ANALIZA UNUI ESANTION FAUNISTIC DIN ASEZAREA CULTURII COTOFENI DE LA CÂLNIC-„DEALUL MARE” (JUDETUL ALBA)
ANALYSIS OF A FAUNAL SAMPLE FROM THE COTOFENI CULTURE SETTLEMENT AT CÂLNIC-„DEALUL MARE” (ALBA COUNTY)

Summary/Abstract: Câlnic village is situated in south-eastern of Alba County, in the southern part of Plateau Secaselor, in the piedmont area of Cindrelului Mountains, on a left tributary of the river Secasul Mare, at a distance of 28 km of Alba Iulia and 15 km from Sebes. From the Cotofeni culture settlement, phase III b, derived a faunal sample of 590 bones, presented in this paper (table 1). The wild species, according to estimates amount to around 22% of the total presumed individuals, confirming the well circumscribed position of hunting in the food and utility; palette resources provided by large-sized game (deer, aurochs), medium or low (wild boar, fallow deer, hare) will be diverse, including meat, skins, fur, bone and horn. However the management of domestic species is more important than the game segment, it includes in descending order sheep-goat, cattle and pig. Slaughter age profiles suggest different exploiting of species (fig. 1). In the case of small ruminants two cutting „peaks” are found: one up to a year and the next over 4 years, a schedule that would correspond to a large extent to exploitation of meat and dairy products. There is a maximum of cattle slaughter (41.7 %) between 2 -3 years, so during highest fertility. Certainly animals selected for slaughter were primarily male. Killing at that time was obviously for meat. A second cut-peak maximum is reached after 4 - 5 years, and there are individuals of 5 -7 or 9- 11years old. Certainly by-products are sought in this case. For pigs the descending way of their curve is clearly observed in the graph 1, which means marked slaughter up to three years and then reduced. Meat production is ensured by slaughtering throughout the year, keeping an important animal as breeding stock. Perhaps Cotofeni communities, at least towards the end of their evolution, will have undergone some changes that would affect economic life: 1. the composition change of domestic stocks to refocus the animal production on ovicaprids exploitation, 2. an efficiency management of herds, focusing on by-products, especially in the case of cattle, species that required some efforts of livestock maintenance, especially during winter. Exploitation of wildlife in Cotofeni settlements of the territory of Romania is little known although there are currently a number of sites with zooarchaeological analyses. According to these data, it appears clear that inhabitants of Cotofeni settlements practiced the hunting of a variety of mammals for meat, hides, horn and bone in addition to breeding.

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