Savaria - A Vas Megyei Múzeumok értesítője 24/3. (1997) (Szombathely, 1997)

Zoffmann Zsuzsanna: A Dunántől őskori népességének embertani vázlata

SAVARIA24/3 (1998-1999) PARS ARCHAEOLOGICA resentative anthropological series. At Esztergályhorváti, at the same time, the fragment of a mass burial of the same culture was unearthed. Copper Age The populations representing the Early Copper Age Balaton group and Ludanice group cannot as yet be characterised from the skeletal finds of an adult and four infants. The Baden culture, occupying the whole Carpathian Basin at the end of the Copper Age, can palpably be described both demographically and taxonomically based on numerous anthropological finds. These finds, however, nearly all came from the eastern regions of the Carpathian Basin. The only large cemetery unearthed from the culture in Transdanubia was published in general traits (Budakalász - NEMESKÉRI 1956, 1961). At other sites, there were only a few skeletal or skull burials. In the case of the latter, it cannot even be decided with total certainty if the finds really represent the population of the Baden culture. Bronze Age No anthropological finds have been uncovered in the sites of the Zók-Vuőedol and Somogyvár-Vinkovci cultures marking the beginning of the Bronze Age in Transdanubia. The populational groups of the Bell-beakers also appeared for a short time in Transdanubia during the Early Bronze Age. Their biritual burials are known, to date, from a single site (the dating of the frequently cited Tököl finds in the literature seems to be erroneous). Only a few finds have been analysed from the anthropological material of the somewhat younger Kisapostag culture. The population of the Transdanubian Incrusted Pottery, who stayed the longest at the same place during the middle Bronze Age, cremated their dead, so the anthropological finds, even in the case of totally unearthed cemeteries, only allow a demographic analysis. The anthropological picture of the population of the Tokod group in the northern part of Transdanubia is totally unknown. The Szigetszentmiklós cemetery on the Csepel island in the north-eastern part of Transdanubia yielded the uninterrupted burials of the populational groups of the Nagyrév and Vatya cultures, the two, archaeologically discernible, populational groups that also practised cremational burial. Nevertheless, the demographic data are unconfirmed since the cemeteries were only partially excavated. Although the cemeteries of the Tumulus culture^ arriving from the west as suggested by archaeological data, were biritual, there are so few and fragmentary finds from Transdanubia that their anthropological characterisation cannot be carried out. Archaeological data tell that the population arriving in the Late Bronze Age largely mixed with the local autochtonous population. It means that the excavation of large cemeteries of the Tumulus culture people with numerous skeletal burials will also help the taxonomic analysis of the autochtonous population which is otherwise difficult to describe because of their cremational rite. The low item number in the cemeteries of the Urnfield culture closing the period excludes even a demographic analysis. The similar analysis of the Neszmély cemetery was published without the individual data. Iron Age The custom of cremational burial was carried on in Transdanubia during the Early Iron Age. The so-called Transdanubian Hallstatt culture, arriving from the west, unlike the western Hallstatt cemeteries with skeletal burial, yielded nearly always cremated anthropological finds. The male skeleton published from Kőszeg (according to an oral communication by G. Hon the exact site must be Velem-Szentvid) at the beginning of the century and the infant skeleton from Velem are not enough to characterise the population. The Szentlőrinc cemetery in south-Transdanubia can, conditionally, be attributed to the Pannons, an Illyrian tribe. According to the taxonomical analysis published without the individual data (KISZELY, cit. JEREM 1968; KISZELY 1979), its anthropological series attests to a mixture of the immigrants and the autochtonous populations. The demographic analysis was based on palaeoserological data (LENGYEL, cit. JEREM 1968; LENGYEL 1975). The anthropological finds from relatively many Transdanubian sites of the Celts, appearing in the Carpathian Basin at the end of the Prehistoric period, mostly came from scattered graves. The only somewhat larger series may only partially represent the population that lived there. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA Similarly to other regions of the Carpathian Basin, there is little possibility for demographic observations in the case of the prehistoric population in Transdanubia. One reason is the lack of unearthed burials, another one is the not total preservation of the material after the excavations (according to Dombay's notes e.g. only the „nicer" skulls and skeletons were taken to the museum). Only the Környe and the Mórágy (?) ceme34