Using Ethnoarchaeology to Identify Spatial Patterns of Behavior in Domestic Dogs

Summary

Domestic dogs (Canis familaris) are a common presence in nomadic cultures, but archaeology still struggles to identify them in the absence of their faunal remains. What we lack is a means to identify behaviors that manifest themselves in the archaeological record that are in clear association with domestic dogs. One avenue is carnivore modified bone. What experimental studies indicate is that we can isolate patterns of feeding associated with particular carnivores, but what has not been demonstrated is whether we see differences between domestic and wild canids. We propose that one solution is to move beyond the marks on the bone and look at where they are found in campsites. Through our ongoing ethnoarchaeological study of the Dukha reindeer herders of north-central Mongolia, we use GPS tracking, photogrammetry, and mapping of canids and modified bone to isolate spatial patterning of domestic dog behavior. The spatial signatures of dog behavior may serve to distinguish occupational bone modification by domestics from post-occupational scavenging behaviors by wild canids.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18789