A Report and Request toward Building a Canine Burial Corpus

Abstract

Both the affectionate and mutually adaptive relationships that contemporary humans share with the dog (Canis familiaris) are the result of a long history of domestication. Because of this long partnership, an analysis of dog burials can shed light on certain integrated components associated with mortuary practices, symbolic expression, and oral traditions in humans. There is an enormous amount of archeological and ethnological literature describing the role of the domesticated dog around the world. These sources describe the variable roles of dogs as human partners, friends, companions in hunting and herding, as pack animals, as guard, fighting, and war dogs, as active participants in ritual, and as meat for consumption in lean times or reserved as offerings in ceremonial feasting.