Dogsey

Paleontologists have discovered the remains of three Paleolithic dogs, one with what is believed to be a large mammoth bone in its mouth. It is thought that the mammoth bone was placed in the dog's mouth after it died, suggesting it was part of a ritual burial, and was to accompany the soul of the dead (animal) on his journey. The remains were unearthed at Předmostí in the Czech Republic and the findings have recently been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

By focussing on the skulls and comparing with fossil records, researchers were able to deduce that the remains were from wolf, dog or other canid. They reported that signs of domestication were apparent, the skulls being shorter than those of fossil or modern wolves, with shorter snouts but wider brain cases and palates than wolves. A researcher described the skulls as resembling that of a Siberian Husky, but larger and heavier. They appear to have been perforated in order to remove the brain and it is felt that this may have been performed for ritual reasons – to release the spirit that some northern indigenous people believed was contained in the head.

The researchers have looked at the culture of the people at the site and suggest that the dogs were probably used for helping to transport equipment, together with meat, bones and tusks from mammoth kills. The dogs were probably fed surplus mammoth meat.

Commenting that the study shows “quite clearly that the dog domestication process was under way thousands of years earlier than previously thought", Rob Losey, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta also feels that the way in which the remains were treated indicate that there was a “special connection” between people and some canids even then - “long prior to any good evidence for dogs being buried.”