National Geographic History - 09.2019 - 10.2019

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.