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Man's best friend stands test of time, study says
Lawrence Journal-World ^ | Saturday, January 28, 2006 | Sophia Maines

Posted on 01/31/2006 9:09:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv

The man was buried in Sweden with a dog laid out across his legs. It could have been yesterday, but that burial site actually dates back 7,000 years to the Mesolithic period... "Nothing," he wrote in his paper, "signifies the social importance that people have attached to dogs more conspicuously than their deliberate interment upon death." There are burial sites on every continent, except Antarctica, where the ground surface makes burial practically impossible. Morey's map of dog burial sites includes spots in current-day Greenland, Sweden, Sudan, Siberia, Japan and the United States, including Alaska. Some date back 14,000 years... In one grave site in what is present-day Israel, an elderly person was buried with a hand lying on the body of a puppy. The bones are between 11,000 and 12,000 years old. At Indian Knoll in Kentucky, which dates 3500 B.C. to 2500 B.C., there are many buried dogs. In one grave, two dogs were buried with children. Another site in Israel, called Ashkelon, dates back to the Persian era and includes about 1,000 dogs buried individually in a sort of dog cemetery. Morey's research disputes some genetics research that has suggested dogs have been domesticated for at least 100,000 years. Archaeology suggests that domestication occurred within the past 14,000 years, Morey said, adding that there is no physical "hard" evidence indicating it happened earlier.

(Excerpt) Read more at 2.ljworld.com ...


TOPICS: History; Pets/Animals; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: cats; doggieping; dogs; godsgravesglyphs
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To: xcamel
"Was it an Elkhound?"

I believe it was a moose hound. My sister was bit by a moose hound once....

21 posted on 01/31/2006 9:45:15 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum.)
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To: NYer

Um....is that yellow I see on those legs? Do the spitz tails on Elkhounds normally relax like that (I've only known Siberians to totally relax their spitz tails so they're just "sabre"). I'm sorry, it just looks too much like another breed I love very much. If I saw only the rear end I'd think..... ;-)

In any case, lovely dog!


22 posted on 01/31/2006 9:53:18 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Dogs are dependent on humans to the point of being worshipful. Is it ego gratification that caused their owners to "take" their dogs with them to the afterlife?


23 posted on 01/31/2006 10:19:47 AM PST by Lady Jag ( All I want is a kind word, a warm bed, and world domination)
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To: Joe 6-pack
My sister was bit by a moose hound once.

Cheese, guy, sorry to hear that; once is all it takes. I'll bet she was really stuned!

I hope she got shots for it...beber safe, rather than sortie.

I'll bet she stays away from the moose limburger from now on.

24 posted on 01/31/2006 10:28:14 AM PST by ApplegateRanch (Mad-Mo! Allah bin Satan commands ye: Bow to him 5 times/day: Head down, @ss-up, and fart at Heaven!)
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To: Lady Jag

Fidon't know.


25 posted on 01/31/2006 10:41:52 AM PST by SunkenCiv (In the long run, there is only the short run.)
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To: SunkenCiv
There are burial sites on every continent, except Antarctica, where the ground surface makes burial practically impossible.

The absence of a population also makes burials a good deal less possible.

26 posted on 01/31/2006 10:41:56 AM PST by Restorer
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To: Restorer

Sure, now. ;') Any traces of ancient / prehistoric human habitation in Antarctica would pretty much have to be on the continental shelf, from the era when glaciation elsewhere caused sealevel to decline by hundreds of feet (perhaps as much as 800, that's about what it was in the Bering Strait). All other things being equal, it's warmer at lower altitude. Since ice has been flowing and falling off Antarctica for a couple million years or more, any such traces could very well have been blotted out.


27 posted on 01/31/2006 10:48:02 AM PST by SunkenCiv (In the long run, there is only the short run.)
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To: SunkenCiv

During Ice Ages I would expect the climate in Antarctica would be even worse than it is today. More of the continent might have been "above sea level," but it was probably heavily glaciated and almost certainly uninhabited.


28 posted on 01/31/2006 10:58:58 AM PST by Restorer
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To: ApplegateRanch

It wasn't all that series...all the moose hound belong to us.


29 posted on 01/31/2006 11:11:41 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum.)
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To: maro

Kind of suggests that.


30 posted on 01/31/2006 11:13:25 AM PST by TASMANIANRED (The Internet is the samizdat of liberty.)
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To: Lady Jag

Dogs are more faithful than humans.

Dog will never leave you for a lady with a better rack.

Just to not make this sexist. Dog will never leave you for a better earner.


31 posted on 01/31/2006 11:16:32 AM PST by TASMANIANRED (The Internet is the samizdat of liberty.)
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To: TASMANIANRED
Just found this. It's beautiful...


"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog." - Gene Hill


32 posted on 01/31/2006 11:28:57 AM PST by Lady Jag ( All I want is a kind word, a warm bed, and world domination)
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To: Lady Jag

That is very beautiful.

A good dog develops your humanity.

They are faithful, noble, strong without being overbearing.

To paraphrase someone, I would be a fine woman if I were as good as my dogs think I am.


33 posted on 01/31/2006 11:56:02 AM PST by TASMANIANRED (The Internet is the samizdat of liberty.)
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To: TASMANIANRED
It's making me crazy...I'm looking for a particular quote about dogs and can't quite recall how it goes. Googling has come up with some fantastic quotes, but not that one.

Dog Quotes is a keeper with much more than just excellent quotes.

"The dog is man's best friend.
He has a tail on one end.
Up in front he has teeth.
And four legs underneath." - Ogden Nash 'An Introduction to Dogs'

34 posted on 01/31/2006 12:06:37 PM PST by Lady Jag ( All I want is a kind word, a warm bed, and world domination)
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To: SunkenCiv

Awwww. I hope this doesn't mean that they euthanized the dog when his master died. Or, perhaps they believed that the dog was sinless and thus assured his master of an easier entre into Heaven....


35 posted on 01/31/2006 12:21:42 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: TASMANIANRED

"A good dog develops your humanity..." As do children!


36 posted on 01/31/2006 12:22:40 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Both may have died at the same time (a fire, a battle, a hunt) and were buried together. Or perhaps the family thought dad and dog should be reunited.


37 posted on 01/31/2006 12:23:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv (In the long run, there is only the short run.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Very true.


38 posted on 01/31/2006 12:26:52 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (The Internet is the samizdat of liberty.)
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To: maro

Servants of the deceased were sometimes honored that way and sometimes wives, too


39 posted on 01/31/2006 12:27:51 PM PST by ThanhPhero (di hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: SunkenCiv

I would like to think that they died together, or that they saved the dog's body for interrment with the master at a later date. However, I know that all of that is just my fertile imagination, considering the brutal way humans have treated animals over the years.


40 posted on 01/31/2006 12:28:15 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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