Budapest Régiségei 41. (2007)

TANULMÁNYOK - CSIPPÁN Péter: Az állatcsontok eltérő kulturális szokásokat jelző szerepe 14-16. századi állatcsontleletek Budáról

ANIMAL BONES AS MARKERS OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY 14th-16th century bone-finds from Buda Under the direction of the archaeologist Károly Magyar, the Medieval department of the Budapest History Museum carried out excavations in the Buda Castle between 1994 and 2000 in the southwestern part of St. George Square in the area of the Royal stables. During the course of this work, a pit was discovered in trench number 94/3 in which a silver amulet with a quotation from the Koran came to light giving the pit the name of "amulet pit". This "amulet pit" could have been a well based on its depth (-14 m) finally ceased to function Early Modern age. Thus, this feature contained find material from a fairly long period beginning in the 14

th century. The "amulet pit" can be divided into three archaeological periods based on its find material. The separation between time periods is also reflected in the animal bone finds based on what is known about differences between Islamic and Christian meat consumption traditions. Although faunal material is often not very expressive in these matters, in this case it sharply and clearly reflects these cultural elements. Beyond the composition of the food refuse, differing cultural traditions are most probably reflected in butchering techniques as well as in the different representation of various parts of the animal body. Differences between the skeletal elements representing these body regions are clues that permit interpretation of subtle variations in food traditions. The variability may be studied, although taphonomic processes must also be kept in mind. Thus, it is possible to reconstruct meat consumption preferences based on which body regions of slaughtered animals were preferred in a particular archaeological periods. In order to carry out archaeozoological research on identifcation of such cultural markers, the given site must meet several criteria. Beyond differing food consumption traditions, these criteria must include temporal continuity between the periods represented together with features that have remained undisturbed.