Folia archeologica 48.
István Vörös: Az aquincumi castrum mithraeumának állatcsontleletei
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM AQUINCUM 79 red deer 6 hare 4 horse and fish 3-3 roe-deer, wild boar and dog 2-2 auroch, wolf, fox, martens 1 -1 5. Bones from the Mithraic temple - remains of food or animal sacrifices ? The archaeozoological evidence excavated from the sanctuary of the Mithrean temple within the Tribunus Laticlavius house in the Aquincum legion camp is an especially valuable find assemblage. By walling off the santuary from the rest of the building the function of the premises was ceased but the finds preserved intact. In the sanctuary pit, remains of pi g, shee p, cattl e, he n and goos e as well as har e; around the altars, pig and har e; in front of the Eastern podium, remains of pig and he n were found. In the sanctuary pit: 7 longitudinally split head-part of pig, bones of 7 fore- and 3 hind legs, 5 halves of chest (longitudinally split vertebrae, range of ribs cut from the inside) only head and phalangi of shee p, 2 horn core with frontal bone, range of ribs and phalangi of cattl e, 10 head, 4 breast, minimum 10 wings and 14 legs of he n, vertebrae, 2 wings, 3 legs of goos e were found. Around the altars: head-part of pi g, range of ribs, bones of fore- and hind limbs In front of the Eastern podium: head part of pi g, range of ribs, bones of fore legs 4 heads, 3 wings, 3 legs of he n came forth. In other parts of the Mithraeum, pig was accumulated in similar anatomical division as in the sanctuary while distribution of small ruminant bones and cattle were different. In case of the two latter,apart from the head region the so-called fleshy bone regions were found and phallangi were missing (see Tables 4-5). Pig bones in the central aisle were represented by 3 heads and bones of 2-2 fore-and hind limbs; in the foreroom, 3 heads and 3-3 fore and hind limb bones were found. On both places, isolated lower canine tooth (tusk) was also found. Ehe partial desolation of the parvis of the Mithraeum is indicated by traces of chewing (dogs) on part of the bones. The number of bones in the above mentioned body regions give, similar to individual number, an osteological minimal value. As the accumulation period of the animal bones is not known, the find assemblage should be considered complete. The assymetrical distribution of limb bones indicate that the animals were brought in the temple „in pieces" already. Practically, almost all of the „meaty bones" could be considered remains of separate individuals. The use of the Mithraic sanctuary of the Aquincum legion camp was estimated for ca. 50 years by L. Kocsis 4 7. 4 7 Kocsis 1991. 118., ff. 25. 4 8 van der Driesch-Pöllath 2000. Tabi. 2.
