Stone Age dog skeleton found along with bone dagger

Swedish archaeologists have discovered a dog skeleton in a swamp with a long bone dagger next to it. Excavations at Logsjömossen in Gerstaberg ahead of the construction of a new high-speed rail line have unearthed the remains of a 5,000-year-old Stone Age dog, which contained a 10-inch-long dagger. It is very rare to find a complete dog skeleton from this period, but the dagger found with the dog is unique.

The layer in which the bones were found was removed from the bog in three large pieces to be later excavated under laboratory conditions. Archaeologists concluded that the dog was male and was between three and six years old when it died. Due to his active life, he is muscular and has shoulder blades that are approximately 20 inches tall. The bones were in the anatomically correct position, but fragments of his skull were found farther away from his body. It appears his skull was crushed before being lowered into the lake.

His body was most likely placed in an organic container (perhaps a leather bag), weighed down with stones, and then lowered into the lake. The water is about 5 feet deep and 100-130 feet from shore.

The dagger was found near the dog’s paw. It is finely ground to a sharp edge and has a hole cut into one end. It is carved from the metatarsal bones of an elk or red deer. Such daggers had ritual significance during the Neolithic Age and have been found in water environments at several prehistoric sites in southern and central Sweden. It is understood that dogs were also used in sacrificial rituals from this period onwards.

Excavations of the bog have uncovered numerous radioactive wood remains dating to 3,300-2,900 BC and 2,900-2,600 BC. These include pilings driven into the lake bed (believed to be the foundation of the pier), willow structures intertwined and tied together, and the remains of fish traps.

The dog was probably killed and buried with a bone dagger in a ritual performed by the same people who built the structures and used the lake for fishing. The remains will now undergo carbon dating and DNA analysis, which will hopefully confirm the dog’s timeline with the Neolithic humans in the lake.