People were buried with animals a good 2000 years ago
Published: Friday, Feb 16th 2024, 07:00
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The desire to know that your beloved four-legged friend will be by your side even after death is something that not only many pet owners of our time seem to cherish: Over 2000 years ago, people in what is now northern Italy were buried together with animals or animal parts.
As a research group from Italy and Switzerland describes in the journal "PLoS ONE", farm animals such as horses, cows and pigs found their way into human burial sites alongside pets such as dogs.
At an archaeological site near Verona, scientists discovered the remains of 16 people who were buried with animals or parts of animals among the 161 people who were buried there between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC.
Some of the graves contained the remains of animals that were commonly eaten by humans at the time - including many pigs, a chicken and part of a cow. The research team also discovered that four of the people buried there were buried with dogs and horses, which are not usually eaten.
No apparent pattern
The reason for these common burials is unclear. The research group did try to find patterns that could explain the animal burials. However, analyses showed that the people buried with animals were not closely related, which could have indicated the tradition or practice of a particular family. In general, the buried people are very different. For example, the researchers found a baby with a complete dog skeleton, a woman buried with a whole horse and several other horse parts, and a middle-aged man with a small dog.
The lack of patterns makes it difficult to identify the exact motives for the joint burials. On the one hand, the team suspects religious customs behind this. Frequently consumed animals such as pigs, chickens or cows could have served as food offerings for the dead. Dogs and horses often had a certain religious symbolism in ancient cultures. However, it is also possible that the joint burials were a sign of close human-animal friendships, according to the research group.
However, a combination of both is also conceivable. According to the researchers, the tombs and their contents can provide information or at least clues about still completely unknown rituals and beliefs in Italy more than 2000 years ago.
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