An 8,400-Year-Old Man Was Found Buried Alongside His Dog In Sweden
The dog has been man’s best friend for a while, even as far back as the Stone Age when, about 8,400 years ago, a dog was buried alongside a man in a settlement in what is now southern Sweden.
The remains were uncovered in 2020 in a human burial site located near the town of Solvesborg.
The grave that contained the man and his dog was preserved due to a flash flood that resulted from rising sea levels.
The waters swept layers of mud and sand over the site, which kept it protected over time. The settlement was abandoned shortly after the man and his dog were laid to rest.
According to archaeologists, people from this time period were buried with items that were considered valuable or sentimental.
In this case, the dog must have served as a sentimental token, suggesting that the canine was not wild.
“A buried dog somehow shows how similar we are over the millennia when it comes to the feelings like grief and loss,” Carl Persson, the project manager of Sweden’s Blekinge Museum, said. He added that the discovery “makes you feel closer to the people who lived here.”
Both male and female Viking warriors were buried with weapons to indicate their warrior status. In some ancient cultures, the deceased were buried with animal sacrifices to please the gods or safely guide their spirits to the afterlife. Pigs, dogs, sheep, goats, and cattle were often found in ancient burials of the Germanic states.
An animal osteologist examined the dog’s bones from the Swedish site and noted that it was not like any modern breed, but it could be compared to a greyhound.
Piotr Wawrzyniuk – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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It was unclear whether the dog died from natural causes or was killed to be buried with its owner. Researchers suspect that the dog was buried for sentimental purposes rather than for sacrificial rites.
In addition to the Stone Age dog’s grave, the archaeologists discovered the remains of about 60 houses, as well as pieces of flint and fireplaces, illustrating that the settlement was rich with life before the flooding.
Dogs were likely domesticated several times in various cultures, but they have been living alongside humans since at least 33,000 years ago.
In 2013, an analysis of a canine skull unearthed in Siberia showed that its DNA was more similar to modern dogs than coyotes, wolves, and prehistoric canid species.
The oldest known grave to contain both dogs and humans was a 14,000-year-old burial in western Germany.
The canid remains suggested that the dog was young and sick at the time of its death, but people still bonded with it.
After the Stone Age dog was excavated and archaeological work wrapped up, construction crews started building residential housing at the site.
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