Archaeologists and anthropologists often find ancient people buried with dogs, cats, and even horses. We are still unraveling the mystery of why mass burials were so common. Ruins in northern Italy indicate several potential reasons. Communal burials may have been intended to provide food and companionship in the afterlife. It may even have had a complex funerary role during the Iron Age. Archaeological discoveries and theories The study was published February 14 in an open access journal Pro Swan.
[Related: Over 6,000 sacrificed animal bones tell a story of Iron Age Spain.]
inside studyA team of Italian and Swiss researchers Seminario Vescoville ruins in Verona, Italy. The ruins date from the 3rd century BC to his 1st century and date back much earlier than the 3rd century BC. fictional Romeo and Juliet He would have lived, loved, and died there. The people who lived here had connections with Celtic cultural groups; crossed the Alps around the 4th century BC.
Of the 161 people buried in Seminario Vescoville, 16 people were buried with animals. The lack of animal representation intrigued the team from the beginning. The graves also contained parts of pigs, chickens, and cows. These animals may have represented food for the dead, as these animals were commonly eaten by people.
However, the four people present at the site were buried along with the remains of dogs and horses. These animals were generally not eaten, and the presence of horses and dogs was important to the team. Other Iron Age discoveries in France and Switzerland indicate that horses and dogs were present during the Iron Age. iconic at the time. These animals often exist in places that look like this: sacrificial ritual, funeralis often associated with. specific god From time. A plot feature called Burial 46 was of particular interest to the team.
“It includes a complete skeleton of a horse located on top of a woman, a dog’s skull, and additional horse remains.” Marco Mirellasays the co-author of the new study, an anthropologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland. pop science. “This discovery provides a glimpse into a very complex funerary ritual.”
What’s equally compelling about the site, Mirella says, is that both of the people carrying the entire animal are women. The person buried with a complete horse was an elderly woman, and the person buried with a complete dog was a baby. There are also young men buried with parts of horses and middle-aged men buried with small dogs, but only women are buried with complete animals.
“While it is difficult to draw firm scientific conclusions from just two cases, we are asked to consider whether this event is simply a coincidence or indicative of a deeper pattern,” Mirella said. say.
[Related: Early humans carved old skeletal remains from burial caves into tools.]
To look for patterns that could further explain animal burials, the researchers analyzed human and animal demographics, diet, genetics, and burial conditions. We didn’t find any significant correlations here, but we did find that people buried with animals don’t seem to be closely related to each other.If they were related, this customs of a certain family.
The lack of a pattern in these graves means there may be multiple interpretations of Late Iron Age human-animal co-burials.Dogs and horses often had religious symbolism in ancient cultures, but certain individuals also He may have been buried with his beloved companions.. These human and animal burial practices may have also been individual traits and social customs, which still apply to us today.
“We often overlook how integral animals, or more precisely other animals, are to human societies and cultures around the world,” says Mirella. “Just taking a walk and observing, or watching a documentary or a photo essay, reveals the ubiquity of other animal species in human societies: economically, dietaryly, psychologically, religiously. For whatever reason, humans and other animals are deeply intertwined, often to the detriment of the latter.”