Folia archeologica 31.
István Vörös: Zoológiai és palaeoökonómiai vizsgálatok a korai neolitikus Körös kultúra archaeozoologiai anyagán
42 I. VÖRÖS cies. 3 6 For lack of sufficient knowledge on the genetic structure of the Early Neolithic sheep stock we can not prove whether it is right to label the two types (species) as forms representing sexual dimorphism. The earliest symptom of domestication which can be traced among sheep is hornlessness 3 7 found also among the sheep of Maroslele-Pana, 3 8 Röszke-Ludvár, Gyálarét-Szilágyi major and Ludas-Budzak (Yugoslavia). 3 9 It is interesting that during the Early Neolithic the hornless sheep was found in a relatively great quantity at certain sites. It is probable that hornlessness has nothing to do with the process of domestication but rather with the inbreeding selection (?) developed as a consequence of the increasing isolation of the sheep stock. The hereditary process of hornlessness determined by the male sex is manifested itself with varying penetration among the male and female individuals. Therefore only the future allometric sex-investigations on intact skulls of hornless sheep will settle whether in the early prehistoric periods hornlessness is characteristic only for the female individuals or for both sexes. At Szajol-Felsőföld the distribution of sheep bones according to the somatic regions is heterogeneous like that of cattle bones found there, though in contrast to the cattle most sheep bones belong to the meaty limb region (46,92 per cent), followed by the bones of the head region (21,32 per cent), dry limb region (18,23 per cent), trunk region (12,79 per cent) and the knuckles (0,74 per cent). 94,45 per cent of the trunk bones of sheep consists of vertebrae, the other 5,55 per cent of ribs. The number of trunk bones is very small which allows us to come to the conclusion that the slaughtering and cutting up of the small ruminants took place either in the yet unexcavated area of the settlement or outside the settlement. This supposition is proved by also the observation that the carpale and tarsale bones are completely missing in the osteological material of small ruminants. These bones can be found there only in that case if the forelegs and the hind legs of the animals get into the settlements in whole condition i.e. in the skin. When the animal was prepared for consumption these bones were removed together with the other waste to refuse pits. The distribution of bone material of small ruminants according to somatic regions helps to reconstruct the working process practized by the inhabitants of the settlement cutting up the animals: a. Forelegs and hind legs were cut/chopped off from the trunk together with the shoulder blades and the hind quarters, respectively; b. Forelegs and hind legs were resected ; the extremities of the legs being distally from the radius-ulna and the tibia-fibula (carpus-tarsus bones, metapodii and knuckles) were cut off from the trunks; c. Even the knuckles were removed from the extremities of legs already cut off. In the excavated area at Szajol-Felsőföld mostly the bones of resected forelegs, hind legs and metapodii were found. Consequently the animals were 3 6 Vörös, I., FA 29(1978) 82. 3 7 Bökönyi, S., op.cit. 1964. 91. 3 8 Ibid. 90. 3 9 Id., op.cit. 1974. 160.
