ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL FINDS FROM THE MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT IN BAJC (Archeozoologicke nalezy zo stredovekeho sidliska v Bajci)

This work aims to present preliminary data gathered by the archaeozoological analysis of unique faunal assemblage collected during archaeological excavation of the site at Bajc, location Medzi kanalmi, and on their basis, to shed more light on animal husbandry and hunting during the early middle Ages on the territory of south-west Slovakia. Partial goals of the study were to summarize the past research for the studied area and the period, to define assortment of animals that were kept by the local inhabitants and to investigate the relative importance of identified species in the subsistence and economy of the settlement of a rural character. On the basis of the assortment of wild animal taxa a possible reconstruction of the site's environment has been discussed. In addition to that, we focused on the demography in order to explore the management strategies and way of exploitation of domestic animals and on the skeletal element representation in the assemblage in order to answer the questions pertaining the amount and quality of locally consumed meat. In this regard diachronic changes have been investigated, in order to attest various trends observed and published previously by other scholars. Presented results suggested the importance of cattle and sheep in the animal husbandry, the increasing occurrence of horse and the low frequency of pig bones within the kitchen refuse of studied agrarian village. An obvious shift in the food preferences and herd management occurred during the 9th century, when earlier meat exploitation model in cattle and sheep changed more into the milk and secondary product oriented husbandry of the settlers.