Dog size and variability in the Late Eneolithic: Drilled teeth from Corded Ware graves in Bohemia

Abstract

AbstractThe hundreds of drilled dog teeth—mainly incisors and canines—found as ornaments in the graves of women and children from the Corded Ware culture in Bohemia, Czech Republic, provide a unique opportunity for biometric investigation. Large series of teeth often found in a single burial set enable consideration of variability in intra‐site dog size, which in contrast to many later cultures/periods appears to be surprisingly low, probably due to random inter‐breeding. The dogs in this Late Eneolithic (Copper Age) culture must have been relatively small: Their teeth are comparable with those of present‐day medium‐sized breeds, such as Fox Terrier, Cocker Spaniel and Standard Schnauzer, which are usually 35–50 cm high at the withers. Also discussed here are the placing of Corded Ware dogs in the context of other cultures, possible inter‐grave and inter‐culture differences, and the young age of the dogs whose teeth were used in the ornaments.