Cattle - primary branch of animal husbandry on Josipovac Punitovački - Veliko polje I site

In the Archaeozoological laboratory at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb about 6, 500 animal skeletal remains from the archaeological site Josipovac have been transported. 952 fragments have been skeletally and taxonomically determined: 91.18% from the Eneolithic, 0.63% from the Early Bronze Age, 4.20% from the Middle Bronze Age and 3.99% from the late medieval. In the Eneolithic period, the remains of cattle (Bos sp.) with 70.51% are the most representative. Among these remains, the majority belongs to single teeth, which have been the best preserved due to their mineral structure. Based on osteometric indicators of some long bones (primarily brachium bones and metapodial bones) it is evident that several samples belong to auroch (Bos primigenius L.), while majority of samples belong to domestic cattle (Bos taurus L.).Small ruminants, including fragments of sheep (Ovis aries L.) and goats (Capra hircus L.), are with 19.35% second most numerous group, followed by pigs (Sus sp.) with 9.22% and carnivores with 0.92%. From the Early Bronze Period, three bone remains of cattle, upper and low jaw of a carnivore and one humerus of a young wild boar have been determined. In the period of Middle Bronze Age, the skeletal remains of domestic cattle (42.50%) are the most dominant, followed by pigs (22.50%) and small ruminants (15%), and the bone fragments of red deer and roe deer have been found as well. In the late medieval, again the most numerous bone remains are those of cattle (57.89%), then pigs (15.79%) and small ruminants (10.53%), and two bones belonging to a horse and some leg bones belonging to birds, probably to chicken have been identified as well. The numerousness of skeletal remains of cattle ( over 50%) in all research period leads to conclusion that cattle meat was dominant in nutrition, but also that cattle were used for some secondary products ( milk, diary products, manure, work, leather). Pigs, sheep, and goats made the rest of nutrition. Finds of wild cattle, wild boar, red deer, and roe deer indicate that the people of that time practiced hunting, and wild animals meat was a part of their menu. Relatively small percentage of determined skeletal fragments has primarily been the result of taphonomic processes. These processes were made under the influence of ancient inhabitants of the periods already mentioned, that is under the influence of the place of depositing animal remains (for ex. wells, hearths, and pits inside dugout houses), which have been additionally deteriorated due to the course of time.