Science Memes @mander.xyz fossilesque @mander.xyz 3w ago

The Ljungavik Dog: A Mesolithic dog burial

https://arkeologerna-com.translate.goog/bloggar/benbloggen/ljungavikshunden-en-mesolitisk-hundbegravning/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

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Before somebody says that we don't deserve dogs, please just don't.

We do deserve them. We basically made them and they love us and we love them.
- I'd even argue that, despite not being accurate, human-dog existence is symbiotic. We're better with each other than the sum of us as individuals. Yeah, not every dog is good with humans, and some humans shouldn't be allowed near any animal, but on average, a human and a dog together is the most perfect pairing of two different species on the planet.
  
  Very much agree, evolution or no. Sometimes it's just right.
  
  Agreed completely.
  
  That's not because of a chill and nice process though. It's because our ancestors would put down any domestic animal that was unhelpful or annoying. Cats bringing us offerings of mice and other small animals is not because they are homicidal maniacs but because at one point a cat started doing that and the cats that didn't were killed.
- depends on the person. my neighbors, who never walk their dog, barely feed it, and just let it out in the back yard for 3 hours a day (hoarders backyard in the city where all it can do is stand in the 2x2 corner where it uses the bathroom and bark, asking them to play with it) do not deserve a dog. for any responsible owner though, I agree
  
  Mostly rhetorically, and without an ability to adopt this dog myself, what would vigilante justice look like in this situation?
- Dogs show us how good we can be
  
  Do you know what a child's face looks like after their family Golden rips it off?
  
  Because I do.
  
  So, yeah, your statement still works, I guess.
Science is not supposed to make me cry, dammit!
Id love to see a recreation of the dog. Its hard to get a sense of scale but the head looks quite big. Also:

Along with the dog, a small number of microchips were found which can be interpreted as grave gifts.

Microchips? Is that like chips of flint napping or were the ancient alien dudes on to something?
- the original text has it as "mikrospån", which should be translated as microblade, a 3-5cm flint blade used to make microliths.
  
  Ah thanks, i kind of forgot Firefox translated it for me. That makes much mores sense.
- Bro how else would anthropoligists know the dog had an owner. Duh
Aboriginal oral histories date back at least another 2000 years before this.
- Well now I'm curious as to how they date oral histories
  
  Stories about events we can identify in the archeological record, probably. Forest fires, major battles, geological events, things like that which can be used to line the stories up with specific real-world events
  
  First half really had me expecting you asking about blow jobs
- Edit: still very cool & I'm sure they loved that dog like I do mine.
I'm getting real jurassic bark vibs here
Edit: wrote bullshit, but the link is still interesting.
- History as an academic term usually goes hand in hand with writing, not civilization. When I write, I refer to earlier periods as "prehistoric." This is because historians primarily use written text and similar as their subject of study.
Are we certain that the dog didn't die so that it could be buried with someone?
- We aren't. I can't find a source to the dog's toys but Phys.org does say it was buried with a person.
  
  LiveScience.org mentions the same question back in 2020
  
  Of note, it's unclear whether the dog died a natural death, or whether it was killed to be buried with its human. An analysis of its remains may reveal this mystery.
  
  I couldn't find an answer though. Most online sources of the discovery are from back in 2020, then it's just memes.
A family?

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