El mejor amigo del hombre desde hace 14,000 años
Se sabe que algunos grupos de cazadores del final del Paleolítico y del Epipaleolítico ya convivían con este animal, tal como ha constado este mismo equipo en la cueva de Anton Koba, en Guipúzcoa, donde se ha datado un perro de unos 13.250 años de antigüedad.
En el Mesolítico (10.000-6.000 años), el período correspondiente a los cazadores y recolectores que precedieron a la extensión de la agricultura y la ganadería por Europa, el perro se integra en prácticas rituales, tal como muestra la práctica de sepultar a estos animales en cementerios, en ocasiones con tumbas específicas para ellos, constatada en algunos lugares del norte de Europa.
En la Península Ibérica, y en general en el sur del continente, se sospechaba que podía haber también tumbas de perros, pero su existencia no se había constatado hasta este descubrimiento.
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Hallan la tumba de un perro de hace ocho milenios
1-7-2011
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Los perros son los mejores amigos de los humanos desde el Paleolítico y hace ya 8.000 años eran tan apreciados que sus dueños les enterraban en tumbas, casi nunca lejos de las de sus parientes cercanos. Una de estas tumbas, la primera encontrada en el sur de Europa, ha sido localizada en el yacimiento portugués de Poças de Säo Bento, junto a un antiguo estuario del río Sado.
El hallazgo fue posible dentro del proyecto SADO MESO, coordinado por el catedrático de la Universidad de Cantabria Pablo Arias y por Mariana Diniz, profesora en la Universidad de Lisboa, que retomaron el año pasado un yacimiento en el que, hace 50 años, ya se encontraron varias tumbas de una población de cazadores y recolectores del Mesolítico, un periodo de transición entre el Paleolítico y el Neolítico.
Arias, en declaraciones a ELMUNDO.es, recuerda que el perro era ya un animal doméstico antes de esa fecha y de hecho se ha encontrado en Guipúzcua, en la cueva Erralla, un hueso de de este animal de hace 13.250 años. “Los utilizaban para la caza, les ayudaban a mantener los campamentos limpios porque se comían los restos de la comida y, en general, tenían una ligazón afectiva con ellos”, comenta el investigador.
En el Mesolítico (hace entre 10.000 y 6.000 años), también se integró en las prácticas rituales, como demuestra la práctica de sepultar a estos animales en cementerios, en ocasiones con tumbas específicas para ellos, constatada en algunos lugares del norte de Europa, como Dinamarca.
Primera tumba al sur
En la Península Ibérica, y en general en el sur del continente, también se sospechaba que podía haber también tumbas de perros, pero su existencia no había podido comprobarse hasta ahora. Por los fósiles se sabe que era un perro de tamaño medio y que tenía un año cuando murió, un cachorro, pero no se se sabe aún su sexo. Apareció encogido, como en un ovillo, una forma antinatural que indica que fue colocado en el agujero exprofeso
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The 7000 yr old remains of a 'Husky like dog' have been found in Siberia buried with grave goods. The dog's skeleton showed signs of having carried heavy loads on its back and injuries possibly caused while hunting for deer. While it is possible that the damage was caused by human hands the dogs careful burial speak of a much loved animal. The male dog ate the same foods as the humans found buried along side it.
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Los restos de un antiguo perro semejante a los de la raza “Husky” de 7,000 años de antigüedad hallados en Siberia enterrados con ajuar funerario. El esqueleto del perro presentaba signos de haber llevado a cargas pesadas en la espalda y posibles lesiones durante la caza de ciervos. Si bien es posible que el daño fue causado por la mano del hombre los entierros muy cuidados hablan de un animal muy querido. Este perro siberiano de 7,000 años de antigüedad comió los mismos alimentos que los seres humanos se encontraron enterrados junto a él.
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PERRO PREHISTÓRICO ENTERRADO POR LOS ANCESTRALES POBLADORES DE INDIANA
Dog burial from the Strawtown Enclosure site, Indiana. www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/LatePrehistoric.html
PREHISTORIA EN INDIANA
El estudio de dinámica de población del período prehistórico tardío en el centro y el norte de Indiana apasiona a los investigadores.
En los últimos años, la investigación ha recogido gran cantidad de datos de excavaciones realizadas en Indiana central y del norte.
El objetivo final de las investigaciones en Castor Farm y los otros sitios en el área de Strawtown es aclarar la naturaleza de las interacciones entre las comunidades agrícolas del centro de Indiana durante el periodo prehistórico tardío.
Las interacciones con la gente de Oliver (Oliver peoples) del centro y del sur de Indiana, cuyos asentamientos comparten muchas similitudes con la cultura de Fort Ancient (Fort Ancient culture) del suroeste de Ohio; así como con los grupos Fisher-Huber del norte de Illinois, que se sentían atraídos por las condiciones de las praderas en torno a lo que hoy es Indianápolis, y también la gente cuenca occidental (Western Basin) del norte de Ohio, que siguieron el valle del río Maumee en Indiana.
Study of the population dynamics of Late Prehistoric period in central and northern Indiana is at the core of the Survey's long term research agenda. Over the past several years, the Survey has collected extensive data through grant-supported survey and excavation projects conducted in northern and central Indiana. The ultimate goal of the investigations at the Castor Farm site and the other sites in the Strawtown area is to clarify the nature of the interactions among several farming communities known to be present in central Indiana during the Late Prehistoric period: the Oliver peoples of central and southern Indiana, whose settlements share many similarities with the Fort Ancient culture of southwestern Ohio; Fisher-Huber groups from northern Illinois, who were attracted by prairie conditions around what is now Indianapolis; and Western Basin people from northern Ohio, who followed the Maumee River valley into Indiana. www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/LatePrehistoric.html
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A dog’s life long ago
In ancient Illinois, small dogs were made to carry or pull sacks of firewood until the tips of their vertebrae broke. Sometimes their heads were lopped off with stone axes during sacrificial ceremonies. Most often, they were buried with the trash.
Buried Dogs Were Divine “Escorts” for Ancient Americans
Hundreds of prehistoric dogs found buried throughout the southwestern United States show that canines played a key role in the spiritual beliefs of ancient Americans, new research
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BROOKLYN –
In ancient Illinois, small dogs were made to carry or pull
sacks of firewood until the tips of their vertebrae broke.
Sometimes their heads were lopped off with stone axes during sacrificial
ceremonies. Most often, they were buried with the trash.
No wonder canines kept by Indians in the Midwest were described in early
European explorers’ journals as nasty tempered and prone to bite. They
were also believed to be unable to bark but still served as watch dogs,
perhaps by nibbling on a sleeping Indian’s toes.
Nevertheless, an evolving archaeological record in the metro-east shows
that these small 25- to 35-pound primitive animals became as ingrained
in ancient human existence as today’s pampered canine pets.
In Southern Illinois a thousand years ago, it was truly a dog’s life,
according to 60 complete or partial dog skeletons recovered from the
remarkably well-preserved, buried remains of a village from an era
archaeologists refer to as “Terminal Woodland.” The site is just outside
Brooklyn and is well clear of a nearby modern cemetery.
This fishing village was primarily occupied until about 950 A.D., or
just before the explosion of mound building that marked the more well-
known Mississippian Culture, whose members built the raised earthen
complex at the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center a few miles away.
The skeleton total from the Brooklyn site, first excavated in 2003, is
probably a North American record for the recovery of prehistoric dog
remains, said Joe Galloy, a Harvard-trained archaeologist. Galloy’s
specialties include interpreting the relationship between dogs and the
earliest Americans.
“If there is something that really pulls on the muscles, this bone, the
spinous process will fracture and reheal, and this is an example of
one,” said Galloy, holding up a delicate, deformed vertebra on which the
shark-fin like bone tip that anchors back muscles was bent.
“You see this in modern sled dogs,” he said, “This comes from being used
as pack animals, probably hauling firewood.”
On a large sheet of white paper spread on a table in front of Galloy at
the offices of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research
Program in Belleville, was the nearly complete skeleton of a young,
female dog recovered from the excavation site.
Galloy said this creature is descended from wolves that probably prowled
human camps and dumps 15,000 or so years ago in Europe and Asia and
gradually changed in appearance to resemble today’s dogs. Galloy said
the wolves, in return for scavenging, became the eyes and ears of the
humans and eventually became their hunting partners.
Dog burial, Koster site, Greene County
The remains of at least four domesticated dogs were buried by Early Archaic people at the Koster site more than eight-thousand years ago. Each dog was laid on its side in a shallow grave and then covered with dirt. None of the graves appear to have been marked. The dogs were buried in an area of the village where residents also buried the remains of adults and children.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/images/pre0102_10_250.jpg
At another archeological site — the Koster Site along the Illinois
River in Calhoun County — one of the earliest North American dog
burials was uncovered in the 1970s. Radiocarbon dating showed it is
about 8,500 years old.
This animal, however, was probably a revered hunting dog and was
interred separate from a trash pit and had been reverently laid on its
side, just like rare human burials from this much earlier time.
But the dogs found by excavating teams at the Brooklyn dig headed by
Galloy and site supervisor Brad Koldehoff were not hunting partners. By
the time of this particular village, fishing and growing corn had
replaced nomadic hunting.
The Brooklyn site, which has gained a national reputation, is officially
known as “Janey B. Goode.” The nickname derives from the old Chuck Berry
song and is a tribute to the location’s archaeological riches.
“In contrast to earlier times, when the men went out hunting and the
dogs went with them and were very highly valued, at this time people
settled in one spot and the dogs became women’s’ helpers,” he said.
Another use, albeit a grisly one, was as sacrifices, probably to dispel
sickness in humans.
Six of the dogs, all males, were found buried and headless. Two dogs
were found with their heads still intact, but with their skeletons bound
back to back with the skulls facing east and west.
Dog remains found from a time a few hundred years later at Cahokia
Mounds were burned and had cut marks indicating the creatures had been
used as food, said Koldehoff, the excavation director. Koldehoff pointed
out that within a span of maybe 500 to 600 years, early dogs went from
hunting partners, to pack animals to dinner fare.
But weren’t there some ancient people, children perhaps, who cuddled
primitive puppies and maybe even played with them?
Koldehoff said he thinks that had to have happened, but there is no
physical proof.
“There’s certain things you can’t dig up,” he said. “You can’t dig up a
dance. You can’t dig up a song. And you can’t dig up somebody petting a
dog.”
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625.
© 2006 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights
Reserved.
Origins of Canine Companionship (ca. 12,000 BC – onward)
If there is any doubt as to the accuracy of the old adage “man’s best friend”, one simply need consider the fact that ancient dog burials have been documented on every major landmass in the world, with the exception of Antarctica.
In fact, the earliest documented case of domestication occurs in a grave from Germany, dating to around 12,000 BC – and not only did the grave contain a dog, but also two human skeletons, suggesting that even at this early date, domesticated dogs had become an integral part of everyday human life and companionship.
The earliest evidence for domesticated dogs in North America dates to about 8,000 BC. In Illinois, four dog burials were excavated at the Koster site: each dog was lain on its side in a shallow grave, and the graves themselves were located in an area of the village where residents buried the remains of adults and children.
The Bluegrass site in Warrick County, Indiana, contained quite a number of dog burials from the Middle Archaic period (ca. 6,000-3,500 BC). These dogs were small and light, similar in build to a mid-range terrier.
Although there are innumerable examples of dog burials from across the globe, it is interesting to note that most dogs are buried near or with human remains, and the majority of the time seem to have been buried with great care – placed carefully on their side or in a curling position, as if they were simply asleep, a testimony to the close companionship shared between man and dog during life.
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EL MEJOR AMIGO DEL HOMBRE DESDE HACE 14,000 AÑOS
Si hay alguna duda en cuanto a la exactitud del viejo adagio "el perro es el mejor amigo del hombre", una simple consideración del hecho de que los entierros de antiguos perros han sido documentadas en cada continente, con la excepción de la Antártica, puede ayudar a mudar las dudas en certezas
De hecho, el primer caso documentado de la domesticación se produce en una tumba de Alemania, que data de alrededor de 12.000 a. C. - y no sólo es que la tumba contienen un perro, sino también dos esqueletos humanos, lo que sugiere que incluso en esta temprana fecha, los perros domesticados se había convertido en una parte integral de la vida humana y el compañerismo ya estaba establecido.
La evidencia más temprana de los perros domesticados en América del Norte se remonta a unos 8.000 antes de Cristo. En Illinois, cuatro entierros de perros fueron excavados en el sitio Koster: cada perro acostado de lado en una tumba poco profunda, y las propias tumbas se encontraban próximas a donde los residentes de la aldea enterraban los restos de pobladores adultos y niños.
En el sitio de Bluegrass en Warrick County, Indiana, figuran un buen número de entierros de perros a partir del período Arcaico Medio (alrededor de 6,000-3,500 aC). Estos perros eran pequeños y ligeros, similares en estructura a un terrier de talla media.
Aunque existen innumerables ejemplos de entierros de perros de todo el mundo, es interesante notar que la mayoría de los perros están enterrados cerca o con restos humanos, y la mayoría de las veces parecen haber sido enterrados con gran cuidado - cuidadosamente colocados a su lado o en una posición enroscada, como si simplemente estuvieran dormidos, un testimonio de la íntima compañía compartida entre el hombre y el perro en esta vida.
Por Cinabrio