Canine Dental Damage and Dental Pathology as Indicators of Changing Haulage Roles during the Transition to Agriculture

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Animal Bones to Human Behavior" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Dogs were an important resource for many Plains peoples, especially for the transportation of materials (e.g., timber, meat, water). The use of dogs for traction may have even facilitated high mobility in early North and South American populations. This high mobility eventually decreased with the introduction of agriculture across the northern Plains. Did the adoption of agriculture also change the roles of dogs and their significance as a hauling tool? This research assesses canine dental/mandibular damage and dental pathology on the northern Plains to investigate changing care, dietary, and husbandry practices associated with the adoption of agriculture. Dentition and cranial fragments are often the only surviving elements from canids in the archaeological record, and thus a significant source of data for the treatment of these animals. If dogs decreased in significance, there may be observable changes in nutrition and treatment, reflected in dental development, observable trauma, and pathology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Animal Bones to Human Behavior   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32221