Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 23. 1984-1985 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1987)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Choyke, A. M. – Bartosiewicz László: Animal exploitation and its relationship the bone deposition at Lovasberény-Mihályvár. p. 7–18.

i.e. Class 1 tools as defined previously (Choyke 1983a). Bone is thus often picked up and used when it happens to fit the momentary requirements of the tool user. Within the entire bone tool sample for all sites the following cattle bones were used later as tools: the mandible, rib, scapula, radius, ulna, tibia, metacarpal, metatarsal and first phalanges. For this reason we will concentrate on these bones. The remarks made here are generally true of the butchering patterns at many sites of this period. Cattle mandible almost always lacks the most oral area (alveoli of the incisors, part of the diastema) and is frequently found broken as far back as the aboral part of the diastema or gap between the first premolar and canine. The ramus is usually broken away at the angulus. In many cases the basal margin is also missing. These bones are often found separately suggesting that they were smashed off during some part of the dismemberment processes, rather than having been chewed away by dogs, although the conditions of the bone as BINFORD (1981) describes it would be similar. Some of our observations also suggest that mandibles are less preferred when large ungulate heads (cattle and red deer) are subjected to gnawing by domestic dogs. Lovasberény-Mihályvár, however, is one of the few sites which has no tools made from this bone. As mentioned, the scapula is most often represented by its distal epiphysis or distal parts of the body. The caudal margin, i.e., proximal end, ossifies so late that most animals are killed before it is fused. The spina scapulae is frequently cut off as part of the dismemberment process (Guilday

— Parmelee—Tanner 1962; BINFORD 1981). The tuber scapulae often shows signs of gnawing by dogs. No tools from scapula are found at Lovasberény-Mihályvár. The radius is most frequently represented by the proximal end and parts of the diaphysis. Typically, the distal end is usually missing. As a spongy and soft bone part it is more easily destroyed by natural agents including gnawing dogs. The attached ulna is frequently separated with the proximal tuber olecrani broken during dismemberment at the joint between the humerus and radio-cubit us. One drill/perforator found at Lovasberény-Mihályvár was made from het distal end of ulna. Cattle rib is most frequently smashed off from the thoracic vertebrae. BINFORD (1981) has shown how this occurs during dismemberment of the rib cage from the carcass. Broad scrapers made from the distal portion (corpus costae) are a very common Class 1 tool type for such Vatya sites. The femur frequently displays classic destruction of the caput from dismemberment of the hind from the leg pelvic joint. In addition, the epiphyses of this bone fuse rather late making them more vulnerable to various natural destructive forces. The distal end, where available, is almost always heavily gnawed and the diaphysis broken for marrow. There are no examples of tools made from this bone. Tibia is the most frequently found of the long bones for two reasons. The first is that it has a rather large number of identifiable details as opposed to other bone. These include the triangular cross section, lines running along the ventral (plantar) side and a longitudinal canal on the lateral side running into the epiphysis. The soft proximal end occurs infrequently. The distal end, on the other hand, is hard, durable, contains much less meat, and is more common. Bone tools are rarely made from this part of the cattle skeleton. First phalanges, as noted earlier, are exceptionally common here. They are almost always preserved intact unless gnawed by dogs or drilled. At this site they do not figure as tools. There are some pieces drilled through in a proximal-distal direction of unknown function. The appearance of the cattle bone leads one to conclude a number of different things. First, the occurrence of all body parts is more or less equal proportions in terms of meat carrying regions allows one to conclude that these animals were slaughtered on site (Daly 1969). Since most of the bone come from adult animals it may also be assumed that, if culling of young individuals occurred, it took place elsewhere, and that these slaughtered beasts were those no longer usable for breeding and work. While there are few pathological bone specimens present, the small stature suggests poor feed conditions and a form („breed") which was slow to mature. At least 84% of the animals slaughtered here had probably been kept for several years, i.e., were young adults. There were no bones from newborn calves and, of the identifiable bone, only 0.1% came from juvenile cattle, 11% from sub-adult, 3 and 1% from mature and senile individuals respectively. Only 17% of the bone could be aged. The carcass was generally dismembered and cooked. Almost all hollow bone shows sings of fracturing for marrowing and having been in contact with fire. The regular absence of certain parts, especially the more spongy epiphyses, gives ample evidence of dog disturbance. Bone was not buried immediately after the consumption process, but left to accumulate and occassionally swept into pits. Special concentrations of cattle bone also may reflect other activities involved in the exploitation of cattle products. Bone tool production, following at the end of the consumption chain, is most fully expressed in the Class 1 rib scrapers which form a major type in the bone tool inventory. Other „expedient" i.e. Class 2 scrapers made from metapodial fragments occur rarely. Sheep/goat (Caprinae subfamily). Sheep and goat mirror cattle in the way they are formed, although given the great difference in size, it comes as no surprise to find that the carcass was accorded slightly different treatment. Identifiable skull fragments make up only 2.4% of the whole, although the better preserved maxilla, mandible and teeth account for 25% of all the sheep/goat bone. Vertebrae are certainly present but, since they are largely indistinguishable from those of roe deer, no attempt was made to count them. The more durable scapula accounts for 3% of the whole sheep/goat sample. Pelvis fragments account for 6%. The humerus make up 5% of the bone while femur fragments contribute 6%. Radio-cubitus and metacarpal represent 13 and 7% respectively. These proportions are very similar to those characteristic of cattle. Once again, the easily identified tibia with its hard and durable distal end accounts for 18% of the identified sheep/goat bones. The metatarsal makes up 5% of the sample. The astragalus and calcaneus comprise a mere 2% of the total, much less than the same tarsal bones from cattle. Phalanges, unlike those of cattle, make up only 4% of the total sheep/goat sample (cattle, 25%!). This, in part, may 9