Folia archeologica 36.

Lovag Zsuzsa: Egy XI. századi bronz korpusz

202 ISTVÁN VÖRÖS Table 2. Aurochs, bone measurements from Zalavár (in mm) Horn-core Sex cow bull Nr. 5. 1. 2. 3. 6. 7. 8. n X min-max greatest length 400 (600) 650 (420) 650 620 (550) 3 640 620-650 max.diam. of base 86 (100) 117 140 127 148 109 5 128 109-148 min.diam. of base 61 (83) 95 112 95 105 88 5 99 88-112 circumf. of base 236 (290) 330 380 350 400 315 5 355 315-400 Skeletal part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Humerus 113 113 bull Femur — .— — — 81 — — bull — ,—. 46 115 — 53 144 cow Tibia —. — — (73) — — — bull, inf. Ph. I. ant. 68 45 38 42 43,5 25,5 30 bull post. 69 40 34 37,5 41 25,5 29,5 bull post. 65 40 35 37 39 27 28 cow Ph. II. ant. 51 41 33 38 47 35 46 bull post. 50 41 32,5 34 45 30 35 bull 1. greatest length (at the phalangis med.-sagitt. length), 2. proximal breadth, 3. smallest diaphysal, breadth 4. distal breadth, 5. proximal diameter, 6. smallest diaphysal diameter, 7. distal diameter. (in brackets the fragment's measurements) being "animals of not very big stature".

1

8 The osteological dimensions of Early Medieval Aurochs finds at Zalavár (Table 2.) are really smaller than those of the Neolithic Aurochs population 1st in the Carpathian Basin.

1

9 It is interesting that the osteological dimensions and exspecially the dimensions of horn-cores are suggestive of large animals, similarly to the bull horn-cores from 9—10th century Zalavár. Thus, this phenotype has existed in Hungary for about 5 to 6,000 years. During the 1955 excavation of an Árpádian Age village at Csongrád—Felgyő. a fragment of a horn-core wall was found which really belongs to an Aurochs.

20 However, a revision of the stratigraphical location of the find will be necessary to establish its more exact chronological position. The wall thickness of the horn-core is 19—20 mms which is characteristic of prehistoric Aurochs remains. 1

8 Ibid. 363. 1

9 Id., loc. cit. (1972); Krolopp, E— Vörös, I., op. cit. 50. 2

0 Bökönyi, S., op. cit. (1974) 355. (Inv. № 56.10.29.); Matolcsi, ]., Állattartás őseink korában. (Animal keeping in the time of our ancestors) (Budapest 1982) 262—.