Five thousand years ago, there were lions on the territory of Bulgaria, which the people of our lands hunted. This is what archaeologist Nadezhda Karastoyanova from the National Museum of Natural History – BAS (NPM-BAS) told BTA.
They were local lions that were hunted by humans in prehistoric times. “We have information that they were hunted, that they were brought to the settlements, that they were most likely consumed,” she explained. According to her, the Bulgarian lions do not differ from those that can currently be seen in Africa. “It is believed that their manes were smaller and some of them did not even have a mane. But these are hypotheses,” she explained and added that at this stage there are few remains.
In her practice, she encountered a variety of cases. It depends on the period being studied, she explains. At the moment, he is also dealing with a prehistoric human skeleton from Kozareva mound, in the north-eastern part of Bulgaria, near the sea. “We suspect that the person was probably attacked by a lion, but we are still writing the paper and still doing the research,” she said. According to her, there are marks on the skull that show that it was attacked by a large predator, and at that time there were lions in Bulgaria. Right on the Black Sea, near Durankulak, there are remains of lions. “We have a hypothesis that there is a possibility that this person was indeed injured by a lion, but the most interesting thing is that he survived and his wounds have healed,” she said.
THE BEST PRESERVED CAMEL SKELETON IN EUROPE WAS FOUND HERE
Karastoyanova says that archaeologists deal with remains of archaeological sites. Every year there are an awful lot of excavations at archaeological sites, and every year there is something interesting that comes out for them to deal with and to study. One of their most recent finds is a camel skeleton discovered during excavations near Dragoman. She says that the excavations themselves are being carried out along the route of the BDZ. “Via Diagonalis” passed there – one of the Roman roads through our lands. “The archaeological site has structures from different periods, and a Roman road and a Roman way station have also been discovered. Skeletons of horses and donkeys have been found around this Roman road station, but we didn’t expect a camel to come out – a fairly well-preserved skeleton,” she said. According to her, there are remains of a camel in many places in Europe, there is also a lower jaw of a camel from Sofia, but such a well-preserved skeleton has not been discovered so far.
Samples have been sent to a laboratory abroad, where they should do isotopic analyzes and say where exactly this camel came from. “Because she was most likely not raised in Bulgaria, but was brought with some caravan that went along this Roman road and died at this way station. But it is interesting to see where this camel comes from,” says Nadezhda Karastoyanova. So far we know that it is a male individual over 5 years old. Remains of two more camels were also found, one small. From the same place, but they are not whole skeletons, just bone fragments, she adds.
The archaeologist explains why only parts of animal skeletons are found. “Because there are different structures from different periods there, some of the skeletons are actually disturbed, including this skeleton that was slightly disturbed by later excavations. He is buried. Then, in the Middle Ages, they came and dug some kind of hole to do something there, and they disturbed that skeleton. Some of the bones are thrown away somewhere. It’s just that the layers are broken by different structures,” she said.
According to her, it depends on the period in which it is mined. During the Roman period, when it was a Roman province, practically anything could be found here, as the Romans imported quite a few animals, even from Africa, for their games. So you can expect all kinds of animals to be found, but for the moment, apart from camels, more interesting animals have not been found from this period, says Karastoyanova.
THE THRACIANS ATE DOGS
“During the Thracians there are also many interesting finds and studies. “At the moment, one of my colleagues – a young scientist at the archaeological institute – has a project related to the consumption of dogs in the Thracian period, by the Thracians,” she says. Karastoyanova notes that there are reports of such cases – not that they were consumed constantly and that dog food was part of the diet as a whole. “But in some cases there are definitely signs that some dogs were consumed,” says the archaeologist.
Since the finds are not many and most of the dog skeletons are not fully preserved, it is difficult to determine any particular breed and whether they had any particular preference. “Rather, we think they were most likely accidental, if they were starving or something.” Or maybe it was a delicacy, it’s not very clear for now, more research is being done,” explained Karastoyanova. She specifies that it is understood whether an animal was used for food if there are signs of consumption – these are the so-called incisions on the bones, which show that the animal was cut and traces of heat treatment – from roasting, from boiling.
THE BULGARIANS ARE AMONG THE FIRST TO DOMESTICATE ANIMALS IN EUROPE
In her dissertation, Nadezhda Karastoyanova researches the prehistoric periods in Bulgaria – Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic. “What is interesting in this case is the whole domestication of animals how it developed, because already in these periods we already have domesticated animals. They were imported by the tribes that settled here from Asia, from today’s Turkey actually. These people bring their domestic animals to Bulgaria. Here, therefore, we have some of the earliest domesticated animals in all of Europe,” she explains.
According to her, it is interesting how hunting develops during different periods. Her research shows the beginning of extinction and the disappearance of some species that existed at that time, but in Bulgaria, and on a global scale, have already disappeared. She gave the example of wild cattle – the breed from which absolutely all breeds of domestic cows are derived at the moment. Due to overhunting, this animal is being slaughtered and has become extinct. Another scientific question is solved from her dissertation.
“For a long time, it was thought that fallow deer was brought to Bulgaria precisely by the Romans and that before that it did not exist on our lands. But several prehistoric sites that I studied showed that this was not the case and that we had a local species of fallow deer that existed here in Bulgaria since prehistoric times and was hunted. And then it disappeared, then it was brought back by the Romans. Currently, the fallow deer that live in the reserves here in Bulgaria are introduced species, not native. But through this material, I proved that this species existed in Bulgaria during prehistory,” she said.
THE DOGS WERE SMALL BUT WITH A BIG BITE
According to Nadezhda Karastoyanova, domestic animals in prehistoric times were no different from those of today. They have been the same since domestication began. As well as house plants are the same. They only change as breeds and as a way of exploitation, she clarifies. “Back then, one animal was used for everything. There were no such pronounced breeds. Now we already have distinct breeds – say, cows for meat only, sheep for wool only or milk only. Whereas back then there were no such specialized breeds yet,” she notes.
“The same goes for dogs. We have no record of domestication of cats in prehistoric times, but dogs were a part of prehistoric man’s life in every way. Interestingly, most of the ones we find in prehistoric times are quite small, a bit like dachshund puppies, but with a very massive bite. With quite a massive jaw for their size,” she explains. They probably used them both for hunting and as alarms, if something happened in the village, if something was approaching, they would make a noise. Also, during the prehistory of some places in Bulgaria, we have data that some dogs were consumed and used for food, she added.
Nadezhda Karastoyanova was born on March 7, 1984 in Dupnitsa. He speaks English and French. In 2018, he became a doctor in “Zoology”, defending a dissertation on the topic “Development of hunting and animal husbandry and differences in the natural environment from the late Neolithic to the late Chalcolithic in Eastern Bulgaria according to data from archaeological sites”. He has a master’s degree in the specialty “Archaeological studies – prehistory”, and received his bachelor’s degree in Archeology from the New Bulgarian University. She participated in over 20 field and other researches in the field of archeology and archaeozoology, as well as in scientific seminars in Bulgaria and abroad. She has twice specialized in paleontology in France, Bordeaux. She has been part of international projects and studies. He is also the author of a number of scientific publications in the field of archaeology.
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2024-01-21 13:47:00
#Archaeologist #Thracians #ate #dogs
