Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 92. (Budapest 2000)

Éry, K.: Anthropological studies on a Late Roman Period population at Tác-Margittelep

Comparative examinations In order to judge the place of the Tác population its generalized PENROSE-distance (Cp2) from a summarized late Roman and a summarized Avar period sample of Eastern Transdanubia was calculated. The late Roman period sample consisted of the pooled data of Csákvár (NEMESKÉRI 1956), Majs (ÉRY 1968), Pécs (ÉRY 1973), Tokod (ÉRY 1981) and Vörösmart (WENGER 1968a), the Avar period sample consisted of the pooled data of Csákberény (ÉRY, manuscript), Előszállás (WENGER 1966), Kékesd (WENGER 1968/?), Solymár (FERENCZ 1982-83 and manuscript) and Szekszárd-Palánk (LlPTÁK 1974). The calculation was based on 10 male cranial measurements. According to the generalized distance values, the male population of Tác did not differ considerably from the late Roman and Avar period population of the same area (Table 14). The slight differences were caused by the skull dimensions of the male population of Tác which exceed those of the two other samples. Such a difference is traceable on the cranial indices and on the frequencies of tall individuals as well (Table 15). From the above-mentioned phenomena three conclusions follows. Firstly, that among the males of Tác more dolichocranic elements with a high stature, probably of German origin, were present than in the contemporary series. Secondly, that in spite ofthat slight difference, it seems that in the 4th—5th century a relatively homogenous population inhabited the territory of Eastern Transdanubia. Thirdly, that the late Roman period population survived the fall of the Roman Empire and became part of the 6th—8th century Avar period population on the same area. SUMMARY Physical anthropological studies of the population represented in a cemetery of Gorsium used between AD 380 and 430, known as Tác- Margittelep today, yielded the following main results. a) The distribution of the 420 skeletons by age group indicates a high infant mortality rate among the 5-14 year old individuals. b) The number of female skeletons is 158, while there are only 128 male ones. The deficiency of men is primarily significant in age group 20 - 34. c) The cases of sword-cuts are extremely high. Besides the death of two 10 14 year old boys, the death or survived trauma of 13 - 15 men were caused by such injuries^