Szakács Sándor szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1990-1991 (Budapest, 1991)
TAKÁCS ISTVÁN: The history of pig (Sus scrofa dorn L.) butchering and the evidence for singeing on subfossil teeth
fattening. The pig to be fattened was fed with peas and figs. Pone from piglets was not highly valued, it was mostly eaten by servants... During the Roman period pig fattening was well known. Numerous figurines and vessels depict fattened pigs. There was an effort during this time to meet demands for bacon by local breeding even in the small provincial households. As opposed to the Greeks, Romans appreciated pork from piglets, particularly from sucklings and was considered a delicacy." 11 Cato defined richness by the number of flitches of bacon 12 . InTrimalchio's feast, Petronius provides a perfect description of sumptousness. which went beyond the everyday needs of nutrition and attained a status function . In this extreme expression of wealth fattened pigs played an important role. Fewer records or artistic representations document the fattening of pigs during the Migration period, but as has been previously mentioned, the osteological evidence suggests use of this method. There is a later date of interest from Hungarian history. In 1051 Endre the First, king of Hungary sent 2000 flitches of bacon to the army of Henrik the Second, German-Roman emperor. Additional written records are available from the laterperiods of Hungarian history as well. For example, in the year 1489, Hyppolit, the archbishop of Esztergom, ordered 58 flitches of bacon in addition to the 138 pigs required for his household. Illustrations from Medieval almanacs always contribute important and concrete visual information on contemporary lifestyles. One of these pictures (Fig. 18) depicts the killing of a pig. On the left side one can see the pile of straw prepared for singeing while the man in the middle is preparing to stick the pig. On the right side, a woman brings a dish to collect the animal's blood. In summary, the method of singeing hair off of pig could be identified using osteological data, and a few, far from complete, examples from wirtten sources as well as representations. At the same time, a relationship could be established between hair singeing and the use of subcutanecus fatty tissues in the form of bacon. In the future, separate studies should be carried out concerning the butchering techniques that followed singeing, in order to see which parts were preserved and in what way. According to ethnographic observations, the two basic ways of butchering (splitting the backbone versus retaining it in one piece, that is spare rib) are preparatory steps in two different types of carcass processing. In several representations 15 one can easily follow the skinning of the pig and subsequent activities. The central figure in these representations in usually a man Fig. 17: Bronze age figurine from Tószeg - Laposhalom showing a fattened pig (after B<5k<5nyi 1974, Fig.78)
