A Study of Dog Coprolite from Late Neolithic Pile-Dwelling Site in Slovenia

Abstract

More than 5000 years old dog's coprolite was found during rescue excavation at Črnelnik pile-dwelling site in Slovenia. Although human and dog diets may overlap considerably, the content of the consumed and digested food, consisting of plant and/or animal remains biologically diverse. While the investigated fossil excrement contained many fish head bones, scales and teeth of Cyprinidae family, we believe that we are dealing with an individual that had only eaten fish heads, that is why it was suggested to be of dog. Beside the origin and the daily diet of the individual together with the nutritional habits of the dog in the Late Neolithic, the analyses of coprolite provide more important information, for example: the time of year of the deposit, the environmental conditions there, the size and the health of the animal as well as care (or the status) of domesticated animal for humans. The discovery confirms again that animal dung should be an important part of archaeological investigations, specially at waterlogged sites.

The Technological Advance and Application of Coprolite Analysis

“…The results indicated that ancient B. sempervirens had a higher stomatal density and index than those of extant B. balearica and B. sempervirens species, providing palaeobotanical evidence of a change in atmospheric CO 2 concentration since the mid-Holocene period in the Mediterranean basin (Rivera et al, 2014). In the study about dog coprolites from the Late Neolithic pile-dwelling site in Slovenia, abundant birch, goosefoot, turnip, water chestnut, and flax were found, suggesting the ecological conditions around the site as marshy ground with a slow-flowing river or a lake (Tolar and Galik, 2019).…”

“…By combining pollen and aDNA analyses on coprolites from New Zealand purebred dogs, Wood et al (2016) revealed their predominant diet of marine fish and plant matter, which overlapped with the typical diets of early local indigenous people in New Zealand. Remains of fish heads found in dogs' coprolites raised a presumption that the fish heads were thrown to dogs by humans who ate fish bodies only (Tolar and Galik, 2019), which suggested a close relationship between the dogs and humans at 1,000-750 years ago. The 16S/18S rDNA and shotgun metagenomics sequencing of pre-Columbian coprolite assemblies from two different sites, the Huecoid and Saladoid, indicated distinctly different microbiota, viromes, and diets of people from two sites, which further supported the Huecoid and Saladoid were distinct cultures with their own set of characteristics (Cano et al, 2014;Rivera-Perez, 2017).…”

Intestinal parasites in the Neolithic population who built Stonehenge (Durrington Walls, 2500 BCE)

“…The presence of fish tapeworm eggs in 1 of the 19 coprolites suggests that the dog that deposited this piece of feces had previously eaten raw or undercooked freshwater fish and contracted fish tapeworm. This adds to our growing knowledge of parasites in Neolithic dogs (Tolar and Galik, 2019;Tolar et al, 2020;Maicher et al, 2021). While modern infection would lead to a high number of eggs in the feces, in ancient coprolites recovered from middens it is not uncommon for egg counts to be low, likely due to destruction of the eggs by fungi and insects over the centuries (see Ledger et al, 2019a for similar egg counts at a comparable Neolithic site).…”

The Department for Bioarchaeology at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)

“…The latter has been a desideratum for a long time as evidence for prehistoric fishing is still rare, and new data are dearly needed (Galik, 1999;2008a;2008b;Galik et al, 2015;Galik and Küchelmann, 2008;Galik et al, 2011;Haidvogl et al, 2013;Ilon et al, 2017;Yurtseva et al, 2013;Yurtseva et al, 2015). A project which has recently started, combines archaeobotanical, archaeoichthyological and palaeohygienic research in the investigation of dog faeces from pile dwellings in the Neolithic pile dwelling settlements Črnelnik and Stare gmajne in the Slovenian Ljubljansko barje, highlighting the role of fish in domestic dogs' diet (Tolar and Galik, 2019). The history of fisheries and fishing generally marks a strong research interest in A. Galik's work.…”