Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 26. 1989-1992 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1997)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Bartosiewicz László: A Székesfehérvár Bestriary: Animal Bones from the Excavations of the medieval City Wall. p. 133–167.

in favor of a rather descriptive evaluation. Fortunately, the animal bones discussed in this paper are relatively well preserved and some of them are worthy of attention in and of themselves alone, especially those which came to light from a garbage pit at the Jókai street site. The special advantages of such closed find assemblages have already been discussed elsewhere (Bartosiewicz 1983b, Bartosiewicz 1982/83), and they undoubtedly include the higher quality of information carried by the bones due to the special circumstances of deposition and a relatively greater probability of encountering articulated bones. This latter aspect of the material offered some possibility for the reconstruction of individuals, while other characteristics of the material have been subject to detailed description {Tables IV-XX). Direct references to the analytical procedures used in estimations appear in the discussion of results. Both comprehensive zoological conclusions and farreaching ethnoarchaeological speculations, howerer, were limited in the absence of observable patterning within the material. Therefore explanations of phenomena with no external evidence were avoided in order to prevent misinterpretations. Consequently, basic information on each individual bone are listed in Tables IVio XXio permit review of age distributions, measurements and/or parameters conventionally used in the calculation of the minimum number of individuals. These data stand here as a substitute for analyses of this kind which could not themselves be carried out due to the previously mentioned lack of systematic patterning caused mostly by small sample size. The basic outline for tabulated faunal lists published in this paper is summarized in Table II. The headings shown in this table were used consistently through the descriptive parts of the study. Decoding of the abbreviations used in the tables is given below the headings. Additional information on the cranial measurements taken on the dog skulls (which provided the only data for craniometric investigations) is briefly summarized in Table III. RESULTS In order to minimize the need for verbal description in the presentation of the faunal material from the three sites data were listed in the previously mentioned tabulated form. It seems useful, however, to briefly comment on these tables. Such information serves to complete the detailed archaeological review published in the twin article to this paper. The first location at Ady Endre street, yielded animal remains from both periods. Part of the bones from the medieval period of the city wall came to light when remains of a building were excavated (AE/1). These bones form part of a deposit, approximately ten centimeters above timber remains from the former building and come from a depth of 50 cm. Cattle bones from this unit all probably belong to adult individuals, although in some cases fragmentation made the unambiguous assignment to age groups impossible {Table IV). Caprine bones from this provenance are dominated by the remains of sheep on many of them a number of measurements were available as well. Most of these bones also belong to adult animals, although remains of subadult and juvenile individuals were also found. The relatively large number of bones from adult sheep, however, may be indicative of wool production which usually does not permit the slaughter of young for mutton. The only goat bone from this provenance is a fragment of a distal scapula {Table V). The twenty-six pig bones found within this part of the faunal material represent the largest body of data from this species available for study. A number of teeth included in the assemblage show that subadult individuals were slaughtered. Ifre same tendency is illustrated by the presence of long bones with incomplete epiphysial fusion, making measurement of such fragments impossible {Table VI). The next provenance that provided animal bones at this location was Trench 3. The layer from the Turkish Period fill brought to light from this trench was dominated by cattle and mostly by the bones of adult individuals. The skeletal elements represent all body regions with no apparent selection for meat parts of distinguished quality. One of the few worked pieces was a bone cylinder made from the diaphysis of a right femur. The object, however, seems unfinished and neither can its intended function be identified (Table VII). Remains of both sheep and goat were found in this Turkish Period material. The occurrence of several bones from subadult individuals and the metatarsus of a probably neonatal lamb suggest the other hand, although the two horn cores of goat included in this assemblage are not particularly large. Most bones from this species represent relatively large adult individuals which suggests that the use of goats as dairy animals may also have been possible {Table VIII). As may have been expected, pig bones are very scarce in the material from this period. All the specimens seem to have originated from subadult individuals with the probable exception of a large ramus fragment that actually may fall within the size range of wild swine {Table IX). Other species represented in this provenance include long bone fragments from two dogs, one of which was a relatively large animal. Of the poultry, bones of domestic hen and geese found their way into the material. The only red deer remain discovered in the Turkish Period sample also comes from this deposit {Table X). Among the provenances uncovered during the course of excavations of the city wall a Turkish Period garbage pit found at Jókai street (JM/1) was the only closed arti134