Pintér János szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1988-1989 (Budapest, 1990)

TAKÁCS ISTVÁN: Szentkirály középkori falu zoológiai leletei. (4-4/a ház, gödöról)

This paper is the analysis of zoological finds from an animal keeping pit uncovered within a completely excavated farmstead. With one exception, all 140 animal bones belong to domesticates. Among the heavily fragmented garbage bone only the remains of horse included a few more-or-less well preserved skulls. Cattle were smajl and of brachyceros cranial type. Some bone fragments, however, originate from larger individuals. The few bones of sheep also are indicative of small animals. Pigs were of medium size with long and straight snouts being indicative of a relatively primitive type. One of the mandibles with all probability originates from a castrate. The horses were small to medium size with concave hooves indicative of an eastern type. Dog remians are indicative of large and robust forms with medium thick legs probably used as guard dogs. This faunal assemblage is not sufficiently large to reliably mirror the species composition of animal keeping during the studied period. The high contribution of horse remains, however, deserves attention. The great number of horse bones displaying butchering marks should be regarded as evidence of horse meat consumption. These finds indicate, that the previously nomadic Cumanian people retained their traditional ways of horse keeping ever during sedentary life. Age distributions of the various species suggest that cattle, pig and sheep were slaughtered at a mature age, although the meat of some younger individuals was consumed as well. In the case of horse, it is interesting that four of the seven individuals identified were young and only three may be considered mature. No old individuals of this species could be identified. Bones of the meat purpose domestic animals display clear marks of butchering. The slaughtered animals were dismembered in a patterned way. This holds true ever for horses, whose bones bear consistently located cutmarks. Articulated skeletal segments may have belonged to preserved (smoked) bits of meat or body parts roasted in one piece. Evidence of singeing is available in the case of pigs. Several heavily fragmented and bleached bones are indicative of glue extraction. The zoological material from this animal keeping pit revealed exceptional evidences of rituals related to horse bones. These include proximal phalanges (os Phalangis I.) recovered from this feature as well as from others at this settlement. The peculiarity of theses bones is that a "nest" contained several of them. Coeval marks on the skulls of young horses unambiguously indicate that these were displayed on stakes. This ritual to keep trouble away was known in Hungary ever in this century. These young horse skulls bear witness that Cumanians were aware of the magic. One may assume that they did not adopt this custom from Hungarians following settlement in the Carpathian Basin. It is most likely an ancient tradition which developed in the Cumanian homeland in the East, and was cultivated in spite of the new way of life.