GCSU anthropologist part of canine skeleton project
The discovery of burial grounds is an exciting occurrence for anthropologists, but finding 115 canine skeletons in a single burial ground can be called monumental. This discovery, in the village of Weyanoke Old Town, Virginia, is the largest site of excavated dog skeletons on the North American continent. It is the third-largest site in the world.
There is a burial ground in Peru that is in competition with the site in Virginia. The Peruvian site contains around 400 dogs and the anthropologists working on that site have approximately 15 more dogs to excavate.
GCSU’s Archaeology Lab contains these specimens. Originally, the lab thought that there were only 112 dogs that were excavated. When in fact, there were three more.
“There were some boxes with more than one dog skeleton,” said Nettie Brill, a junior majoring in liberal studies with a minor in anthropology.
She and co-worker Richard Kim are assisting Dr. Jeff Blick, professor of anthropology specializing in archaeology, in the measuring of the teeth of the dogs. When all of the teeth samples have been measured, the data collected, along with samples of the teeth, will be sent off for more testing.
“We are sending in samples to California for DNA extraction. They crush the teeth to extract the pulp from the tooth,” Brill said. The University of California, Los Angeles will be performing the technical analysis of DNA. It takes two to four months for the results. The name of the project is the Canine DNA Project, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Wayne of UCLA.
The importance of finding out the DNA of the dogs will help further our understanding of the domestication of dogs.
“It will determine which modern breed is the closest relative. It will help us theorize if they were domesticated within the North American continent or if the Siberians brought them from Asia via the Bering Strait,” Kim said.
GCSU was allowed the privilege of keeping the dog skeletons for display and study. GCSU’s affiliation with the dogs is through Blick. Blick was one of the anthropologists who were able to work on the project. He contributed his efforts from 1976 until 1989.
“I actually did the excavations. I also excavated human remains,” Blick said.
He worked with the Virginia Foundation for Archaeological Research. At the time, he was the only member from the group of employees to have his Ph.D. He says he has greater priority and therefore was able to bring the bones back to GCSU.
The dogs would have weighed around 24 pounds and would have measured around 42 centimeters in height. The radio carbon dates, processed by the University of Georgia, show that the canine skeletons range from 1020 A.D. to 1273 A.D.
Although fascinating, these dogs are not the only items on display in the lab. Dr. Blick and his students are also working on other projects.
Two of the main projects include the Archaeologial Research on San Salvador, Bahamas, in cooperation with the Gerace Research Centre of the College of the Bahamas and the Weyanoke Old Town Canine Osteometric Project, in cooperation with the Virginia Foundation for Archaeological Research, Inc.
Blick wants students to get involved with independent study, scientific presentations, and as co-authors of publications. Students will be identifying and measuring bones. If students are involved in the cooperation, they will have a chance to be published as a co-author, alongside Blick. The professor is also conducting archeological research on San Salvador.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 25 2009. Filed under News.
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