Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 13 (1968) (Pécs, 1971)

Régészet - K. Zoffmann, Zs.: An Anthropological Study of the Neolithic Cemetery at Villánykövesd (Lengyel Culture), Hungary

AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE NEOLITHIC CEMETERY AT VILLÁNYKÖVESD (LENGYEL CULTURE), HUNGARY ZS. K. ZOFFMANN In 1957, DOMBAY exposed a smaller part of a settlement, belonging to the Lengyel culture, at Villánykövesd. In the area between the pits and in their filled-in earth, graves with contracted skeletons have been excavated. On the basis of the burial custom and the accompanying archeological finds, the graves belong to the Lengyel culture (DOMBAY 1959). Excavation yielded a total of 29 graves, of which the anthropological material of merely 23 could be saved'. Grave 28. did not, according to DOMBAY's observation, belong to the Lengyel culture, while two other ones (Graves 4 and 11) of this culture did not contain anthropological material. The skeletal remains of Graves 6 and 29 have not been saved; Grave 10 contains two skeletons. Fig. 1. The geographical location of Villánykövesd. The material available for study is in a very deteriorated state of preservation, fragmentary, destorted, scale-coated, and the greater part of the bones are unsuitable for measuring purposes. However, the meagre available anthropological materials deriving from the Aeneolithic Period in Central Europe, and especially in Hungary justify the publication of the anthropological material from Villánykövesd. 1 The osteological material is preserved, under Inventory Numbers 58.4—24; 58.106—108, in the Anthropological Collection of the Department of Archeology at Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs. The qualitative and quantitative representation, as well as the sex and the rate of sexualisation of the adult skeletons have been determined by the work of ERY — KRALOVÁNSZKY — NEMESKÉRI (1963). SCHRANZ's (1959), JOHNSTON'S (1961) and the publication of NEMESKÉRI—HARSÁNYI—ACSÁDI (1960) served for the determination of age, with due consideration in every case to the abrasion of the teeth. Measurements and indices have been determined according to MARTIN, the morphological characters by BROCA's and SERGI's schémas (MARTIN 1928). Stature was calcutated with PEARSON'S method (1899). The pathological deformations observed on the Villánykövesd material, together with those made on other prehistoric skeletal material, were worked up by REGÖLY—MÉREI (1960). For the sake of a full treament, I cite REGÖLY—MÉREI's diagnoses but describe in certain cases the pathological deformations not recorded by this author on the basis of my own observations. Taxonomical identification was based mainly on the works of ANGEL (1951), CHOCHOL (1964), and LIPTÁK (1957). Age determination, based on the state of eruption of the teeth, of individuals belonging to the groups Inf. I

—II. is given in Table 1, while the identification data as to sex and age of individuals from the age-groups ad.-sen. are submitted in Table 2. Tables 3 and 4 contain the cranial and postcranial measurements and indices, respectively, of the adult individuals. * * * Grave 1. (Inv. No. 58.106) — Female, 30—40 years. Previously to the excavation, the grave was partly plough up; only the fragmentary mandible, the left humerus, the ulna and radial bones, and a part of the dorsal section of the spinal column hacl been saved. Sex was determined by the gracile state of the bones, especially that of the humerus. Dentition: On the neck of the lower left M2 on the labial surface is a small-sized caries. Abrasion of the available teeth (mollars) III.