The size of domestic cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in the Czech Lengyel and Eneolithic Periods: Temporal variations and their causes

Osteometric data were analysed from the main domestic animals existing in central Europe during the Neolithic and Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) periods, specifically cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goats (Capra hircus), and pigs (Sus domesticus). The results are based on a combined evaluation of selected dental and postcranial measurements (in total nearly 1100 measured values) obtained from archaeological material from the Bohemian and Moravian (Czech Republic) Lengyel and Eneolithic periods (4700-2200 BC, including Moravian Painted Ware, Funnelbeaker, Baden-?ivná?, and Bell-Beaker Cultures for example) and adjacent Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures (Linear and Stroked Pottery, Ún?tice). Results on the animals´ body size and their variation over time are presented, and possible interpretations of the secular changes in size are discussed in detail. Apart from the general, well known trend showing a reduction in cattle size over time, some anomalies were found. Based on osteometric comparisons, there are indications of cross-breeding between wild and domestic forms and/or the local domestication of cattle in the Bohemian ?ivná? Culture (3200-2800 BC), and of pigs in the Proto-Eneolithic to Funnelbeaker Cultures (4300-3350 BC). The observed body-size increase in sheep in the territory of the Czech Republic during the Early-Middle Eneolithic corresponds to the previously hypothesised importation of a new breed throughout Europe during the second half of the 4th millennium BC.