A case of cynophagy at Radovanu – Gorgana a doua settlement, Călăraşi County (2nd–1st centuries BC)
A case of cynophagy at Radovanu – Gorgana a doua settlement, Călăraşi County (2nd–1st centuries BC)

Summary/Abstract: Zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains unearthed at Radovanu during the 2016 field season from three pits (P.1, P.7 and P.8), revealed the presence of dog bones displaying traces of anthropogenic disarticulation, defleshing and burning. Of the 68 dog skeletal remains, 20 exhibit such anthropogenic traces. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) represented by the 68 remains is four, all of them adults, of which two individuals produced the 20 remains with anthropogenic modifications. The average withers height of these animals is 56.5 cm based on the Koudelka index (52.9–58.0 cm; N = 6) or 57.4 cm based on the Harcourt index (55.7–58.9 cm; N = 6). Estimates of the gracility index, on average 7.09 (6.68–7.85; N = 5), indicates that medium size dogs (between 50 and 60 cm) of average robustness (diaphyseal index = 6.6–8.9) were present at Radovanu. The case of the Radovanu cynophagy is unique, today, in the Romanian zooarchaeological context. However, observations made more than 20 years ago might suggest that this phenomenon existed in the Geto‐Dacian world if we consider only the degree of fragmentation and the burning traces observed in the case of the dog remains. Now, the cut marks found on the Radovanu dog bones provide irrefutable evidence that the species was, indeed, consumed by the Geto‐Dacian population.

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