URL originale : https://books.openedition.org/cidehus/19387

Dog’s burying in Lombard cemeteries during the period spanning the 5th to the 7th centuries CE
An interpretative reading of the ritual trough the different funeral spaces
Résumés
Con questo contributo si intende accrescere la conoscenza del tema delle tombe con resti di cane rinvenute nelle necropoli longobarde mostrando e descrivendo vecchie e nuove scoperte archeologiche messe in luce nella penisola italiana e in Europa orientale nel corso delle ultime decadi. Il rituale sarà interpretato attraverso un approccio dal particolare al generale. Si cercherà in primis di comprendere la relazione fra le differenti componenti dello spazio di seppellimento (posizione dei resti scheletrici nella fossa, connessione dei cani con altri animali quali cavalli, presenza di oggetti come catene o parti del collare). Secondariamente si effettuerà un tentativo di associazione fra le fosse con cani e quelle umane a esse adiacenti che componevano le necropoli. Lo scopo è capire se il costume funebre fosse correlato solo all’elevato status sociale di deceduti inumati con ricco corredo o pure con un sacrificio rivolto a tutta la comunità dei morti. Le varie modalità di deposizione, combinate col significato suggerito da alcune fonti storiche germaniche, suggeriscono la coesistenza di molteplici interpretazioni culturali e sociali della pratica funeraria all’interno della compagine longobarda. Il cane potrebbe essere stato un animale che sottolineava il rango sociale del morto, un animale domestico dalla funzione protettiva o correlato all’esercizio della caccia.
With this essay, my intention is to increase the knowledge about the theme of the dog burials found in the Lombard necropolises showing and describing both old and new archaeological finds which came to light in the Italian Peninsula and Eastern Europe during the last decades. The ritual is interpreted from a detailed to a wide view. Firstly, seeking to know the relationship among the different information regarding the various components of the deposition pit (position of the skeletal remains, connection of the dogs with other animals like horses, presence of some objects as chains or collar elements), and in a second moment, analysing the connection between animal pits and the near human burials which composed the cemetery. The aim is to understand if the funeral practise was related either with some deceased of high rank buried with a rich set of artefacts or with a ‘collective sacrifice’. The varied animal ways of deposition, with the meaning suggested by some written texts of Germanic tradition, suggest the coexistence of various cultural and social interpretations about this funeral practise among the Lombard community. The dog could stress the social status of the deceased, to be a household pet with a sentimental, protective role or an animal related to the hunting activity.
Entrées d’index
Keywords : dog graves, animal burying, Lombard cemeteries, funeral practices, “collective sacrifice”, pagan beliefs
Parole chiave : tombe di cani, seppellimento animale, cimiteri longobardi, costumi funerari, “sacrificio collettivo”, credenze pagane
Texte intégral
Foreword
1In comparison to the horse burials of the Germanic graveyards of the Migration Period, those containing dog skeletal remains, are not many. For this main reason, the researchers, devoted to the study of the animal graves of the Middle Ages, have focalized their attention especially on the funeral practise of the horse burying (MÜLLER-WILLE, 1970/1; OEXLE, 1984). Nonetheless, Wietske Prummel (1992) decided to write and edit the first uniform contribution about the topic of the early medieval dog burials among Germanic tribes in ‘90s of the 20th century1. Her essay remains the most important scientific paper for the knowledge of this theme. The data analysed, concerning more than one hundred graves found in the continental and Northern Europe, were enunciated, used for the creation of a first catalogue of the archaeological finds, discussed and interpreted into a wide chronological and geographical framework. This gives us several noteworthy information for the interpretation of the following discoveries, including those belonging to the Lombard groups, which deserve to be studied revising past researches in the light of more recent contributions.
2The funeral practise of dog’s burying appeared both in continental and Northern Europe during the 5th century CE. The practice persisted until the 8th century in the continental and Anglo-Saxon regions, while it endured until the Viking age (800-1050 CE) in Northern Europe (nowadays Denmark, Sweden, and Finland). Regarding the continental and Anglo-Saxon discoveries, Prummel (1992, 132-7) noticed that these were diffused firstly in the Thuringian, Saxon, Frankish, and Frisian necropolises, secondly, in the Lombard, Alamannic, and Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Generally, the inhumation was preferred. The animals were interred with a complete skeleton, seldom cremated such as the dogs of the Northern European graveyards.
3Indeed there are many depositional variants still valid to consider for applying a good system of classification in the study of every single finding and its interpretative reading. How I will show successively, three main ways of deposition are recognizable:
‘single pits’ containing only the skeleton of one or more dogs;
human burials with dogs;
pits with dog and horse skeletal remains.
4Moreover, I will add another variant attested only in one circumstance and consisting of the deposition of the dog in a pit with horse and the osteological remains of deer. But, in contrast to Prummel (1992, 137), I have not noticed the presence of certain human graves including both dog and horse.
5The critical apparatus used for this essay is characterized by heterogeneity of information collected through the study of old and new archaeological reports each one with a different number of data referred. Only sure pieces of evidence have been cited, in contrast to this, pits with scarce bone fragments are not considered.
Lombard dog burials from Bohemian lands to the Italian Peninsula
6When Prummel (1992, 137) drew up her list of dog burials, she noticed that they were unevenly distributed over the tribes and areas. Indeed there were not numerous findings in the Lombard cemeteries. Two graves were in Austria (nos. 52, 72 in Maria Ponsee), four in ex-Czech-Slovakian Republic (nos. 4 and 42 in Šakvice, nos. 1296 and chamber grave I in Plotištĕ nad Labem), and two in Italy (Nocera Umbra and Povegliano Veronese) (PRUMMEL, 1992, 172-3).
7Nonetheless, the archaeological excavations, carried out in Eastern Europe and Italy during the last decades, have increased the number of dog burials from eight to twenty-six and exactly dislocated in thirteen Lombard cemeteries (Fig. 1). Dog burials are distributed in the Czech Republic (13), Austria (3), Slovakia (3), Hungary (3), and Italy (4).
Figure 1 - Map of the Lombard cemeteries with dog burials

8In thirteen burials the dogs have been buried in a pit separated respect to the human burial: in five circumstances one or more dogs (maximum 3) have been found in a single pit; in seven cases the dogs (maximum 2) lied in a pit together with a horse; only one burial included a dog, horse and deer remain (Fig. 2).
Figure 2 - Map with deposition variants of dog burials

9The number of human burials with dogs is instead eleven: male, female and child individuals were accompanied by one, two, four, or a maximum five dogs.
10Bohemian and Moravian regions (Czech Republic) represent the geographical contexts with the higher rate of dog burials of the Lombard period. Hence, like horse’s burying, this funeral ritual was diffused since the 5th century among the Lombards, before their coming and settlement in Italy in the last third of the 6th century CE2.
11Two burials have been found in Plotište nad Labem, a town located East of Prague. Chamber grave I, dated in the 5th century, contained exactly five dogs deposed in the same room of a child and a man (Fig. 3). Moreover, in grave no. 1296 (late of the 5th century CE) an inhumated big male dog was in connection with the cremated remains of at least three women (RYBOVÁ, 1987, 528-33; PRUMMEL, 1992, 173).
Figure 3 - Plotište nad Labem, Chamber grave I (RYBOVÁ, 1987)

12Three dog graves come from the bohemian necropolis of Borotice (second half of the 5th- first half of the 6th century CE), characterized by the presence of many burial mounds which covered groups of burial pits (STUCHLÍK, 2011). The burial mound is a distinctive element of the funeral monuments of the nomadic peoples of the Steppes dated back from Antiquity to Middle Age, but found also in some Germanic contexts, such as the royal Frank burial of Childeric at Tournai (Belgium), the Merovingian cemetery of Hordain (France), Sutton Hoo (England), Uppsala and Högom (Sweden). Among the Lombards, the tumulus is attested in necropolises as Žuran (Czech Republic) and Veszekeny (Hungary)3.
13While in these two last Lombard contexts have been discovered osteological remains of horse accompanying the dead, there are dog skeletons in Borotice. Unfortunately, in this Moravian site, the great part of the graves has been desecrated and robbed, so about them, we have not many elements but we know that the dogs were interred in the same pit of some people. Below the mound no. 10, in grave no. XIV, consisting of a single rectangular pit containing scattered bones of an individual, the cranium of a little dog has been found along the right side of the human body, next to his right foot. Another small dog skull was found in the same pit of another person whose sex and age are unknown being the pit disturbed (grave no. VI of the mound no. 27). In the grave no. I, placed in the central part of the mound no. 11, the osteological remains are more intact: in association with a human body not well preserved, there was a complete skeleton of a big dog specimen (Fig. 4).
Figure 4 - Borotice, Grave I and mound 11 (STUCHLÍK, 2011)

14Recent researches, concerning the little Moravian necropolis of Šakvice (end of the 5th-middle of the 6th century), have confirmed the presence of one dog burial, not two. This cemetery seems very important both for the conspicuous number of animals interred and the choice of burying several species even though the burials of this context have been deeply desecrated and damaged (cfr. Fig. 15a). Old archaeozoological analyses suggested that grave no. 4 contained the skeletal remains at least three horses and a dog (KRATOCHVÍL, 1977). Nevertheless, a recent study has proposed the presence in this pit of a different kind of specimen: horse remains mixed with those of a dog and a deer (TEJRAL, 2009, 123-31). This represents a unique finding in the framework of the Lombard graves.
15Five burials have been discovered in the Moravian cemetery of Lužice (6th century CE). Grave no. 31 contained a small dog and a horse, both buried with some metal pieces of the equipment; unfortunately, due to the violation of this burial, the bones were partially dislocated (Fig. 5).
Figure 5 - Lužice, grave no. 31 (KLANIKA, KLANIKOVÁ, 2011)

16Different is the deposition observed in graves nos. 65, 111, and 112, where the dogs were interred with individuals (Fig. 6a; Fig. 6b). In grave no. 65, belonging to a 50 years old man, the bones of a small dog have been found into a sandy layer, the corpse of the animal was placed between the edge of the southern side of the pit and the coffin got lost. The bones of another dog were discovered in grave no. 111, a double burial where a 35 years old man and a 4-5 years old child were deposed together and with some grave goods, including a spearhead and two vessels; even, in this case, the dog was placed along the southern side of the pit, but its skeleton was not in anatomic position4. In contrast to this, the small dog of grave no. 112 was positioned along the northern side of the burial of a 45 years old man accompanied by a spearhead. Instead of, a ca. 60 years old man, buried in grave no. 96, must have been the owner of the adjacent big dog (skeleton length: 102 cm) placed at the south of the pit, lying on its left side (KLANIKA, KLANIKOVÁ, 2011).
Figure 6a - Lužice, grave no. 31

Figure 6b - Lužice, grave no. 111-112 (KLANIKA, KLANIKOVÁ, 2011)

17There are not numerous discoveries in Austria. Two inhumation graves of dog and horse have been found in the cemetery of Maria Ponsee (nos. 52, 72) dated back between the last dozen of the 5th and the first half of the 6th century; the first burial was next to the rich grave no. 53 of a horseman buried with 41 objects (i.e., arms, clothing elements in precious metal, horse harness, a glass goblet, etc.) (ADLER ,1966; ADLER, 1968; LAUERMANN, ADLER 2008, 305-8)
18In Freundorf (6th century CE) there is another Lombard graveyard located inside a villa Rustica, where is attested the contextual burying of a dog and a horse, but also, in this case, the details about the discovery are not referred, except to the information about a likely connection of the animals’ pit to the near grave no. 60 of an adult warrior (30-50 years old) buried in a wooden coffin with a shield, weapons, and other objects (BLESL, 2008).
19The archaeological finds of Bratislava-Rusovce (5-6th century) are not well known but they are very significant. This necropolis, including 163 Lombard burials, represents the most important cemetery of a Germanic population discovered in Slovakia so far. In this archaeological site (as in Šakvice) many animal graves have been excavated but with the difference that here the animal burials are well preserved5. Regarding dog graves, several variants are visible (Fig. 7a; Fig. 7b; Fig. 7c): a grave contained exactly three dogs (no. 46); a pit where a dog was buried complete lying on a side together with an acephalous horse (grave no. 164); finally, another grave (no. 122) belonging to a robust and high ranking man (20-39 years old) buried with a gilded silver sword suspension belt mount in animalistic style (II) and four dogs: two were found on a ledge near the northern edge of the grave, a third along the left side of the human skeleton, and the fourth on top of the trunk of the deceased (SCHMIDTOVÁ, RUTTKAY, 2008; ŠEFČÁKOVÁ et al., 2009).
Figure 7a - Bratislava-Rusovce, grave no. 46

Figure 7b - Bratislava-Rusovce, grave no. 164

Figure 7c - Bratislava-Rusovce, grave no. 122 with belt plaque (SCHMIDTOVÁ, RUTTKAY, 2008)

20Only three are instead the certain archaeological finds discovered in the Hungarian cemeteries of the Lombard period. In grave no. 70 of Hegykő (510-568 C.E.), there was a man accompanied by weapons like a sword and a spearhead, as well two hunting dogs placed along his feet (Fig. 8) (BÓNA, HORVÁTH, 2009, 52-3).
21Two mature dogs of big size have been found in a female burial of Ménfőcsanak cemetery (6th century) disturbed right after the interment: in grave no. 262, belonging to a 40-50 years woman, a male and healthy dog was placed above her feet; the other dog, a female which had healed injuries, was found in the south-western part of the pit above the woman right shoulder (Fig. 9) (BARTOSIEWICZ, 2015, 251-8; VADAY, 2015, 186-7, 217-21).
Figure 8 - Hegykő, no. 70 (BÓNA, HORVÁTH, 2009)

Figure 9 - Ménfőcsanak, grave no. 262 (BARTOSIEWICZ, 2015)

22Another discovery came out in Rácalmás (536-568 CE), where a circular pit contained dog bones (grave no. 17) (BÓNA, HORVÁTH, 2009, 92).
23Even in Italy, there are not many Lombard cemeteries with dog burials. The findings seem dated back into the span between the last third of the 6th and the first decades of the 7th century. In the necropolis of Povegliano Veronese, two dogs - one male and one female of around one-year-old were interred with a headless horse (Fig. 10). A dog lied on its left side immediately after the posterior paws of the horse, while the other one on its right side facing the horse skeleton near its anterior paws. Archaeozoological analyses suggest that the race of the dogs was similar to the current greyhound (RIEDEL, 1995).
Figure 10 - Reconstruction of dog and horse burial of Povegliano Veronese (RIEDEL, 1995)

24In Testona Moncalieri, two adult examples - maybe of mastiff race - were buried complete and together in the same pit lying each one on the left side (Fig. 11) (PETITI, BEDINI 2014, 553-4).
Figure 11 - Dogs in Testona Moncalieri (PETITI, BEDINI, 2014)

25In the end, two dog burials have been come out in the locality Portaia of Nocera Umbra. A quadrangular pit with the bones of a horse and a dog both wearing iron chains was discovered next to the male grave no. 38. Another pit, including the remains of a big dog with an iron chain, was found nearby the eastern side of grave no. 42 belonging to an old and rich man. Both human graves (nos. 38, 42) contained various and precious objects (weapons, shields, belt fittings, cross, bronze basins, glass vessels, etc.) (Fig. 12) (RUPP, 2005, 54-5, 60-2).
Figure 12 - Dog burial next to a male burial in Nocera Umbra (RUPP, 2005)

The equipment
26There are scarce pieces of evidence of burials containing elements of the equipment, like metallic objects of the collar or leash. A case is attested in grave no. 31 of Lužice, wherein association to the dog remains, was found an iron quadrangular element likely connected to a collar (KLANIKA, KLANIKOVÁ, 2011, 243). Although the collars and leashes could be made in leather, it is enough acceptable that the dogs were generally buried without equipment. However, also the horses did not wear always the harness which consisted of metallic bits or buckles connected to the belts in leather or other organic materials (FEDELE, 2017, 70; FEDELE, 2017/18).
27An exceptional case is represented by the iron chains connected to the dog and the horse skeletons of Nocera Umbra (Fig. 13) (RUPP 2005, 54-5, 60-2). The presence of these objects is very important because, in my opinion, they could denote that in this context the execution of the animals was carried out in the burying place. Unfortunately, we do not have information about the position of the bones in the pits, so we do not know if the chains were used for a particular method of kill, as the suffocation, the strangulation or the inanition diffused among some peoples of the Steppes for killing horses (FERRET, 2009, 271-3; BEDE, 2014, 213-4). Generally, mortal signs on the Lombard dog skeletons have not been found6. For this reason, we can consider that the act of killing preferred did not leave markings on the bones; this hypothesis seems likewise valid for the horses, even though among them the practice of the decapitation is often attested7.
Figure 13 - Iron chains found in a pit with a dog and a horse in Nocera Umbra (RUPP, 2005)

Association with other animals
28As I have said until now, the horse is the animal that frequently appears with the dog in the Lombard burials. This specie was the sacrificial victim preferred for many Germanic populations living in Europe from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages. Like the dogs, the horse could be interred in many different ways: alone in a pit, with dogs or seldom deer, as well directly in human graves. In the Lombard cemeteries, the horse was wholly buried, but there are many testimonies of headless horses or only horse crania.
29However, coming back to the dog graves, it is interesting that in grave no. 262 of Ménfőcsanak, above a dog skeleton, was found a fragment of one of the two bars linking the rings of an iron horse-bit8; so, in this circumstance, the equine presence is not effective but symbolic.
30An exceptional case is represented by grave no. 4 of Šakvice, where dog bones were found together deer remains. Unfortunately, this burial has been strongly damaged so it is difficult to affirm if the deer was an animal sacrificed for a burying ceremony or its bones are simply a food offering (TEJRAL, 2009, 124; STUCHLÍK, 2011, 86).
31There are various types of deer remains in Germanic cemeteries. Important findings come from various archaeological contexts: in the Frankish necropolis of Basel-Bernerring (Switzerland), grave no. 44 contained the complete skeleton of a 4-5 years old deer (MARTIN 1976); in the wide Saxon necropolis of Rullsdorf (Germany), in grave C04, three young stallions lied together a red deer with harness (DIERKENS et al., 2008, 286); another deer has been buried together with a horse in a grave of the Lombard cemetery of Mosonszentjános (Hungary) (BÓNA, HOVARTH, 2009, 205). Nonetheless, the antlers are more diffused in Lombard cemeteries, such as Borotice (Czech Republic), wherein grave no. 45, antlers of a Eurasian elk covered two children’s corpses (STUCHLÍK, 2011, tav. CXIV, 2); otherwise, those ones of a deer were discovered in Poysdorf (Hungary) and Santo Stefano in Pertica (grave no. 26, Italy) (GIOSTRA, 2018, 288).
The ritual phenomenon through the exam of the human burials and the space of the necropolis
32On twenty-six Lombard dog graves, eleven consists of human burials with dog/s. The individuals are generally adults (male or female) but there are also dog remains in burials including both man and child. The sex of the deceased sometimes is not referred to. Dogs were at least in four-man graves, two burials including both man and child’s skeletons, as well as two-woman graves (Fig. 14). The contextual deposition of humans and dogs is enough diffused in Eastern European countries, especially in the current Czech Republic. Nonetheless, this type of burying is not attested in the Italian Peninsula where separated burials are more diffused. The contextual depositional variant was likely diffused from the 5th to the 6th century CE. The finding latest is represented by grave no. 122 of Bratislava-Rusovce (cfr. supra fig. 7c) because, for the researchers who have excavated and studied the site, this necropolis could be dated back from the 5th to the full 6th century, not excluding its use after 568 CE, the year of the coming of the Lombards in Italy reported in the historical sources9.
Figure 14 - Graphic with the indication of the human burials with dogs

33On some occasions separated pits, including only dog or dog and other animals (horse, deer), are in evident association with some human burials suggesting the belonging to a specific deceased who could be the owner or simply a prestigious person commemorated though an animal sacrifice. Generally separated pits with dogs were in connection to the burials of rich adult men. It is very interesting that in Šakvice, pits only with horses or with the dog, horse, and deer, were in proximity to the grave no. 17 (Fig. 15a). This burial, located in the centre of the cemetery, was the most important one of the graveyard belonging to a man buried in the deepest Lombard grave discovered so far (Fig. 15b): the pit measured 5.60 x 3.90 m, with a depth of even 7.5 m. Unfortunately, the skeletal remains and the grave goods were very damaged. The human skeleton was uncovered by several blocks of calcareous stones, and the pit contained grave goods as silver gilded leaves of a sword and the bronze parts of a wooden vessel (TEJRAL, 2009, 123-31).
Figure 15a - Plan of Šakvice

Figure 15b - Šakvice, grave no. 17 (TEJRAL, 2009)

34Furthermore, when there is the horse in the same pit of the dog, the horse harness sometimes appears in the grave of the nearest deceased. The presence of this type of object is conspicuously attested in the burials of adult men with an equestrian role in the Lombard community. Examples of human graves near dog pits are represented by grave no. 53 of Maria Ponsee, grave no. 60 of Freundorf, and those ones of Nocera Umbra (BLESL, 2008; LAUREMANN, ADLER, 2008, 305-8; RUPP, 2005, 54-7, 60-2). Hence, it is possible to hypothesize that the dog - like the horse - was killed and buried in honour of high ranking people, as the horsemen. Dog and horse were surely an important status symbol of the deceased which stressed prestige in own society. Nonetheless, observing the plan of other necropolises, new variables could be noted suggesting further cultural meanings of the funeral practice of dog’s burying.
35Dogs, horses, and other animals were certainly grave gifts to persons buried in the cemeteries, but in my opinion, this right thesis is not always thorough and completely convincing. Analysing the horse burials among Germanic tribes, Judith Oexle (1984) and other researchers has suggested that horses were not only sacrifices to appease certain deities or ask them for their help10. This hypothesis is based on two elements: firstly, the sex exam of the horses (generally stallions); secondly, their way of deposition namely consisting of a complete body, seldom decapitated, or disarticulated. Effectively following the above mentioned, these animals must have been not only a religious meaning. They were the demonstrations of the prestige of the deceased but I think that they could be been both grave gifts and sacrificed offers. In other circumstances, they could be guides and companions of the deceased in the journey for the afterlife. All these animals must have played an important role in the ideas and religious beliefs of Germanic tribes, including the Lombards.
36For understanding better the complexity of the various cultural meanings, many elements could be considered. A starting point could be represented by the presence of Lombard cemeteries where pits only with dogs or dogs and horses do not correlate with a human burial. This factual data could be deduced observing well the plan of some necropolises. For instance, dog’s pits not connected to specific human graves have come out in the Moravian site of Lužice and the Italian archaeological sites of Testona Moncalieri and Povegliano Veronese (KLANIKA, KLANIKOVÁ, 2011, 227, Abb.2; PETITI, BEDINI, 2014; GIOSTRA, 2014).
37Povegliano Veronese is the most significant necropolis for this aspect (Fig. 16). In this wide cemetery, the pit containing two dogs and a horse, placed in the Northern sector, did not have a connection with a particular human grave. In this area, which could be used since the first generation of deceased (last third of the 6th century CE.), there are rather more burials. The nearest ones are too late being dated back to the beginning of the 7th century CE. Indeed, some of them could be re-used in the last phase for the exhumation and new depositions. As a consequence, Caterina Giostra (2014, 268-70; 2018, 283-8) has proposed the valid hypothesis that the animal pit was related to a ‘collective ritual’ or a ‘foundation rite’ of the cemetery which influenced a long time the choice of burying here also the deceased of the next generation. So, until the beginning of the 7th century CE, the area with the pit of dog and horse was still a symbolic fulcrum for the Lombard community who re-used some human graves around the animal pit for its important meaning related to religious and eschatological beliefs.
Figure 16 - Plan of the cemetery of Povegliano Veronese with the pit with dogs and horse (GIOSTRA 2014)

38Considering the varied kinds of deposition cited until now, I will propose some distinctions concerning the most likely symbolic meaning. I would stress that some interpretative remarks can be denoted also by the size of the dogs. It is very interesting that in some human burials appear small dogs in association only with an adult man or a man and a child. In this case, the animals could have had more roles: they could be hunting dogs, watch-dogs, or also domestic pets; not only status symbols but animals with a precise role in life and maybe the afterlife of the deceased.
39The breed of dogs have been specifically diversified through an appropriate process of anthropic selection. The choice of the race could be directly linked to various daily activities. Also the big specimens could have had several functions. A reasonable hypothesis was suggested by Prummel (1992, 155; 2001) who proposed the thesis of fighting or watch-dogs. Dogs were used as a guard of the house or for protecting livestock from the attacks of wolves, a function mentioned in the Lex Frisionum (802/803 CE). The other important evaluation of the same researcher was that if the dead buried with the dogs have been their owners, these individuals (male and female) could be involved in the warfare and/or guarding of livestock. Otherwise, how recently suggested by Frank Salvadori (2015, 241), the importance of the breeding in the Lombard society is denoted by osteological remains, as well some grave goods often placed in the human burials as the shears used for the shearing11.
40In my opinion, this last explanation could be valid for the noblewoman of grave no. 262 of Ménfőcsanak, who was the highest-ranking individual of the necropolis belonging to the class of freemen (cfr. supra Fig. 9). The healed fractures of the female dog with a withers height of 56.79 cm and the 64.1 cm withers height of the male one have suggested that both animals were battle dogs (BARTOSIEWICZ, 2015, 251-8; VADAY, 2015, 186-7, 217-21).
41About the presence of mastiffs in the Italian cemetery of Testona Moncalieri (cfr. supra Fig. 11) (PETITI, BEDINI, 2014, 553-4), I think that it could be partially explained as a consequence of a ‘foundation ritual’ of the graveyard, consisting of killing fighting dogs or watch-dogs; the aim could be the necessary request of help to the deities or defending the soul of the deceased too.
42Nonetheless, the choice to kill hunting dogs is the most relevant. Considering firstly the finding in Povegliano Veronese, Giostra (2018, 283-8) has proposed that horses and dogs did not have only a socio-economic valence. These animals could be also sacrificed and offered to deities. Their sacrifice was rooted among the Lombards, being attested already before their settlement in Italy. Maybe the funeral practice could be a testimony of the ‘wild hunting’, an episode post mortem following the death of the individual who in the afterlife took part in this activity with Germanic deity Odin-Wotan, accompanied by horses, dogs, deer and other died warriors. Animal burials could be a reflex of the warrior vocation of the Lombard people and their pagan beliefs about the Walhalla. Indeed, horses were not always young riding horses connected to the equestrian ranking of the deceased. This fact is demonstrated especially by the archaeozoological analyses about Povegliano’s horse, which was 16 years old and had pathological deformations on its vertebrae. So, horses, deer, and maybe dogs could be killed because of their importance or holiness in Germanic convictions.
43Effectively horse’s burying could be strictly related to that one of dogs as other animals. The horse was a status symbol as a sacrificed offer12, or an animal with a psychopomp function (FEDELE, 2017; FEDELE, 2018). The psychopomp value could be shared with the dog how suggested by some elements of the late Norse mythology: well-known is the figure of Sleipnir, the grey eight-legged horse of Odin, a mythic animal that had a liminal power linking the earthly world to the otherworld. But the same Germanic god had also other animal companions or vehicles, like the ravens or the wolves which were dog’s ancestors13. Nonetheless, horseheads could be cut and used during the funeral: probably it was perceived as the pars pro toto with an apotropaic or magic meaning suggested by some historical written sources14. Concerning the deer (or elk) antlers, they could be considered instead of a symbol of rebirth or still of power strictly linked to the hunting activity.
44The significant relation among the Lombards and the natural world is reflected by many archaeological shreds of evidence. Typically Lombard is the use of the decoration of Germanic animalistic style on metalworking craftsmanship.
45Moreover, conspicuous Germanic graves scattered around continental Europe, England, and Scandinavia contained many animal bones. Some of them were food offerings for the deceased, others remains left by the relatives after the funeral feast. They consist of eggshells, fish or bones of domestic specimens as sheep, cattle, pig, and domestic poultry. Bovine horns had instead a symbolic meaning, while a bovine burial, found in the Italian site of Torba nearby a Lombard horse grave, is still object of analyse (Percivaldi 2018, 20).
46Furthermore, the Germanic burials could sometimes include the remains of wild animals. Among wild specimens appears the falcon, the goshawk, the deer, the auroch, the fowl, or the beaver. As deer antlers, these archaeological findings seem me hunting trophies. It is likewise noteworthy the discovery of a wolf burial in the Frankish cemetery of Kleinlangheim (grave no. 88). In other contexts not miss various cases of bear’s claws, originally connected to its skin arranged under the corpse of the deceased. In the end, other animal parts could be used as pendants: this is the case of a bear phalanx found in the Lombard grave no. 105 of Holubice (Czech Republic) or the several fangs of wild boar coming from the burials in Fara Olivana (Italy). These hunting trophies, were objects made with animal bones or teeth, most probably used as amulets. The person who wore them likely believed to protect himself against evil or wanted to obtain in this way the strength of the living animal15.
47However, how abovementioned, many references on dog’s role in the everyday life of Germanic tribes appear in the Lex Frisionum, a Latin written law for the area along the North-Sea coast between the rivers Zwin and Weser likely written down in 802/803 CE and commissioned by Charlemagne. In another essay, Prummel (2001, 78-80) paid close attention to the fact that in this law there are some descriptions regarding the fines for killing or stealing livestock. Through this legislative text, she noticed that the highest value in the Frisian society was attributed to horses, cattle, and dogs. Another noteworthy aspect is that the law includes even citations about the risk run by dogs because of wolf’s danger, while another interesting detail concerns the killing of a ‘goshawk dog' (presumably a dog used in falconry), or a small beagle that incurred a fine of 4 solidi; it is a number higher than other circumstances of loss by killing.
48Otherwise, how noticed by Alexandra Chavarría Arnau and Tamara Lewit (2017, 164) other important mentions are readable in the Edictum Rotharis Regis, a corpus of Lombard laws promulgated in 643 in the city of Pavia by king Rotari. In this collection of laws and regulations, appear not only the importance of the breeding in wild and the respective danger represented by the wolves in killing of livestock, but even, that the forest was an important property where to hunt sparrow hawks, an economic activity enough diffused among the Lombards.
49Furthermore, always considering and stressing the relevant suggestions of Prummel (2001, 80-3), in my opinion, important information are in other types of written texts. Although dog’s role in Germanic narratives was limited, important clues about their role in hunting appear in the Literature evidence: in Beowulf (8th century CE), dogs are chasing a deer, while in Scandinavian Edda poem (ca. CE 930-1264), are mentioned with trained goshawks. So, this could be a further demonstration that dogs were important in the social daily life of the inhabitants in Germanic Medieval world. If we consider all these data, accepting even the most approved hypothesis that Lombards believed in a religious system similar to that one of the later Norse literature, we can presume various interpretations about the funeral practise of dog burial in the medieval cemeteries.
Final remarks
50To sum-up, in the light of these considerations, dog’s burying could be considered a ritual deeply rooted among the Lombards before their coming to Italy. Like the horse, this animal could be buried in many ways. The variants consist of separated pits alone or together with other dogs or skeletal remains of other animals (especially horses); indeed, when it was in the same grave of the individual, the deceased could be men, women, and seldom children. The depositional variables are irregularly dislocated in various continental countries of Europe: from the Czech Republic to Italy.
51Considering every single finding from a detailed to a wider view, it is most probable that the animal had several functions. Some suggestions could be denoted by the size of dogs: the small ones could be killed being considered ranking animals, personal possessions or companions in life like in death, meanwhile the bigger ones could be battle dogs or watch-dogs for guarding the house and livestock. In other circumstances, both sizes seem involved in hunting activity.
52Mainly this last interpretation was in line not only with a socio-economic meaning but even a religious valence. The Lombard community must have considered these animals useful for the journey of the deceased in the afterlife. Another interesting meaning is instead suggested by the burial of two greyhounds and horse excavated in the archaeological site of Povegliano Veronese. This pit was not in association with a specific human grave, but many burials, suggesting that this could be related to a ‘collective sacrifice’ and that this area likely became the fulcrum of the community for a long time. As consequence, this finding seems in line with the hypothesis of connection of dogs to the rite of the ‘wild hunting’, a conclusion validated by the discoveries of bones of other wild animals in various Germanic cemeteries, as well as late written pieces of evidence, historical and literal.
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Notes de bas de page
1 The researcher was motivated to pay more attention to medieval dog burials after the important discovery in ‘80s of the 20th century of a male horse and five or six male dogs in the Frisian cemetery of Oosterbeintum (Netherlands) (PRUMMEL, 1992, 132).
2 Before starting my discussion, I think that a necessary and first step is an elucidation about the presence of animal burials in Lombard cemeteries before the arrival of the Lombards led by king Alboin in Italy. Migration processes and the mobility of Barbarian populations in Europe are complex phenomena which have been studied for a long time from many researchers. Some of them have focussed their researches on the fact that Barbarian peoples had a multicultural identity, meanwhile assuming that their identification is impossible based only on their material culture.
This legitimate opinion is only partially acceptable because innovative ideas in this respect have been recently suggested by a remarkable scientific community during the annual meeting on Barbarian Archaeology organized in Milan since 2016. During the circumstance of the 3rd meeting foreign Lombard presence in Italy and Eastern Europe has been tested also through new paleogenetic and isotopic analyses carried out in varied cemeteries, such as Szólad (Hungary) and Collegno (Italy) (GIOSTRA, 2019).
3 Some references about the burial mound among Germans are cited in BRULET, 1995; BÓNA, 1992, 62-3, cat. I.55, MÜLLER-WILLE, 1997, DIERKENS et al., 2008, 279-83; TEJRAL, 2009, 132-45. In contrast to this, there is a noteworthy bibliography about the tumulus of Eurasian nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples. For having a short overview of some burials of the Early Medieval period and their influence on the Germanic burial practices, I advise PÉRIN, KAZANSKI, 2007.
4 Probably dog corpse was originally placed on the coffin in organic material, but successively, the animal bones slipped into the lower level.
5 For this reason is highly likely that the human burials could be been desecrated and robbed not much time after their interment. In my opinion, if the animal graves are more intact respect to human ones, the plunders must have known the exact position of every pit and its contents.
6 Also the healed fractures of the female dog of Ménfőcsanak (grave no. 262), such as that one on left nasal bone could be a consequence of mistreatment of the animal living close to humans. In contrast to this, there are no injuries on the bones of either dog that would have caused death, so it seems more likely that they had been stabbed to death or strangled during the funeral ceremony (BARTOSIEWICZ, 2015, 255).
7 This is a characteristic trait of the Lombard horse burials in Italy, but similar cases are enough diffused also in other European countries, especially Germany, where headless horses have been found in the cemeteries of the Thuringians, Saxons, and other Germanic cultures (OEXLE, 1984; PRUMMEL, 1992, 167, 170; FEDELE, 2017; FEDELE, 2017/18).
8 The finding was uncovered in an area including other grave goods (VANDAY, 2015, 187).
9 The continuity of the Lombard presence in some Eastern European countries is a long-debated question still opened and not widely accepted. Nonetheless, in Bratislava-Rusovce the late chronology of the Lombard site has been suggested by the accordance between the calibrated ranges of 14C dates (5-6th century) and the artefacts mainly consisting in jewels and personal adornments (SCHMIDTOVÁ, RUTTKAY, 2008, 393-6).
10 In her article Oexle proposed alternative theory respect to that previously suggested by Michael Müller-Wille (1970/1). A summary in English, regarding the work of Oexle and those of other researchers, has been given by Prummel (1992, 144-6).
11 Considering the same noteworthy essay of Salvadori (2015, 212-25) about the archaeozoological researches in Medieval Italy, I would stress that the opportune methodology could be to interpret the burial finds correlating them to other animal depositions discovered in the stratification of urban and rural deposits.
12 Concerning the sacrifice of horses, dogs and people in the Scandinavian world, the most important written mention is in the late (11th century CE.) Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by the chronicler Adam of Bremen. In this historical work, the author refers that, in the prestigious sanctuary of Uppsala (Sweden), were sacrificed after a time-lapse of 9 years, 9 men, 9 male horses, and 9 male dogs. The aim of this rooted habit was to plaque the gods Thor, Wotan, and Freyr through the blood of the victims. Naturally, there are limitations arising from the comparison of the geographically distant contexts, and the use of the later sources to explain the previous realities, so, being this scientific theme scarcely explored, the sources criticisms could be required in the future.
13 Two wolves, companions of Odin, were Freke and Gere.
14 The use of horse heads is referred by Tacitus and Agatia (GIOSTRA, 2018, 287). As much interesting, is an episode of the Saga of Egill Skallagrímsson which involved Egil to use a horse head for doing a witchcraft ritual to king Erik and queen Gunnhild (THILDERKVIST, 2013, 123).
15 Several citations about animal bones in Germanic necropolises are still in PRUMMEL, 1992. Regarding Lombard discoveries in the Moravian cemetery of Holubice, see ČIŽMÁR, 2011. About Lombard and Medieval findings in Italy, the most important and concise contribution is represented by SALVADORI, 2015. Other significant remarks have been expressed by CHAVARRÍA ARNAU, LEWIT, 2017.
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