A unique red-painted dog penis bone has been discovered in a Romano-British ritual shaft deposit at a quarry in Ewell, Surrey, southeast England.
There are no other published examples of ochre-stained bones from Roman or Iron Age Britain, and given the context from which it was recovered, it seems probable that this bone represents some sort of ritual item. A penis bone has obvious connotations, particularly given the already strong association between dogs and fertility within Roman Britain.
Throughout the Roman occupation of Britain, deep pits or wells would be backfilled with a varied array of materials — mostly a mixture of pottery, coins, human and animal bones — that suggest a votive or religious practice. Shaft deposits have been found all over the country, and while their specific purpose is unknown, scholars hypothesize that they were conduits to the underworld. This interpretation is supported by the presence of dog and corvid bones in particular, as they were animals with connections to gods of the underworld.
but most of them were excavated by amateurs before the advent of modern archaeological procedures and technology, so the assemblages were not thoroughly recorded, the stratigraphy was not documented and objects like bones were dismissed as insignificant. The few that have been excavated more recently lacked funding to fully analyze the assemblages.
The Roman-era chalk and flint quarry shafts at the Nescot site in Ewell were excavated in advance of development in 2015. The site was actively quarried beginning right after the conquest (43 A.D.) to the beginning of the 5th century. Quarry pit 1 proved to contain one of the largest groupings of human and animal remains ever discovered in a single feature from Roman Britain. Because it was previously unexplored, archaeologists were able to explore it using modern techniques and documenting the deposit unprecedented detail.
The shaft was used in three phases between the late 1st century and the early 2nd century, over about just five decades. Archaeologists believe the first two phases were ritual deposits, as evidenced by the inclusion of potsherds only from the bottom part of vessels. This suggests the pottery was deliberately smashed and selected pieces deposited in the pit. In contrast, in the third phase, it seems the pit was used as a garbage dump.
The bones of at least 282 domestic animals — dogs, pigs, cattle, horses, sheep/goats — were found in Quarry 1, 70.1% of them dogs. Most of the dog bones from phases 1 and 2 were from small breeds, averaging less than 14 inches high at the shoulder, suggesting they were pets or terriers rather than livestock guardians or herding dogs. We know the faunal remains were domestic animals because there were no cut marks on the bones to indicate butchering, no carbonization from burning, no signs of disease. These were pets or working animals who died and were buried in the quarry pit.
The dog penis bone (baculum) was discovered in the phase 2 deposits. It is one of size bacula in Quarry 1, but it is the only one to be stained with red-brown color. Analysis of the color revealed that it was an iron oxide pigment, probably red ochre. No ochre or iron that might have stained the bone was found in the pit, and no other bones from any species, human or animal, found in the pit were colored. This indicates the penis bone was stained before it was thrown in the pit.
Researchers suspect the baculum was used in a ritual or as an amulet as phalluses played a large role as symbols of fertility and to ward off the evil eye in Roman society. The presence of a large number of fetal and neonatal puppies, foals, piglets and lambs/kids in phase 1 also link the shaft to fertility ritual.
The study has been published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology and can be read in its entirety here.
* This article was originally published here
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