Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 17/A. - Régészet (2006)

Horváth Tünde: Állattemetkezések Balatonőszöd-Temetői dűlő Badeni lelőhelyen

151 Animal-burials in the Late Copper Age Baden Site: Balatonőszöd-Temetői dűlő TÜNDE HORVÁTH MTA- Régészeti Intézet, Budapest 1014, Úri u. 49. E-mail: valdemar@archeo.mta.hu In this study we publish the sacrificial pits from the settlement of the Baden culture at BalatonőszödTemetői dűlő, which contain animal skeletons, with a description of the features and their find-material, a typological analysis of the latter, and an archaeozoological study of the faunal remains. We distinguished the following types of archaeological features containing a number of animal skeletons: - human and animal sacrifice in the same pit - the skeletons of various animals in the same pit - the skeleton of one animal species in a pit, distinguished according to species (cattle, caprids, pig, dog, horse) All cases can be identified as blood, more exactly according to the archaeological observations - burning sacrifices. These rites could, however, be rather varied, since we can observe a number of choreographies. We think that the religious background of these sacrifices can be studied through the investigation of the species of the animals used, the mythological beliefs connected to them, and their age and sex ratios as the possible reasons for the choice for sacrifice. Based on these we created various categories of sacrifice, emphasizing that their prehistoric interpretations could have been very different from those we came up with through a certain logic 5000 years later. Be that as it may, we think that the choice of animal categories reflects the social hierarchy of Late Copper Age society. We can envisage a society where animal husbandry played a very important role, and based on their frequency in sacrifice, the following order of the significance of animal species could be reconstructed: caprids, cattle, pig, dog, and horse. We have to emphasize, however, that those who regard the society of the Baden culture as nomadic are on an erroneous path: there is a huge difference between societies with a dominant pastoral component and nomadic societies, and in the case of the Late Copper Age only the former can be taken into account. Finally we have to note that the greatest role among these sacrificial animals was played by cattle due to its large weight. This, however, might be misleading, since the number of sacrificed caprids is twice as large as that of cattle. We think that sacrificial pits containing caprid-remains have not been given due attention in research, which might be misleading when hypothetically projecting faunal categories onto human societies. Despite this - however, misleading it may be - it is cattle burials and sacrifices that can be studied in a larger area of Europe (Danube region or Central Europe) in a wider chronological horizon. It is remarkable that - according to the new chronological data - it is in the Funnel Beaker, Baden-Pécel and Globular Amphora cultures where such phenomena occur with greater frequency and in many varieties. These are three cultures that have a contact zone in various phases in Southern Germany and Poland (with sites with mixed material, e.g. Bronocice). This is evidence for the survival of a multicultural religious tradition with a strong and considerable social base, which might have provided solutions for coping with the problems and conflicts of people living in a very similar geographical environment, and had strong connections with the use of animals for traction and transport (carts) and their mystification as solar symbols. Translated: Vajk Szeverényi