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

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

30 К. ZOFFMANN Bony palate very high; upper dental arc divergent. Mandible medium wide; mentum medial. Dentition: Teeth very widely spaced both in upper and lower rows, size of the trémas 2—3 mm. Lower left M3 impacted, upper right and lower left incisors in rotation. No caries. Abrasion of incisors III., of molars II. Pathology: Immediately above the left tuber frontale, there is a healed wound (dimensions 9X14 mm), originating probably from a blow. — The caudal portion of the sacral canal is open, demonstrating a sacrum bifidum (REGÖLY—

MÉREI I960, 75). Grave 24. (Inv. No. 58.21) — Male, 41—45 years (Plate III.). Skull and postcranial bones well preserved. Brain-case: In norma verticalis widely rhomboidal, in norma occipitalis wide and low wedge-shaped. In norma lateralis the forehead low and steep, vertex elongately and flatly arcuate, occiput weakly curvoccinital, lambdoid flatness slight. Maximum length of the skull is very great (193 mm) but, owing to its extraordinary breadth (158 mm!), cranial index is showing a slight brachycrany (81.87). Skull orthocranial (by auricular height hypsicranial), but breadth-height index tapeinocranial (by auricular height tapeinocranial). Facial skeleton: The increase of the maximal breadth of the skull was concomitant also with the widening of the forehead. Thus the low forehead became wide — metriometopic. Besides the dimensions of breadth, the other measurements, as related to the other skulls from Villánykövesd, display no futher notable deviations. The face is wide, relatively low, owing to the breadth of the forehead, strongly narrowing downward. Orbita wide, comparatively low — mesoconch. The apertúra piriformis wide, medium high — hyperchamaerrhin, shape of nasal ridge concavo-convex; nasal root wide. Lower edge of apertúra piriformis — infantile; spina nasalis anterior — Broca 2. Position of fades malaris — slightly temporal; fossa canina medium deep. Bony palate very deep — leptostaphyline; upper dental arc divergent. Mandible wide; mentum bilateral. Dentition: Because of a slight crowdedness in lower dental arc, the right and left С and PM1 are in rotation. On the crown of lower left M2 is a small-sized caries. Abrasion II

—III. Pathology: The increase of the measurements of the cranial breadth, concurrently with the unaltered longitudinal and vertical dimensions, indicate a hydrocephalic skull, while the slightly vaulted state of the skull, and some also increased breadth measurements of thé facial skeleton contradict this assumption (BROTHWELL 1963, 163—165). On the left side of the planum nuchale ossis occipitalis and in the line of the linea nuchae inferior, there is a sharply delimited, regulary shaped bony thickening (about 2X2 cm large), no pathological deformation can be observed on the inner surface of the bone. Grave 25. (Inv. No. 58.22) — Newborn, 0—0.5 years. Among the fragmentary bones no teeth or dental bud could be found; age has beeen determined on the basis of the bones. Grave 26. (Inv. No. 58.23) — Inf. I. 2—2.5 years. See Table 1. Grave 27. (Inv. No. 58.24) — Juv. 14 years. Age was determined by the ossification of the epiphysis of the long bones; it had begun only at the distal epiphysis of the humerus and the proximal epiphysis of the ulna. * * * In the course of excavations at Villánykövesd, graves have been exposed on two area of the locality rather far removed from one another (graves 1—25 and graves 26—29) (DOMSAY 1959, 61.) On the basis of excavations at Zengővárkony it is well known that the settlements of the Lengyel culture were surounded by distinct groups of cemeteries (DOMBAY I960.). Presumably, therefore, the graves excavated at Villánykövesd stand for merely a small fragment of two grouos cemeteries, hence their representational value for the entire cemetery is very low (0.2) (ERY—

NEMESKÉRI —KRALOVÁNSZKY 1963) and inferences should not be generalized 'for the population of the entire settlement. In view of this fact, the fragmentary series available from Villánykövesd is unsuitable for a demographic analysis. Howewer, the fact ought to be still pointed out that while 44 per cent of the saved osteological material is referable to the age-proups Inf. I. (6 cases) and Inf. II. (4 cases), there is only one belonging to the juvenile age-group. The per cent distribution of those relegable to the adult age-groups are: adultus — 28 per cent (4 males and 3 females), maturus — 24 per cent (4 males and 1 female; 1 unidentifiable), senilis — 4 per cent (1 male). The uneven proportion of the males and females (9:4) derives from the very partiality of the excavation,. Although, as we have stated above, the series is fragmentary and thus lacking any representative character, the age-group distribution observed in the material resemble those found in other prehistoric populations. '