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Video: Scientists have recreated the head of a Neolithic dog that lived 4,500 years ago
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
This dog's face is so cute and realistic that you just want to reach out and stroke its thick fur. Meanwhile, this is not a soft toy or stuffed animal, but a head recreated on the basis of a skull, which is 4, 5 thousand years old. Scientists who implemented this idea are sure that this is exactly what the dog looked like, living in Scotland in the Neolithic era. The skull was found in an ancient tomb discovered by archaeologists in the Orkney Islands.
[H] Why does she look so much like a wolf
The remains of the lovable dog that conquered the hearts of modern animal lovers were found in an intricate Neolithic grave on Quuyn's Hill in the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off the northeastern coast of Scotland. In the reconstructed form, the head of the animal is surprisingly similar to that of a wolf and, most likely, it was precisely a domesticated wolf.
“This dog is about the size of a large collie and resembles a European gray wolf in some of its features,” said Alison Sheridan, chief curator of archaeological research in the Scottish History and Archeology Department of the National Museum of Scotland, where the skull is kept.
Researchers have known about the existence of Neolithic dogs since 1901, when 24 skulls of these animals were found in a burial on Kuuyn Hill. However, this is the first time that one of the found skulls has been "revived" by means of forensic reconstruction.
Earlier radiocarbon analysis of skulls at the Kuuyn Hill site showed that the remains of dogs were placed in a burial chamber by ancient people more than 500 years after the original tomb was built. And this, according to archaeologists, indicates that the dogs were buried for ritual purposes.
The researcher notes that the skull reconstruction, commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland, will help to learn details not only about ceremonial practices and the symbolic meaning of the dog during the late Neolithic period in the Orkney Islands, but also about the very appearance of domestic dogs in the third millennium BC. …
“Domesticated dogs tend to have more prominent, raised foreheads these days than wolves,” explained Jack Zeng, a functional anatomist at the University of Buffalo. - Moreover, domestic dogs, as a rule, have a shorter muzzle and, accordingly, a different dental system.
Other studies have shown that domesticated dogs tend to have more "drooping" ears, shorter and more curly coats, more "curly" tails, and a lighter, less uniform coat. In addition, their brains are smaller than those of wild wolves.
The fur of the dog is wolf
To create an exact replica of the dog's head, Imaging Services performed CT scans of the skull at the Royal School of Veterinary Research, University of Edinburgh. The information obtained from the scan allowed a 3D model to be printed, which forensic artist Amy Thornton used to shape the animal's head.
In the same way she would recreate a human face, Thornton created a dog's face by adding muscle, skin, and hair over a 3D printed skull. The original reconstruction was made in clay and the finished sculpture was molded in silicone and trimmed with European gray wolf fur.
Guards, Shepherds and Companions
“Just as they are important to us in the modern world, in the Neolithic era, dogs played an important role for the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands. Ancient people supposedly trained them and kept them as pets and watchmen. In addition, farmers trained them to graze sheep, said Steve Farrar, spokesman for Historical Environment Scotland. “Perhaps dogs were even a symbol or a totem, and the people who lived on the islands considered themselves to be a“dog nation”.
The scientific community is aware of cases of reconstruction of people of the Neolithic era, but until now nothing was known about attempts at forensic medical reconstruction of an animal of this period. So this is the first such experience.
The project participants are confident that the friendly appearance of this adorable dog will help modern Europeans better understand the people who lived on the islands in those distant times and appreciate the rich historical heritage that they left behind.
A dog has been living next to a person for more than one millennium. Read on to continue the topic: Chukchi Hachiko and other dogs who have proven that loyalty exists.
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