The ‘archaeological Bone Brigade’
MúzeumCafé 7.
Archaeozoology specialists have been meeting twice a year since 2001 in Visegrád (Hungary) at a workshop hosted by the King Matthias Museum. Archaeozoology is the study of the several thousands years of interaction between humans and animals. In Hungary no degree exists in this discipline, experts join the workshop from many professions. They include agricultural engineers, veterinarians, biology teachers, archaeologists, historians and zoologists. Although archaeozoology is taught within the archaeology curriculum at Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), the few specialists learn individually from other members of the workshop. In our profession, the Hungarian National Museum is important for its archaeological animal finds, the Museum of Agriculture for skeletons from present-day domestic animals, and the Hungarian Natural History Museum is vital for its collection of wild mammal and bird bones. There is a small collection in the Aquincum Museum, which employs most archaeozoologists, as well as at ELTE. Some Pleistocene species are also included in palaeolithic archaeological research. Their remains can be studied in the Hungarian Natural History Museum and the Geological Institute of Hungary. János Matolcsi (d 1983) and Sándor Bökönyi (d 1994) founded the ICAZ in Budapest in 1971. Since 1974 the Council has organised international conferences every four years, involving several hundred participants. This year in Visegrád the International Council of Archaeozoology representatives surveyed the interdisciplinary and international relations in our branch of science.