DOGS were gobbled up as part of an ancient feasting tradition in Europe thousands of years ago.
Astonishingly, the Iron Age habit wasn’t done out of necessity – but was part of a mysterious “communal feasting” activity.
In modern Europe, it would be extremely controversial to consume dog meat, with canines considered to be pets rather than a food source.
But the ancient Thracians, who lived in what is now Bulgaria, would’ve gladly chowed down on Rover.
A new study reveals how evidence of dog-devouring was “clearly present” at multiple settlements across Bulgaria between the 5th and 1st century BC.
“The data show that this practice is not confined to a single Thracian state or tribe,” said archaeologist Stella Nikolova, who made the discovery.
LIVING IT LARGE
Enormous well-preserved Roman villa found hiding under ‘UK’s Pompeii’
ANCIENT RIDDLE
Massive Roman grave ‘one of biggest in UK’ is unearthed during roadworks
“And a detailed literature review shows a wider distribution of dog consumption across the Mediterranean.”
The Thracians were believed by the Greeks and Romans to be a brutish and warlike people.
They had multiple settlements across modern Bulgaria, and eventually became part of the Roman Empire.
One of Thrace’s trading centres was a site known as Emporion Pistiros.
And there, archaeologists found 80,000 bones, of which hundreds belonged to dogs from ancient times.
Importantly, many of the dogs had marks of butchery, revealing that their meat was collected for food.
But not just because they were starving – apparently here was plenty of food to go around.
“Dog meat was not a necessity eaten out of poverty, as these sites are rich in livestock, which was the main source of protein,” Nikolova explained, speaking to LiveScience.
She continued: “It is most probable they were kept as guard dogs, as the sites have a lot of livestock.
“I don’t believe they were viewed as pets in the modern sense.”
The study reveals that materials from five different sites were analysed.
And dogs formed about 2% to 10% of all identified specimens.
But the “biggest concentration of dog remains” was at Emporion Pistiros.
The study notes that this “served as a trading port between ancient Greek merchants and the local Thracians”.
These dogs would’ve been roughly the size of a modern German Shepherd.
“There is a somewhat repetitive pattern of butchery among the sites,” Nikolova explained in the study.
“In Pistiros, there is a higher level of portioning of the dog bones compared to the other sites.
“Most of the dogs consumed were of adult age, unlike the livestock animals.”
WHO WERE THE THRACIANS?
Here’s what you need to know…
- The Ottoman Empire, known in Western Europe as the Turkish Empire was a superpower that controlled a lot of Southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries
- The height of its power was during the 16th and 17th centuries
- It was a multinational and multilingual empire
- It was founded at the end of the 13th century by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman I
- The empire allied with Germany in WWI and lost lots of its land in the aftermath
- During this time, genocide was committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks
- The Turkish War of Independence resulted in the Republic of Turkey
She added: “Dog bones with cutmarks are found associated with a wide range of food debris, which excludes their use during times of famine.”
There was also evidence that some of the dog material had been burned, suggesting a food preparation process.
Nikolova believes that the dog consumption was linked to a “communal feasting” tradition.
And she believes that dog consumption would’ve taken place more widely across Greece and Romania too.
Eventually, Europeans would begin to bury dogs rather than eating them.
But it’s unclear exactly when the change took place.
This research was made possible through the “Corpus Animalium Thracicorum (CAT)” project, funded by the The Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF).
It was published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.
Sign up for The Sun Tech newsletter for gadgets, games & more
Hello! I’m Sean Keach, The Sun’s Head of Technology and Science
I’ve been writing about gadgets, games and the future of technology for more than a decade.
During that time I’ve penned thousands of articles, filmed hundreds of videos, talked tech on TV and radio, and travelled around the world to bring you the latest on Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon, Netflix and more.
And I’ve got a weekly newsletter called The Sun Tech that you can read for free every Thursday.
I bring you the latest from the world of tech, including behind-the-scenes action, exclusive content, expert analysis, and plenty of help advice – so please follow along!
