Biometry of Iron Age II and Hellenistic Period Dog 'Burials' from Tell Gezer and Other Sites

Project Note

This content pertains to the chapter “The Context and Biometry of Iron Age II and Hellenistic Period Dog "Burials" from Tell Gezer Compared to those from Other Sites in the Region” in The Wide Lens in Archaeology: Honoring Brian Hesse's Contributions to Anthropological Archaeology (Justin Lev-Tov, Allan Gilbert, and Paula Wapnish, eds.), published by Lockwood Press. The Wide Lens in Archaeology: Honoring Brian Hesse's Contributions to Anthropological Archaeology is an edited volume that links several of its chapters to rich digital content published open access with Open Context. The authors have chosen to link their chapters to related online content (including primary data, maps, and additional images) in order to provide additional research resources in their subject area. The Wide Lens in Archaeology: Honoring Brian Hesse's Contributions to Anthropological Archaeology will be available for purchase from ISD.

Overview

The earliest dogs in the Near East date to the Epi-Palaeolithic, late Natufian culture ca. 12,000 years BP. Much has been published on the biometry of these early dogs, but relatively little research has been carried out on dogs from later periods in this region. This database and its associated paper, is an attempt to investigate this topic with reference to a broad base of biometric data from sites spanning the Pottery Neolithic through to Ottoman/Recent periods.

This dataset provides measurements (in mm, following codes given in von den Driesch 1976) of an Iron Age II dog and a group of 7 Hellenistic dogs from the site of Tell Gezer (central coastal plain, Israel). These dogs were discovered as fully articulated or partially articulated skeletons, in fills, at the site and represent examples of dog “burials”, a well-documented phenomenon in this region. Based on their skeletal completeness, absence of burning, butchery or other consumption damage and the lack of any association with ritual or mortuary features, these interred animals have been interpreted as representing utilitarian disposal of dead dogs. This dataset also provides a compilation of cranial and post-cranial measurements of remains of dogs from 43 different sites within Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The vast majority derive from published sources, which are listed with each record.

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Photograph by Sam Wolff