László Bartosiewicz Animal Remains from the Langobard Cemetery of Ménfőcsanak–bevásárlóközpont (nw Hungary)

Extensive rescue excavations preceded the construction of a shopping mall in the satellite settlement of Ménfőcsanak, southwest of the city of Győr in northwestern Hungary. Work directed by Andrea Vaday of the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences brought to light graves from a Migration Period cemetery. Many of these burials were disturbed either by contemporaneous or subsequent robbing, something also reflected in some of the animal remains. The animal bone assemblage recovered during rescue excavations from the cemetery at this site, Ménfőcsanak–Bevásárlóközpont, was attributed to Germanic Langobards (also known as Langobardi or Lombards) who originated in the area of northern Silesia and formed part of the tribal confederation of Suevi. The Langobards played no mentionable role in bringing down the Roman Empire. Migrating south as late as the sixth century, they filled a power vacuum in the Carpathian Basin left by the Hunnic Empire prior to their settlement in Northern Italy after AD 568. In the absence of large, permanent settlements, information concerning animal keeping by the Langobards of the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages largely originates from sacrificial animals and meat offerings recovered from burials.1 Only a few features contained animal remains in verified stratigraphic positions, including a total of six graves. These structured deposits were considered burials based on the presence of human skeletons, within this context the finds may have a ritual character. Complete animals interred into graves as part of the mortuary ritual are not only important due to the relative paucity of relevant biometric data from settlements. When burials contain complete animal skeletons, they are well suited for detailed morphometric and pathological studies.2 In addition to providing biological context (age, sex, phenotype), well-preserved skeletons contribute complementary information to the taphonomic history of a cemetery.