Use of Computed Tomography and Three‐Dimensional Virtual Reconstruction for the Examination of a 16th Century Mummified Dog from a North German Peat Bog

Bibliographic Data

ID12371805
AuthorsHeather Gill‐Frerking (Reiss Engelhorn Museum, corresponding author), Wilfried Rosendahl (0000-0001-6099-4973, Reiss Engelhorn Museum)
Year2011
Volume23
Issue6
Pages723-729
Publication date2011-09-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.1290
OpenAlexW1945419477
LanguageEN
References cited12

The corpse of a well‐preserved dog was recovered from a peat bog in the region of Burlage, Germany, in 1953. The dog, which dates to the 16th century, retained extensive soft tissue and fur on the postcranial body, although the head is skeletonised. Computed tomography was used to determine the extent of the preservation of the soft tissue, to determine sex and age and to attempt to identify trauma, pathology and potential cause of death. The analysis of the CT data indicated that the dog was an immature or adolescent male. Substantial soft tissue was preserved, including some internal organs. The entire skeleton was present, with the exception of the mandible and parts of the paws; all of the bones were flattened and some were distorted because of demineralisation in the peat. Partial disarticulation of the vertebral column was postmortem, although there was no further evidence of trauma or pathology on the skeleton or soft tissue. The cause of death could not be conclusively determined. To the knowledge of the authors, this dog represents the only known example of a complete historical nonhuman bog body with preserved soft tissue. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Amputation · Archaeology · Biology · Bog · Computed tomography · Disarticulation · Geography · Pathology · Peat · Postcrania · Skeleton (computer programming · Soft tissue · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Forensic Entomology and Diptera Studies · Medicine · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Anatomy · Paleontology · Surgery