National Geographic History - 09.10 201

(Joyce) #1
used modeling techniques
to produce a realistic depic-
tion of the dog who may have
warmed the hearts and hearths
of North Atlantic islanders
around 2500 B.C.

Pet Cemetery
The windswept Orkney archi-
pelago was home to a remark-
able Stone Age civilization

H


istorians in Scot-
land have recon-
structed the face of a
4,500-year-old dog,
an animal they believe helped
define the identity of a unique
Stone Age community.
Based on skulls found
over a century ago in a Neo-
lithic chamber on Scotland’s
Orkney Islands, researchers

A Dog’s Life


in Stone Age Scotland


Neolithic dogs were prized companions of Orkney Islanders 4,
years ago, and new technology reveals what these pups looked like.

FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION

located across numerous sites.
In 1901 a mysterious mound
at Orkney’s Cuween Hill was
excavated and identified as a
Neolithic tomb. Built between
3000 and 2400 B.C., it con-
tains four cells adjoining a
central chamber. Along with
five human skulls, 24 dog
skulls were found inside
the complex.

Orkney
Islands

Scotland

Skara
Brae

Tomb of the
Eagles

Cuween
Hill

Kirkwall

0 10 mi
0 10 km

IRE.U.K.

AreaMap SCOTLAND’S Islands spawned a Orkney
remarkable Stone Age
culture that constructed
multichambered stone
cairns such as the Cu-
ween Hill tomb where
24 dog skulls were
found in 1901. Other key
Neolithic sites include
Skara Brae and the
Tomb of the Eagles.
NG MAPS

DOUGH HOUGHTON/ALAMY

HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND


FORENSIC MODELING
TECHNIQUES HAVE
RECONSTRUCTED THE FEATURES
OF A DOG WHO LIVED ON THE
ORKNEY ISLANDS IN 2500 B.C.

Free download pdf