Przyczynek do badań nad rolą psów w społecznościach środkowoeuropejskiego Barbaricum

Abstract

A considerable increase in sources concerning a cultural phenomenon referred to as the so-called dog burials in settlements of Przeworsk and Wielbark culture allows for a revision of the interpretations of this phenomenon that are present in existing literature. During the research of the last three decades, 48 archaeological sites, previously unknown to researchers of this problem, were discovered, containing the remains of 124 dogs. In addition to the so-called dog burial under the floors of houses, under fire pit stones, in pottery kilns and bloomeries or in wells, the remains are also disposed in garbage pits. Such a collection of sources allows not only to verify some assumptions of previous researchers of the so-called dog burials, but it also provides a possibility to raise new questions concerning purely utilitarian significance of these animals for members of cultures living in Central European Barbaricum