Man’s best friend can also be a prey to take to the mouth. Fossil remains have appeared in Atapuerca that show that 7,000 years ago we ate dogs.
Cynophagia (dog eating) is an activity rejected by many current cultures. On the other hand, in others the intake of dogs is totally normalized and, for some, it is even considered a delicacy. In the Pacific, North Africa or Southeast Asia, dogs are eaten today. In the Philippines they have asocena, a dish based on dog meat.
For our ancestors, dogs were part of the usual menu. This is evidenced by fossil remains found in Atapuerca . Specifically, at the site of El Portalón de Cueva Mayor, where an investigation has been carried out that has detected one of the oldest evidence of cynophagia in the Iberian Peninsula. The fossil record, moreover, shows continued consumption of dogs from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age .
They did not clear the table after eating
Morphological and metric analyzes identified 130 bone remains with cut marks, fresh bone fractures, human tooth marks and fire modifications, thus constituting clear evidence of cynophagia. In the study, published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences , it can be read that:
“The taphonomic evidence suggests that domestic dogs formed, at least occasionally, part of the diet of the humans who inhabited El Portalón, a fact that could be due to food shortages and hunger or because dog meat was considered a delicacy” .
At the Neolithic levels, between 7,000 and 4,500 years ago, dog remains with markings made by humans are scarce. It seems that at that time the consumption of dog began, which would be used as food on certain occasions. But in the levels of the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age, which range from 5,000 to 2,000 years ago, dog bones are very abundant, with the same marks that show the remains of cows and sheep, animals common in consumption. . These tests indicate that during these years the dogs were one more product of the diet of our ancestors .
Ritual or survival?
Today, in our culture, dogs are unquestionably pets that, in general, receive the care and affection of their owners. But throughout prehistory they have played different roles. It is possible that they had a symbolic meaning for hunter-gatherers. At a site in Portugal, Cabeço da Arruda , a nearly complete dog skeleton was found alongside human remains. The finding indicates that the animal was intentionally buried near humans.
From the Neolithic, it is common to find dogs in funerary contexts. During the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age, levels in which the archaeological record of dogs is more abundant, the relationship was maintained in funerary finds, although the use of dogs as draft animals and, as we see, as food is also documented. .
Although the consumption of dogs has been identified in other parts of Europe, in the Iberian Peninsula we only have evidence in two enclaves separated by just one kilometer: El Portalón de Cueva Mayor and El Mirador , both in the Sierra de Atapuerca, in Burgos.
Despite the obvious cynophagy, it is compatible that dogs were also used as ritual offerings . In fact, over time, ritual offerings involving the ingestion of the sacrificed living being have spread throughout many cultures. The classical cultures carried it out, the North American Indians and we have the case of some pre-Columbian cultures, who made human sacrifices that were later eaten. In the same site of El Portalón, the skeleton of a child was found who could have suffered from rickets and scurvy. Close to him were three canine remains that suggest a symbolic offering or some ritual of commensalism.
The analysis of dental pieces from the Chalcolithic period indicates that the diet was based on the consumption of meat. This could be due to relatively dry climatic conditions , which could intensify livestock over agriculture. This situation of drought could lead to scarcity of resources and famines, moments in which the less profitable dogs for humans were ingested to survive.
References:
Galindo-Pellicena, M. Á. et al. 2022. Long-term dog consumption during the Holocene at the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain): case study of the El Portalón de Cueva Mayor site. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14, 84. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-022-01522-5.
