Multi-proxy analysis of waterlogged preserved Late Neolithic canine excrements
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Multi‑proxy analysis of waterlogged preserved Late Neolithic canine excrements Tjaša Tolar1 · Alfred Galik2 · Matthieu Le Bailly3 · Benjamin Dufour3 · Nina Caf1 · Borut Toškan1 · Elena Bužan4 · Lars Zver1 · Franc Janžekovič5 · Anton Velušček1 Received: 29 November 2019 / Accepted: 14 October 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Multi-proxy analysis of the coprolites which were found during excavations at two Late Neolithic (fourth millennium bc) pile-dwelling sites (Črnelnik and Stare gmajne) in Slovenia yielded some new insights into human–dog relations and behaviour. The digested content is presented in a multidisciplinary approach, in which palynological, palaeoparasitological, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological features are studied and genetic signs are tested. Beside the origin of the coprolites, the size of an animal and the diet, the faeces provided some additional information, such as health, status, nutrition habits, environment and season. Keywords Dog coprolites · Multi-proxy analysis · Late Neolithic · Pile-dwellings · Slovenia
Introduction Recent excavations at two Late Neolithic pile-dwelling sites (Črnelnik and Stare gmajne) in Slovenia yielded sub-fossil excrements, i.e. coprolites. They were from dog (Canis familiaris) or humans and are excellently preserved (waterlogged). Entirely preserved coprolites are known from Communicated by M. Primavera. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00805-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Tjaša Tolar tjasa.tolar@zrc‑sazu.si 1
Institute of Archaeology, ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2
Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Franz Klein‑Gasse 1, 1190 Vienna, Austria
3
Chrono‑Environment Laboratory, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comte, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
4
Faculty of Mathematics, Science and Information Technology, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška ulica 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
5
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
exceptional circumstances like mummy intestinal remains, or from pelvic areas (Brönnimann et al. 2017). Desiccated coprolites e.g. from Egypt (Marinova et al. 2013; Wood and Wilmshurst 2016; Baeten et al. 2018) and carbonised as dung pellets, e.g. from Israel and Syria (Smith et al. 2019; Zachary et al. 2019; Landau et al. 2020) are frequently encountered, while completely preserved waterlogged canine or human excrements are to our knowledge, only rarely found (Macphail 2000; Ismail-Meyer and Rentzel 2004; Wood et al. 2016; Brönnimann et al. 2017). Coprolites are a unique source of diverse information, they offer the potential to gain a wide range of insights into certain aspects of biology, ecology and archaeology (Wood and Wilmshurst 2016). They constitute palaeodietary records and information on the behavi
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