Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 62. (Budapest 1970)

Éry, K.: The skeletal remains of a tenth century population at Dunaalmás, Hungary

INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATION VALUES : AGE AND SEX DATA Table 1. Grave No Inventar No. R Q liant values . Quai. Sex Sexual expressednes s Sex. repr. valve Estii a nated ge Criter o ons of a S le esti H mation F 1 1 0 867 0 7 0, 50 -0, 33 1 . 0 31 - 40 II II 11 2 10 868 0 1 0. 00 23 3 10 869 0 1 0. 00 ' 14 16? 4 ' 1 0. 870 0 5 0. 25 . +0,42 .0. 7 48 - 56 Ill III 5 10. 871 0 1 0. 00 23 6 10. 872 0 5 0. 25 -0. 66 0. 5 61 - 67 IV IV Ill 7 10 873 0 5 0. 25 -0. 84 0. 7 65 - 74 IV IV-V 8 10. 874 0 8 0. 25 -p. 66 1.0 27 - 36 I II-III 9'. 10. 875 0 9 0. 50 +0. 26 1.0 32 - 36 I II II II 10 10 876 0 2 0. 25 o 1 , 5 . 1 1 10. 877 0 8 0. 25 0* +0. 50 . 0. 9 52 - 56 IV III II III 12 0 0 0. 00 ? 1 5 - x A 0 0 0. 00 ? 0 preservation of the bones, as well as the identification data of sex and age are given in Table 1. In calculating the representation values and identifying sex, I applied the ÉRY-KRALOVÁNSZKY-NEMESKÉRI method (1963); in evaluating the age of the adults, I used NEMESKÉRI-HARSÁNYI-ACSÁDI/S (1960), and in that of the children, SCHRANZ'S (1959), methods. Concerning the demographic characteristics of the investigated population, the following inferences can be made. Only one individual belonging to the Infans age group is known from the cemetery, hence the ratio infant (0-14) and adult (15-x) is 9-91 per cent. Even if one or two further infants may have lain in the destroyed part of the cemetery, the ratio 23-77 per cent is still far from the average contemporary 40-60 per cent infant—adult mortality rate (ACSÁDI, 1965) and the fertility of the females buried in the cemetery. Obviously therefore, the population at Dunaalmás had not always interred all deceased children, a usage already many times exemplified by cemeteries of this period in Hungary. The other characteristic of the cemetery is that the sex ratio of those older than 15 years is apparently uneven. The number of male dead is namely merely three against the seven females, though in one case the identification of sex is uncertain (Grave 2). Since, however, the sex of the individuals buried in Graves 12 and A is unknown, the apparent female majority cannot be considered justified. That the sex ratio had probably been equalized in the entirety of the cemetery is substantiated by the undisturbed group of graves excavated in the southern section; here, namely, there were 3 males and 3 females in the six adult graves. The metric and morphological examinations of the osteological material was made according to MARTIN (1928), and in the classification of the measurements and indices by ALEKSEJEV-DEBETS'S (1964) categories. Stature was calculated according to PEARSON (1899) and WOLANSKI (1953). The relevant data are submitted in Table 2. The results of the examinations can be summarized as follows : The basic and common feature of the population at Dunaalmás is the dolichocranial skull of all examinable individuals (even of that buried in Grave 5). Some further common characteristics are also observable. The skull is ovoid in a superior