A fox carcass unearthed at a 1,500-year-old human burial site in Argentina raises the possibility that the animal was kept as a pet, a study suggests.
Experts say the remains predate the arrival of domestic dogs in Patagonia some 700 to 900 years ago, and may have belonged to hunter-gatherers who lived alongside foxes, who considered them valuable. There are many clues that suggest that. .
“Either they were symbolic animals for local communities, or they were buried when they died with their owners or other people with whom they had a particular relationship,” said Ophelie Leblascheur from the University of Oxford. Argentina's National Council for Scientific and Technical Research is co-first author of the paper.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers explain how materials recovered from a 1991 excavation at a pre-Hispanic burial site in Cañada Seca, Argentina, inhabited by a hunter-gatherer community reported whether it was reanalyzed.
As well as human remains, the excavation revealed an almost complete set of bones belonging to a dog-like animal.
They were initially identified as foxtails, a type of Lycalopex, but the team said that analysis and genetic studies confirmed the remains were a species of Lycalopex. Duchillon Aves. This is a type of fox about the size of a German shepherd that became extinct about 500 years ago. It was previously unknown to roam northwestern Patagonia.
The original excavations were carried out after the site was accidentally discovered to prevent looting and mayhem, so it was difficult to know whether animals were buried at the same time as humans.
However, Leblassure said there was no sign that the fox had been eaten and the state of preservation of the bones suggested that the fox's body had been intentionally buried rather than left in the open.
Radiocarbon dating by the research team suggests that the foxes lived around 1,500 years ago, making them contemporary with the humans at the site. “It suggests that [the fox has] It was placed there with other human remains,” Leblassure said.
The research team also conducted stable isotope analysis of the bones, which allowed them to investigate the foxes' dietary habits.
Although such animals are typically carnivorous, the researchers found that the foxes had a similar diet to the humans buried at the site, perhaps even eating plants such as corn. “Either it was being fed directly by humans or it was eating trash, but it would have been very close to this site,” Leblassure said.
Leblassure said the discovery is consistent with previous reports of burial sites in the province of Buenos Aires, where remains of conspecific foxes were found adjacent to burial sites associated with hunter-gatherer communities from the late 2nd millennium BC. said to have been discovered. The report's authors suggested that foxes may have been kept as pets and considered part of human social groups.
Dr. Alejandro Serna, an expert on Patagonian hunter-gatherers at the University of York, who was not involved in the study, said the new study provided new insights into the depth and diversity of human-animal interactions. Stated.
“Given that there is a case supported by substantial evidence to suggest that pre-colonial dogs may have enjoyed a special status among the hunter-gatherers who lived in present-day Argentine territory; It makes sense that similar species may have established this special relationship with Patagonians at an early point in time,” he said.