Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 102. (Budapest 2010)
Bernert, Zs.: Anthropological data from the Hungarian Scythian Period collected from the cemetery excavated at M0 Ring Road, Site No. 008, Akácos-dulo
258 Zs. Bemert MATERIAL AND METHOD The anthropological material is stored in the Anthropological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum under inventory numbers from 2010.4.1. to 2010.4.84. Part of the human remains was found in the form of cremated bones (33 individuals) while the other part was found as skeletons (51 individuals). The material of the skeletons is of very bad condition. Some of the graves were discovered in the topsoil where plants entirely intertwined the bones including the porous substance inside the bones. Due to the poor condition of the bones, only a limited number of methods could be applied. To estimate the biological age of children, we examined the number and the development level of the teeth (SCHOUR & MASSLER 1941, UBELAKER 1989), as well as the length and diameter of the midshast of limbal long bones (BERNERT et al. 2008). During morphological sex determination, we considered 21 anatomical characteristics with reference to sexual dimorphism ( ACSÁDI & NEMESKÉRI 1970, ÉRY 1992, ÉRY et al. 1963). The biological age was estimated by the following methods: In case of adults, we based our estimations on the surface alterations of facies symphyseos ossis pubis (TODD 1920) and on the degree of ectocranial (MEINDL & LOVEJOY 1985) and endocranial (NEMESKÉRI et al. 1960) ossification of cranial sutures. We established the advancement of the demineralization of inorganic matter in the roots of permanent teeth (LAMENDIN et al. 1992). The wear of permanent teeth was also utilized for the estimation of age according to agegroups ( HUSZÁR & SCHRANZ 1952). We followed the method of MARTIN & SALLER (1957) and ALEKSEEV & DEBETS (1964) in scoring measurements and indices. Stature was estimated according to the method of BERNERT (2008). Cranial capacity was calculated by the method of LEE & PEARSON (cit. ÉRY 1992). Seven characteristics were observed for the morphological description of skulls. RESULTS The examination of cemeteries from the Scythian period is especially important because Scythians are the first large nomadic people from the steppe appearing in large numbers in the Carpathian Basin. Several sites are known from this period but the number of representative cemeteries with many graves is small, therefore, there is considerable obscurity concerning the anthropological picture of Scythians. We have no idea about the actual size of this cemetery. However, based on the 84 graves examined, we can say that it is the largest anthropological series from the Scythian period discovered near Budapest. Table 1 shows the most important individual data. Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 102, 2010
