Bone Diseases as Indicators of Animal Health in the Early Modern Age Assemblage From the Castle of Dombóvár‐Gólyavár in Context With Other Coeval Cases From Hungary

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present 13 pathologically changed animal bones from cattle, caprines, pig, and domestic chicken, which were recognized among 1341 identifiable remains in the recently studied late medieval (first part of the 16th century) and Ottoman and Post‐Ottoman Period (from the second part of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century) assemblages found in the castle of Dombóvár‐Gólyavár in Southern Hungary, a site turned from an aristocratic residence into a Turkish fortress by the Ottoman occupation. The pig remains with anomalies represent important findings since the eating of pork was minimal or avoided at the places inhabited by Muslims. The pathologically changed bones were studied macroscopically and microscopically alike. Healed fractures represented the most frequent type of lesions, suggesting that animals were cared for either to achieve the optimal size for slaughter (e.g., cattle and pigs) or for secondary exploitation such as cockfighting. Other diseases such as uneven tooth wear, arthropathy, nonspecific infection, and bowed bones occurred sporadically in the bone material. A bone from caprines reflected age‐related disorder, a result which was consistent with the age structure of sheep and goats suggesting the exploitation of these small ruminants for a longer time than cattle and pig. Our results were interpreted within the context of other coeval bone materials originating from both Buda, the former capital of Hungary, and fortifications located in the northern and southern periphery of the country alike. They indicated that certain features such as the age and sex of animals, the species composition of the assemblages, as well as the rank and location of sites, might greatly define the frequency and nature of displayed lesions on the animal remains.