Animal husbandry of funnel beaker culture : case study of Mozgawa site (Poland, Lesser Poland)

The Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) site in Mozgawa is situated in the Nida Basin, on the eastern outskirts of the western Lesser Poland (Poland). During three archaeological campaigns more than seven thousand remains of animals were found. The bones and teeth of amphibians and rodents undoubtedly can be considered as a recent admixture, in contrast to remains of freshwater mussels and turtle, collected by humans. In turn, small and partly deformed fish bones were discovered at the Mozgawa site presumably coming from the storage of fermented fish. Among bird bones we identified remains of a probably domesticated goose. The most numerous animal remains belong to mammals, representing both domestic and wild mammals. The domestic mammals represent the typical spectrum of species usually found, among which cattle remains significantly prevail. Archaeozoological analysis indicate that animal were slaughtered, processed and consumed directly at the site. The wild animal bone assemblage is very diversified and represent species that inhabited a variety of different environments (aquatic, forest, open areas) thus indicating the presence of a mixed landscape in the close surroundings of the settlement.