Recent zooarchaeological research suggests that the transition from stone to metal butchering tools in the southern Levant occurred during or after the Middle Bronze Age and was accompanied by changes in butchering practices. However, few large and well-dated zooarchaeological assemblages that span the Bronze Ages have been systematically analyzed, limiting our understanding of when and how this technological transition occurred.
A chop mark by a metal axe on a goat or sheep vertebra. These chops were performed for dismemberment.
Credit
Haskel J Greenfield and Jeremy A Beller
This study investigates the evolution of butchering technology using newly analyzed zooarchaeological data from Bronze Age Tell Aphek (Antipatris), Israel. Tell Aphek, a prominent urban settlement continuously inhabited since the Early Bronze Age, is an ideal site for examining long-term technological change. Microscopic analysis of butchery marks on faunal remains, including scanning electron microscopy, was utilized to distinguish marks produced by stone tools from those produced by metal tools.
The results show that stone tools dominate in the earliest periods (e.g., the Early Bronze Age) and a dramatic and sudden shift toward metal butchering tools occurs with the onset of the Middle Bronze Age occupation. By the end of the Late Bronze Age, metal tools had almost completely replaced stone tools as the main butchering implements. This transition is also associated with observable changes in butchering efficiency.
These findings demonstrate that the microscopic analysis of butchering marks provides a valuable perspective on technoeconomic transformations occurring between the Early Bronze Age and later periods in the southern Levant.
Having weathered nearly 1500 years of time and exposure, the remains of Roman-Byzantine villages in Syria have been the subject of recent architectural investigations, which reveal remarkable design features, local construction techniques, and spatial layouts that could inform and be adapted for future restoration projects.
The findings, based on architectural studies conducted in 2024 and published in the Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research, offer an extensive analysis of building materials used in the construction of a village called Ba’ude. The study reveals the ingenuity of local construction traditions and the organization of domestic architecture and space in Late Antiquity.
According to the authors, the architectural evidence gathered from Ba'ude helps reconstruct the broader historical trajectory of Roman-Byzantine villages scattered across the limestone massif of northern Syria. Stretching over seven mountain ranges in the governorates of Aleppo and Idlib, these settlements were once home to prosperous Syriac-speaking Christian communities. Over time, however, they declined and ultimately fell into ruin.
“These sites form what is widely known as the ‘Dead Cities,’ comprising approximately 700 archaeological locations, many of which still preserve remarkably well-maintained architectural remains,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, professor of archaeology and history at the University of Sharjah and a co-author of the study. “Largely inhabited by Syriac (Christian) communities during the Roman and early Byzantine periods, these villages offer an exceptional record of rural life in Late Antiquity.”
In 2011, 36 of these sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of eight archaeological parks, each grouping geographically related settlements. This recognition reflects, in UNESCO’s words, their “Outstanding Universal Value” as a unique and integrated model of ancient rural settlement and human–environment interaction.
Stones, stories and enduring legacy
Within this broader context, the site of Ba'ude emerges as an example of a wider archaeological constellation of Roman-Byzantine villages in Syria. The study offers detailed and integral analysis of domestic architecture in Ba'ude, forming part of a broader research program encompassing eleven sites across two archaeological parks renowned for their exceptional state of preservation and a richly layered cultural landscape.
While earlier archaeological inquiries in the region mostly focused on monumental religious buildings, reflecting an inspired and devotional spiritual life of a thriving Christian community, the study marks a deliberate shift toward domestic architectural spaces. The new focus has resulted in throwing more light on a nuanced lens of daily life in the region.
The study’s findings also carry practical implications for how to reconstruct and preserve heritage, offering a framework on what needs to be done by contemporary urban planners to safeguard the identity of domestic architecture and how to integrate it into modern development strategies and cultural tourism initiatives.
“Strategically, the study provides an evidence-based foundation for policymakers to design effective heritage protection strategies,” explained Prof. Abdulkarim. “It also promotes the involvement of local communities in safeguarding heritage as both a cultural responsibility and a potential driver of sustainable development.”
The study further warns that Ba'ude and comparable sites remain under continuous threat. These risks emanate not only from damage inflicted during the 14-year civil war in Syria, which concluded in 2024, but also from ongoing pressures such as agricultural land leveling and the construction of unauthorized dwellings and houses around these archaeological zones.
“The threats facing Ba'ude are not limited to direct destruction but extend to a slow and systematic erosion driven by agricultural clearance and stone reuse—processes that impact both the spatial and collective memory of the site,” emphasized Dr. Afaf Laila, a leading Syrian archaeologist and the study’s lead author. “Ba'ude is not merely a collection of ruins but a living archive of rural life in Late Antiquity, where architecture, landscape, and community formed a remarkably cohesive cultural system.”
Between ruin and survival
Asked about the significance of Ba'ude buildings, Dr. Laila underscored their crucial role in revealing both the architectural character and the social fabric of the ancient inhabitants of the village. She said the architectural study of these structures has helped the study authors to identify spatial layouts and privacy requirements, particularly in the configuration of rooms, facades, and carved decorative elements.
“The western area of the village stands out due to the variety of buildings there in comparison to other parts of the village, including a pyramidal tomb, a press, and a church. However, these structures vary significantly in their state of preservation,” the authors note. “Some, like the church and the nearby press, are in a state of disrepair, reflecting damage sustained over several centuries. The church, in particular, has almost entirely collapsed. In contrast, the pyramidal tomb on the southwestern side has been remarkably well-preserved and remains in excellent condition.”
The researchers found that many of Ba’ude’s residential features, such as main entrances, courtyard walls, and porticos, have suffered extensive degradation and are in urgent need of preservation. However, the excavators came across a limited number of surviving examples that have allowed for comparative analysis with neighboring villages. Only three main entrances retained discernible patterns observed across the region marked by a small vestibule and framed by an arch.
The walls enclosing the courtyards have largely vanished, though fragmentary foundations persist in some cases, offering valuable insights into the original domestic layout and dimensions of the courtyards in certain houses. Likewise, they found a single portico intact, a rare example and testimony to the former architectural coherence in Late Antiquity Syria.
The authors urge more detailed architectural investigation, particularly of the structures that have collapsed entirely. “As for the internal facades of the rooms, preservation varies across the area. The ground floor rooms are generally in better condition than the upper floor rooms, which have almost entirely disappeared.”
The authors add, “Of the 28 houses surveyed, 12 are relatively well-preserved. Some of their rooms still feature complete facades, allowing us to analyze their architectural patterns. These patterns bear similarities to those found in the surrounding villages of Jebel Al-Zawiya, though Ba'ude stands out for its simpler, less ornate designs.”
Ancient village on the brink
Despite its modest size, Ba'ude encompasses residential units, the remains of a church, and a rare pyramidal tomb, features that significantly enhance its archaeological importance. The authors, however, stress the village’s fragility, noting that its broad context accelerates the risk of irreversible loss and underscores the urgency of systematic documentation and preservation.
The study demonstrates that domestic architecture offers the most direct insight into ancient societies, reflecting everyday life more vividly than monumental structures. Although Ba'ude has suffered considerable damage, it still preserves key architectural elements that allow for the reconstruction of its ancient building techniques and decorative practices.
“Documenting the domestic architecture of Ba'ude, particularly its internal façades, is essential for preserving the defining features of this architectural landscape amid rapid transformations,” said Dr. Laila. “The limited architectural fabric of the site may accelerate its disappearance, where even partial loss produces a disproportionate impact on the integrity of the whole.”
Addressing the broader challenges faced by Roman-Byzantine heritage in northern Syria, the authors call for increased support from international institutions to aid in the excavation and restoration of these villages, many of which are already inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. To date, they note that the Gerda Henkel Foundation, a non-profit German organization, remains the only institution actively involved in helping preserve the ancient villages.
These archaeologically significant sites have sustained extensive damage as a result of recent violent events in Syria, and Ba'ude is no exception. Visible damage includes the near destruction of room facades and residential structures due to random digging, agricultural expansion, and the dismantling of building materials for farming purposes.
The authors emphasize that “the involvement of specialized research institutions is essential to develop effective solutions to prevent further damage to the site. Once the conflict in the region has subsided, it will be crucial to raise awareness among the local community about their role in safeguarding their heritage.”
The authors further highlight the exceptional archaeological value of these villages, recalling their inscription by UNESCO on the World Heritage List in 2011. They also reiterate UNESCO’s characterization of these sites as a comprehensive model of rural settlement in Late Antiquity, mirroring long-term human-environment interaction and an integrated spatial and economic system based on the exploitation of surrounding agricultural lands, particularly for viticulture and olive cultivation.
“This inscription was not merely a recognition of the past but a warning for the future; every stone carries the memory of a civilization, and any loss constitutes an irreparable loss to humanity’s shared heritage,” concluded Prof. Abdulkarim.
Journal
Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research
Dingo burial site near Broken Hill, Australia, reveals deep Barkindji connection as custodians work with archaeologists.
A millennium-old dingo deliberately buried by Barkindji ancestors along the Baaka, or Darling River, is offering rare insight into the depth of relationships between First Nations people and dingoes in western New South Wales, Australia.
The dingo appears to have been buried with great care in a purpose‑built midden, which continued to be tended and “fed” with river mussel shells for centuries, suggesting an ongoing relationship between the buried dingo and local people. This is believed to be the first time this “feeding” practice has been observed archaeologically anywhere in the world.
Project lead Dr Amy Way said: “While Barkindji people have always known about this cultural practice, this discovery is really powerful because it provides new details on the depth of that relationship between Barkindji people and dingoes.”
Dr Way, who holds a joint position as archaeologist at the Australian Museum and lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Sydney, has been working closely with Barkindji custodians over the past five years, dating and recording Barkindji cultural heritage in Kinchega National Park, New South Wales.
The dingo, known as garli in Barkindji language, was discovered in a road cutting, its skeleton emerging due to erosion at a site in Kinchega National Park. The site is near the Menindee Lakes along the Darling River, about 100 kilometres south‑east of Broken Hill. The male dingo was deliberately buried between 963-916 years ago within a riverside midden, as determined by radiocarbon dating.
“If garli were buried with the same care and respect we see for human ancestors, including mothers and elders, it tells us these animals were profoundly valued and loved,” Dr Way said.
Lead author and dingo specialist Dr Loukas Koungoulos from University of Western Australia said: “We know dingoes were tamed and lived alongside people as part of the community. This analysis details the depth of this relationship.”
First direct dating
Working alongside Barkindji custodians, archaeologists from the University of Sydney, the Australian Museum, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia have revealed new evidence of millennium‑old ritual dingo burial practices along the Baaka.
The research includes the first direct dating of a dingo from the Baaka (Darling) River system, extending known burial traditions far beyond southeastern Australia.
Funded by the Australian Museum Foundation, the research is published in Australian Archaeology today.
Analysis of the garli’s remains shows that he was male and lived to an advanced age for a dingo (4-7 years). His teeth were heavily worn, suggesting a long life and extensive use, and he had healed traumatic injuries, including broken ribs and a broken lower leg, indicating prolonged care. The researchers believe the garli may have been out hunting and sustained severe injuries, consistent with being kicked by a kangaroo. He survived due to the care of the Barkindji people.
At the time of his death, the garli was buried in a midden that appears to have been newly initiated either shortly before or alongside the burial. The site continued to be added to for centuries after his death.
Barkindji Elders propose that these ongoing additions formed part of a “feeding” ritual that honoured garli as an ancestor and was maintained across multiple generations.
Evidence of long life and care
“What stands out about Garli is that he was old and well cared for,” Dr Koungoulos said.
“The healed injuries, worn teeth and careful burial tell us this animal lived a long life alongside people, and that his death was marked intentionally and with respect.”
Analysis of the garli provides new evidence that ancestral dingo burial practices extended further north and west along the Baaka system than previously documented.
“This confirms these traditions were much more widespread than we once thought,” Dr Koungoulos said. “Dingoes like this garli weren’t simply tolerated around camps. They were tamed, lived with people and were embedded in daily life.”
The burial was first identified by Barkindji Elder Uncle Badger Bates and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) archaeologist Dan Witter several years ago as erosion exposed Garli’s remains. Excavation and analysis were carried out at the request of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, which has guided the care of the garli throughout the research.
From the outset, Barkindji Elders emphasised the importance of ceremonial care. Earlier stages of the work included smoking ceremonies and earlier this year garli was returned to Country.
“This research reinforces what Barkindji people have always known,” Dr Way said. “These relationships with animals, ancestors and Country were deep, deliberate and ongoing.”
Eastern Africa’s earliest livestock herders continued fishing, hunting and gathering for centuries after livestock were first brought to the region. The strategy may have helped them adapt to a harsh, changing climate.
The first pastoralists in eastern Africa didn’t suddenly switch to a diet centered only on cows, sheep and goats. Instead, they kept eating a wide mix of foods—fish, wild animals and plants—alongside livestock for at least 1,000 years.
That’s the key finding from new University of British Columbia-led research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It challenges a long‑held idea that once people begin producing their own food, they quickly narrow down what they eat.
“These early herders didn’t put all their eggs in one basket,” said geochemist Dr. Kendra Chritz, lead author and assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. “They were keeping livestock, but they were also still fishing and hunting and gathering. Their diets were incredibly varied.”
Instead, early herders around Lake Turkana, in what is now northern Kenya, hedged their bets. Even with domesticated animals at hand, they still fished the lake, hunted wild game and gathered plant-based foods.
This matters because food choices shape health, culture and survival. For most of human history, people lived in environments that changed fast. Understanding how our ancestors coped can shed light on how we can adapt to climate stress today. It also reminds us that human diets were never one-size-fits-all. Variety was the norm, not the exception.
To figure this out, the team analyzed chemical clues locked in ancient human teeth. These clues come from stable isotopes—natural markers in teeth that reflect what a person ate while the tooth was forming. In simple terms, teeth keep a long-term record of diet, like a fossilized food diary.
The researchers studied remains from more than 100 people who lived between about 9,500 and 200 years ago in Kenya and Tanzania. They compared fishers and foragers, early herders and later herders who lived after livestock had become central to daily life.
The biggest surprise came from the earliest herders, who lived around 5,000 years ago. Their tooth records showed huge variation from person to person. Some ate foods linked to grass-eating animals, such as cattle. Others relied much more on fish or wild animals. Many did both.
“This level of diversity looks a lot like what we see among hunter-gatherers,” said Dr. Chritz.
“The isotopic record is fascinating because it can reveal individual to individual variation, even among fisher foragers who lived at a single site,” said study co-author Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand, an associate professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University, who has co-directed excavations at several sites on the west side of Lake Turkana. “This kind of information goes beyond what one can discern from the animal bones left at a site after human consumption.”
Previous populations of fisher-foragers who lived in the region during a moist climate interval known as the African Humid Period also showed striking dietary variation.
“It’s clear that fisher-foragers followed dietary strategies that were situationally specific, or even personalized,” said Dr. Hildebrand. “And the first pastoralists maintained this very individualized approach, even as they began constructing communal cemeteries that involved large social networks connecting hundreds of people.”
The team also looked at residues left behind in ancient ceramic cooking pots. These fatty traces—basically food stains locked into clay—reveal what was cooked long ago. Some pots from early herders contained fats from animals, but only rarely showed signs of dairy foods like milk. That suggests livestock were important, but not the mainstay of meals.
“Ceramic residue data are an incredible archive—we can see not only what people were cooking, but also the general types of plants, for example, that animals were eating,” explained co-author Dr. Katherine Grillo, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. “Now that we have isotopic data from ancient human teeth as well, we have a remarkably holistic body of evidence for both ancient environmental changes and the complicated cultural decisions people were making, perhaps in response, about food.”
The arrival of herding around Lake Turkana coincided with major environmental upheaval. The region was drying fast, causing lake levels to drop. Grasslands were slow to spread. Relying only on animals in that unstable setting may have been risky.
“Livestock are valuable, but they’re also vulnerable,” said Dr. Chritz. “If rainfall is unpredictable and pasture is scarce, having multiple food options can make the difference between getting by and going hungry.”
Only later—more than a thousand years after herding began—did diets narrow. Herders in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania eventually relied much more heavily on livestock products. Their tooth records show less variation, suggesting more specialized diets linked to more stable environments.
“This research is a testament to what becomes possible when Kenyan institutions are genuine partners in global science—not just sites of data collection, but active contributors to knowledge production,” said Dr. Emmanuel Ndiema, co-author on the study and head of Earth Sciences at the National Museums of Kenya. “The findings illuminate the ingenuity and resilience of the people who shaped this landscape thousands of years ago, and we are proud that Kenya’s heritage is at the centre of this story.”
Neanderthal populations in southern Europe collected shellfish throughout the year, with a marked preference for the colder months, according to a new international study led by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the IsoTOPIK Lab at the University of Burgos (UBU), and the Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria at the University of Cantabria (UC).
The research, recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shows that 115,000 years ago Neanderthal groups from Los Aviones Cave (Cartagena, Region of Murcia, Spain) were already consuming molluscs following a clearly seasonal pattern, particularly during the colder months of the year, from November to April.
For decades, the ability of Neanderthal populations to adapt to coastal environments and exploit marine resources in an organised manner has been the subject of intense debate in archaeology and human evolution. Traditionally, the regular consumption of shellfish and seasonal planning were considered traits exclusive to our species, Homo sapiens. However, this recent finding challenges that paradigm.
The study analysed marine mollusc remains (including small gastropods and limpets) recovered from Los Aviones Cave at an unprecedented resolution. The results show that these populations not only collected shellfish sporadically but also possessed a deep understanding of marine ecological cycles, anticipating by thousands of years behaviours later documented in modern humans from the region.
But how is it possible to determine the season in which a mollusc was consumed thousands of years ago? The key lies in the oxygen isotopic signal preserved in the carbonate of their shells, as the incorporation of heavier or lighter oxygen isotopes depends primarily on seawater temperature. “By reconstructing variation during shell growth, these values act as a prehistoric thermometer. This makes it possible to infer temperature changes as well as the exact time of year when a mollusc was collected, revealing new details about seasonal consumption patterns,” explains Asier García-Escárzaga, lead author of the study.
The results represent a milestone, as they are the first obtained for such early stages of human evolution. “They consumed marine resources throughout the year, but with a very clear preference for winter and autumn months. This pattern, very similar to that developed by more recent populations of modern humans in Europe and other regions, cannot be coincidental,” García-Escárzaga explains.
Winter collection coincides with periods when certain mollusc species have higher meat yield and improved sensory qualities (flavour and texture) due to their reproductive cycles. In addition, Neanderthal populations may have avoided collecting shellfish in summer to minimise health risks, such as the proliferation of toxic algae (red tides) or the rapid decomposition of shellfish due to heat, demonstrating a conscious and safe management of marine resources.
These findings suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans may have been more similar than previously thought. The study highlights that this behaviour reflects a diversified diet incorporating high-quality marine proteins (rich in Omega-3 and zinc), which are essential for brain development and reproductive health. “What we see at Los Aviones is a fully modern subsistence strategy,” the authors state. This discovery reinforces the idea that Neanderthals possessed cognitive, social and economic capacities comparable to our own, establishing the Iberian Peninsula as a key region for understanding the complexity of our closest ancestors.
A new Oxford-led study, published in PLOS Biology, traces it back to bipedalism and brain expansion.
It is one of the strangest puzzles in human evolution. About 90% of people across every human culture favour their right hand - with no other primate species showing a population-level preference on this scale. Despite decades of research into the brains, genes and development behind handedness, why humans ended up so overwhelmingly right-handed has remained an evolutionary enigma.
Now, new research led by the University of Oxford, published in PLOS Biology, suggests the answer comes down to two defining features of human evolution - walking on two legs, and the dramatic expansion of the human brain.
The study, by Dr Thomas A. Püschel and Rachel M. Hurwitz at Oxford’s School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, with Professor Chris Venditti at the University of Reading, brought together data on 2,025 individuals across 41 species of monkeys and apes. Using Bayesian modelling that accounts for evolutionary relationships between species, the team tested the major existing hypotheses for why handedness evolved: including tool use, diet, habitat, body mass, social organisation, brain size and locomotion.
Humans sat conspicuously outside the pattern that explained every other primate, but when the researchers added two factors into the model - brain size and the relative length of our arms versus our legs (a standard anatomical marker of bipedal locomotion) - that exceptional status disappeared. In other words, once you account for upright walking and a large brain, humans stop looking like an evolutionary anomaly.
Using the same models, the team was also able to estimate likely handedness in extinct human ancestors. The picture that emerges is a gradient; early hominins such as Ardipithecus and Australopithecus probably had only mild rightward preferences, broadly similar to modern great apes. With the appearance of the genus Homo, the bias strengthens markedly - through Homo ergaster, Homo erectus and Neanderthals - reaching its modern extreme in Homo sapiens.
There is one striking exception: Homo floresiensis, the small-brained “hobbit” species from Indonesia, shows a much weaker predicted preference. The researchers suggest this fits the wider pattern: floresiensis had a small brain and a body adapted to a mix of upright walking and climbing, rather than full bipedalism.
The findings point to a two-stage story. Walking upright came first, freeing the hands from the work of locomotion and creating new selective pressure for fine, lateralised manual behaviours. Larger brains came later, and as they grew and reorganised, the rightward bias hardened into the near-universal pattern seen today.
Dr Thomas A. Püschel, Wendy James Associate Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford, said: ‘This is the first study to test several of the major hypotheses for human handedness in a single framework. Our results suggest it is probably tied to some of the key features that make us human, especially walking upright and the evolution of larger brains. By looking across many primate species, we can begin to understand which aspects of handedness are ancient and shared, and which are uniquely human.’
The study leaves open questions for future research, including the role of cumulative human culture in stabilising right-handedness, why left-handedness has persisted at all, and whether similar patterns of limb preference seen in animals such as parrots and kangaroos point to a deeper, convergent story across the wider animal kingdom.
‘Bipedalism and brain expansion explain human handedness’, Püschel, T. A., Hurwitz, R. M., Venditti, C., PLOS Biology(2026).
Peruvian hairless dogs—a medium-sized elegant Indigenous breed with pointy ears—a variation of which is today known as a Peruvian inca orchid breed by the American Kennel Club, are widely represented in ancient Andean coastal pottery. Celebrated as a national symbol, they were declared part of Peru's cultural heritage in 2000.
A new study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology provides the first physical evidence of Peruvian hairless dogs from the only Wari Empire site found to date, on the coast of northern Peru, known as Castillo de Huarmey.
Situated about 190 miles north of Lima, the 110-acre site is a Wari administrative and funerary complex that existed between 600 and 1050 CE, 400 years before the Inca rose to power.
The site is famous for the discovery of the first undisturbed elite tomb in 2012 with 58 high-status females and 1,300 artifacts and six human sacrifices buried, and the side burials of elite craftsmen with gold and silver and bronze tools in 2022, yielding extraordinary finds and information about the Wari Empire's provincial management.
"Our findings indicate that humans and dogs coexisted at this Wari site, but reconstructing their bond is challenging, as past emotions are difficult to capture through archaeological methods," says first author, Weronika Tomczyk, a research associate in the Department of Anthropology and postdoctoral fellow in the Ecology, Evolution, Environment and Society Program at Dartmouth. “The goal of our study was to not only present data on Castillo de Huarmey’s dog burials, but also emphasize that people in the past had often contradictory relationships with the animals, just as they do today: a pet for one group of people could at the same time be considered a pest by their closest neighbors."
The site’s vicinity is one of the driest, hyper-arid deserts along the Pacific coast, which helped preserve organic materials and artifacts, such as hair, bone, decorated pottery, pigment, clothes, and leather.
One of the many artifacts found was a ceramic vessel in the shape of a seated, anthropomorphized Peruvian hairless dog holding an object resembling an instrument.
The remains of many South American camelids—most likely domesticated llamas and alpacas, which may have been funerary offerings and refuse—were discovered at the site between 2010 and 2025, and the archaeologists also found dog skeletal remains.
Large portions of Castillo de Huarmey have been heavily looted due to the 1970 earthquake, which caused one of the site's sides to collapse, opening up burial chambers with pottery and artifacts. While the deeper, never-looted layer preserved the Wari context, the upper layers where most of the animal remains have been found were intermixed.
As the archaeologists were exploring the northern part of the main ceremonial area, they found three sets of dog skeletal remains that caught their special attention. The first one was a naturally mummified dog skull with its hairless skin visible and ears still attached, painted with cinnabar—a popular pigment used to adorn deceased in ancient Peru. The team also found a larger dog skull, and a naturally mummified male dog skeleton in a shallow pit with only its lower front limbs missing. Initially, the team thought that the dog may have been buried 50 years ago when the looting had occurred, but Tomczyk noticed that the dog was hairless and all three individuals were missing their first premolars.
"What I noticed is that some of the dog skeletons were missing teeth, and not that they lost them during their lifespan; some teeth, especially first premolars and sometimes last molars, had just never erupted,” said Tomczyk. "And then I found in the literature that the same gene which is responsible for hairlessness in dogs is responsible for a reduced number of teeth, indicating that these were Peruvian hairless dogs."
The researchers used standard zooarchaeological methods to estimate how old the dogs were. They also conducted an isotopic analysis of bone and teeth, which provide information about the life of the animal such as what it ate and drank, and where it came from, based on the isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium. The latter element represents the bioavailable geological signals of the region where an individual lived during a formation of specific sampled tissue, so it can be used to infer a provenance or migration patterns. Then, the researchers compared the data to camelid and human data from the site.
"Isotopic analyses of a dog's tooth give a signal of its life as a puppy because dog teeth erupt so fast, and the bone gives a signal of more or less the last year of its life," said Tomczyk. "Such sampling strategy aimed to provide signals from distinct stages of a dog’s life.”
The research team recovered 341 dog bone specimens that are estimated to have come from a minimum of 19 dogs, as well as the complete mummified male dog. These included the bones of a 6- to 8-week-old puppy that were buried with one of the elite craftsman, nicknamed the "Master Basketmaker," bones of an adult dog that were buried in the site’s palace, and bones of a partial puppy skeleton that were buried with a male guardian recorded as XY, who was likely sacrificed as a tomb guardian.
Most of the dogs were adults when they were buried. Some were buried intentionally while others were just found as refuse. And very few had butchery marks indicating that they were not widely consumed.
In radiocarbon dating the mummified dog, the team determined that the dog is at least 1,200 years old, providing the oldest radiocarbon date from Castillo de Huarmey to date, which has important ramifications for the site's chronology.
The isotopic analysis revealed that most dogs consumed some maize—a staple in the Pre-Hispanic Andes, indicating that their diets were similar to those of humans. Moreover, when tested dogs suspected of hairlessness were puppies, their diet was more similar to the diet of children, whereas when they were adults, their diet became more variable.
"We do not know if the dogs were intentionally fed maize or if perhaps, they were just eating leftovers or trash," said Tomczyk. "Yet, the distinct dietary patterns of hairless puppies provide insights into what may have been organized breeding."
"While we will never know if any of the three dogs were pets or how people treated them, it is evident they received different treatment than other dogs," said Tomczyk.
