Folia archeologica 31.

István Vörös: Zoológiai és palaeoökonómiai vizsgálatok a korai neolitikus Körös kultúra archaeozoologiai anyagán

ARCHAEOZOOI.OGIA 39 The Körös Culture imported the cattle to the Carpathian Basin already in its domesticated form. So there was no local domestication in the settlements of the culture in this area.

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6 It is probable that the descendants of the catties originating from the small Balkan aurochs — which were smaller than the aurochs of the Carpathian Basin — were introduced to the Carpathian Basin in the 6

t

h millennium B. C. The cattle of the Körös Culture belong dominantly to the primigenius type (Bos taurus primigenius Riitimeyer) although we know a fragment of a skull of brachyceros type (Bos taurus brachyceros Rütimeyer) from the settlement Nosza-Gyöngypart (Yugoslavia).

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7 The analysis of the Osteometrie data measured on the bone material of cattle makes possible to distinguish the two sexes. The number of species of the published measurable bone remains of cattle are the following: 99 dV Szajol-Felsőföld 39 34 Röszke-Ludvár 3 3 Gyálarét-Szilágyi major 2 2 Maroslele-Pana 3 Hódmezővásárhely-Bodzáspart 4 At Szajol-Felsőföld the ratio between the two sexes on the basis of the measurable bones is roughly 1:1 although the small size, the gracile character and the sculptural homogeneity of those bones which are unsuitable for measuring because of their fragmentary condition suggest undoubtedly the preponderance of females. At present we can not explain the preference or possible preference of cows in feeding, likewise we can not weigh the influence of the lack of consumed females to the structure of the live —stock. The bulls were most probably slaughtered in their youth. The question whether the inhabitants of the site had butchered and cut up the cattle within the settlement or outside of it can be answered with the aid of the classification of the bone material by the Kretzoi method.

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8 The somatic regions of different value from the viewpoint of nourishment are; the region of the head, of the trunk, of the meaty limbs, of the dry-limbs and of the knuckles. At Szajol-Felsőföld where the whole bone-material was studied, the distribution of the somatic regions of cattle is heterogeneous. Most bones belong to the trunk region (29,68 per cent) and to the meaty limbs region (27,26 per cent), followed by the bones of the head region (18,93 per cent), the dry limbs region (14,76 per cent) and the knuckles (9,37 per cent). The high frequency of bones belonging to the trunk region shows clearly that the catties were slaughtered and cut up within the settlement.

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9 The distribution of cattle bones according to the somatic regions is significantly different in the excavated areas (one house and two pits) at the Szajol-Felsőföld settlement, 2

6 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1964. 91.; 1974. 26., 110. 2

7 Ibid. 108. 2

8 Kretzoi, M. — Gábori— Csánk, V., Zoologie archéologique. In: La station du Paléolithique Moyen d'Érd, Hongrie. Mon.Hist. 3. (Budapest 1968) 230. 2

9 Vörös, /., FA 29(1978) 84—.