Neolithic dog tooth bags found in Germany

Three bags elaborately decorated with dog teeth have been discovered in the graves of Neolithic women near the village of Krauschwitz in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The women belonged to the Corded Ware Culture (ca. 2800–2200 B.C.), and are believed to have been part of the social elite who regularly wore these bags adorned with pierced dog teeth.

The organic material of the bags – leather or fabric – is long gone, but the pierced animal teeth that were sewn on have survived to this day. The upper and lower canine teeth and incisors of dogs were embroidered on the front of the bags, staggered like roof tiles. The bottom of the bag was usually about 30 centimeters long and at least 20 centimeters high. For fully embroidered bags, almost 350 teeth were required. The dogs were a medium-sized breed, similar to today’s Small Münsterländer, and were probably bred specifically for the production of the elaborate bags and killed at a young age. Only in exceptional cases was a fox tooth or an imitation carved from bone used for repairs to the bags. The pouch-shaped bags were carried on a wide strap, to which wolf teeth were often sewn.

Based on their location in the grave, the bags appear to have been carried in front of the body during life. As the occasional infant bones preserved within indicate, they could represent a type of baby carrier. The legs, arms, and head protruded and were further protected with a fine cloth; the 20-centimeter-wide scarf was embroidered with sequins and lined with dog molars. Since a bag was also placed in the grave of young women who died during pregnancy, it can be assumed that these bags were personal, non-inheritable belongings. Ownership of these labor- and cost-intensive, richly decorated bags was certainly reserved for a narrowly defined, elite social class, to which the Krauschwitz community belonged. Such a “baby carrier” was found in 20 percent of women’s burials. In Nessa, just 1.7 kilometers away, the remains of a woman of upper social class were recovered during the near-completion of excavations within the construction site of the high-voltage transmission line. Her burial goods also included a similar bag containing the remains of a fetus or newborn.

The State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology (LDA) of Saxony-Anhalt has been excavating various sites along the 105-mile planned route of the SuedOstLink high-voltage powerline. The route passes through areas that have been inhabited for thousands of years, and the surveys have so far uncovered numerous prehistoric burials.

The findings in the Krauschwitz area have been particularly significant. In addition to the dog tooth bags, the survey uncovered five 6,000-year-old burial mounds of the Middle Neolithic Baalberg culture. The deceased were buried in grave pits that were then covered with wooden huts and then covered with earth to create mounds that stood out on the landscape. The mounds are no longer visible today, but the excavation revealed the foundation ditches of the wooden huts and the burials underneath them. A total of 15 Baalberg culture burial mounds were found on the new power line route.

The Baalberg mounds were still impressive a thousand years later when the Corded Ware culture inhabited the area. They followed in their predecessors’ footprints, building their own settlement on the same hill near Krauschwitz that the Baalberg had settled. They also buried their own dead among the ancient burial mounds. The Corded Ware burials are mostly individuals, although there are occasional double burials. They were laid to rest facing south, males on their right sides, women on their left.

The burials with the remains of the bags will be removed in soil blocks and thoroughly analyzed in the workshops of the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt. The field  excavations will continue through July.

* This article was originally published here