammals differed considerably. The four major hunted species were wild horse, bison, red deer and reindeer. In addition to the dominant species of a particular region, ancient communities also hunted various other animals too, depending on their hunting strategy and hunting techniques. There is evidence for specialised hunting of mammoth, rhinoceros, moose, ibex and cave bear. The Holocene is divided into four major phases: the Palánk (Mesolithic), the Körös (Neolithic), the Bükk (from the Copper Age to the Roman occupation) and the Alföld phases (from the Roman occupation to the 16th century) (Fig. 5). The initial warm phase of the Holocene saw the extinction of the large Pleistocene mammal species, with the exception of carnivores. Cold tolerant species migrated northward, while steppean species moved eastward. The Carpathian Basin was populated by a mammalian fauna arriving from the south, the southeast and the east during the early Holocene. Pleistocene bison gave way to Dog CaUlc Sheep Goat Pig Horse Ass Cat BAJOT KOROS / BUKK y 'KÖHÁT, /ALFÖLD Pre-Boreal Boreal Atlantic Sub-Boreal Sub-Atlantic P / M N /<= / H , /I R M MA PM 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 1000 2000 10,000 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0