“Across the river and into the trees”: Roman Period Sarmatian animal remains from the Barbaricum in Hungary

• Sarmatians were equestrian mobile pastoralists in the Eurasian steppe, whose movements became limited once they reached the Danubian limes of the Roman province of Pannonia. • During the 400 years spent in the Carpathian Basin, Sarmatians had a variable relationship with the Roman Empire ranging from warfare to trade. • Thirty-six faunal assemblages were scrutinized to establish patterns of animal exploitation. • Increasing pork consumption may indicate that Sarmatians slowly adopted an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. • Slaughtering horses must have remained culturally important, possibly reserved for special occasions. Sarmatians were equestrian mobile pastoralists who arrived from the Eurasian steppe region to the Carpathian Basin during the first century CE. They occupied the plains on the left bank of the Danube known as the Barbaricum by Romans who lived in the province of Pannonia on the other side of the river. This study is aimed at reconstructing patterns of meat consumption during the almost 500 years of Sarmatian presence in the area. It is based on the detailed critical review and quantitative analysis of 36 archaeozoological assemblages published from 32 settlements. The results show that Sarmatian meat provisioning overwhelmingly relied on domestic livestock, wild animals could be rarely identified. Bovids (cattle, ca 50% and caprines, ca 25%) contributed most of the number of identifiable specimens (NISP) to the assemblages studied. The far less significance of pork consumption was indicated by around 10% of pig remains. However, this value shows a slight diachronic increase, a probable sign of the protracted adoption of a sedentary way of life. Horsemeat was also consumed; however, the proportion of horse remains varies far more capriciously than those of other animals. This may be related to the importance of horses in Sarmatian culture, possibly indicating that horses were slaughtered on special occasions for communal consumption. At the studied settlements eating horsemeat, a likely token of steppe tradition, was unrelated to the consumption of pork. The two types of meat complemented, rather than substituted for each other.