Pre-Scythian dog remains from Salgótarján-Ipari Park II. (Northern Hill Region, Hungary)

Bartosiewicz László, László and Daróczi-Szabó, Márta and Gál, Erika (2022) Pre-Scythian dog remains from Salgótarján-Ipari Park II. (Northern Hill Region, Hungary). In: Artificia mirabilia : tanulmányok Vaday Andrea tiszteletére = Studies in honour of Andrea Vaday. Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont Régészeti Intézet, Budapest, pp. 453-464. ISBN 9786155254130

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Abstract

Over 4500 animal bones have been recovered during preventive excavations at the Pre-Scythian setlement of Salgótarján-Ipari Park II, northern Hungary. The dog remains, including a well-preserved calvarium, show no evidence of dog meat consumption. It looks likely, that dogs were defned in the local culture on the basis of the functions they performed. They suggest that Iron Age dogs in the region formed largely free-breeding populations: no sign of conscious breeding could be detected. These dogs were not only of medium size, but the calvarium is also reminiscent of unimproved cranial types such as those of Skye terriers or traditional Hungarian sheep dogs. Such forms tend to occur in prehistoric dog populations probably in the absence of targeted human selection. Their features are similar to those of pariah dogs, evidently resulting from panmixis. Such dogs probably hung around human habitations as scavengers, subsisting on food refuse. Their territorial nature probably also made them useful as guards. Beyond these simple, instinctive activities, their roles in herding and hunting cannot be excluded, but cannot be proven either on the basis of osteological evidence alone. A carefully cut proximal end of a dog femur from Salgótarján-Ipari Park II, indicates that dogs were at least opportunistically used as a source of raw material in bone manufacturing.

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