Archaeofauna 25 (2016): 33-78 The size of domestic cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in the Czech Neolithic and Eneolithic Periods: Temporal variations and their causes RENÉ KYSELÝ Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, v.v.i. Letenská 4, CZ-118 01 Praha.
[email protected] (Received 8 September 2015; Revised 20 October 2015; Accepted 30 October 2015) ABSTRACT: Osteometric data were analysed from the main domestic animals existing in cen- tral Europe during the Neolithic and Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) periods, specifically cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goats (Capra hircus), and pigs (Sus domesticus). The results are based on a combined evaluation of selected dental and postcranial measurements (in total near- ly 1100 measured values) obtained from archaeological material from the Bohemian and Mora- vian (Czech Republic) Lengyel and Eneolithic periods (4700-2200 BC, including Moravian Painted Ware, Funnelbeaker, Baden-Řivnáč, and Bell-Beaker Cultures for example) and adja- cent Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures (Linear and Stroked Pottery, Únětice). Results on the animals´ body size and their variation over time are presented, and possible interpretations of the secular changes in size are discussed in detail. Apart from the general, well known trend showing a reduction in cattle size over time, some anomalies were found. Based on osteometric comparisons, there are indications of cross-breeding between wild and domestic forms and/or the local domestication of cattle in the Bohemian Řivnáč Culture (3200-2800 BC), and of pigs in the Proto-Eneolithic to Funnelbeaker Cultures (4300-3350 BC). The observed body-size increase in sheep in the territory of the Czech Republic during the Early-Middle Eneolithic cor- responds to the previously hypothesised importation of a new breed throughout Europe during the second half of the 4th millennium BC.