Excavation near Stonehenge reveal 7000-year-old dog’s tooth

Excavation at Blick Mead at Whiltshire, United Kingdom, revealed a site that contained numerous artefacts including remains of a supposedly domesticated Mesolithic dog that lived around 5000 BC.

Alsatian dog tooth found in Wiltshire (by The Guardian)
Alsatian dog tooth found in Wiltshire (by The Guardian)

The site is located over 1.5 kilometres from famous Stonehenge. The excavations revealed evidence of Mesolithic people feasting on huge oxen, known as aurochs, salmon, trout, hazelnuts and even frog’s legs. Analysis of the dog’s tooth enamel showed that the dog drank water that came from the Vale of York area. The dog would have been roughly the same size, shape and colour of an alsatian, albeit more wolf-like. This provides evidence for Mesolithic man using a domesticated dog, probably for hunting. Moreover, the origin of the dog suggests that the pair made a long journey of over 400 kilometres to the present area of Wiltshire. The site is also the earliest settlement discovered in the area near Stonehenge shedding new light on the archaeological landscape of the well-known archaeological landmark.

Excavations at the Blick Mead site (by The Guardian)
Excavations at the Blick Mead site (by The Guardian)

(after The Guardian)

2 Comments


  1. // Reply

    Far too much speculation. There are other ways that a single dogs tooth could have got to Blick Mead. No doubt though because it is claimed as another first for the SH area it will now become fact. Quite ridiculous!


    1. // Reply

      That’s true, it could have been brought to that site. Closeness to Stonehenge is just a keyword across media to keep people interested in less spectacular, yet also interesting, archaeological finds. If any new information on this matter should appear we’ll keep the audience informed.

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