During railway preparatory work near Järna, Sweden, archaeologists uncovered a 5,000-year-old ritual dog burial wrapped in animal skin, weighted with stones and placed about five feet deep in a former lakebed. A nearly nine-inch polished bone dagger rested by the dog’s paws; the animal is estimated to have been a large male aged three to six years. Planned radiocarbon, isotope and DNA analyses will refine dating and reveal the dog’s diet and origins. The site also yielded well-preserved wooden fishing structures dated to 3300–2600 B.C.E., including stakes, platform posts, a six-foot willow fish trap and areas showing human activity.
5,000-Year-Old Ritual Dog Burial Found in Swedish Lakebed — Accompanied by Polished Bone Dagger
Archaeologists Found a 5,000-Year-Old Dog BurialMaria Korneeva - Getty Images
Archaeologists working outside Järna, Sweden, uncovered a rare and remarkably preserved ritual burial: the remains of a dog deposited in a Stone Age lakebed roughly 5,000 years ago. The animal was wrapped in an animal-skin container, weighted with stones and laid alongside a nearly nine-inch polished bone dagger.
Context of the Discovery
The find emerged during preparatory work for a railway embankment when teams encountered a former bog that had once been a productive Stone Age fishing lake. Researchers from Arkeologerna, the nationwide archaeology agency affiliated with the Swedish Historical Museums, excavated a range of fishing-related artifacts and the unusually intact canine burial.
The Canine Burial
Osteological analysis indicates the animal was a large male, estimated at between three and six years old, with a shoulder height of about 20 inches. A finely polished bone dagger—almost nine inches long and likely made from elk or red deer bone—had been placed by the dog’s paws. According to project manager Linus Hagberg, the animal was deliberately lowered into the lake to about five feet depth and positioned roughly 115 feet from the ancient shoreline, held down with stones.
"Finding an intact dog from this period is very rare, and the fact that it was deposited together with a bone dagger is almost unique," said Linus Hagberg, archaeologist and project manager at Arkeologerna.
What Researchers Will Do Next
Planned laboratory work includes radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis and DNA testing. Those analyses will refine the burial’s date and reveal details about the dog’s diet, geographic origins and life history — information that can shed light on the people who kept the animal and the economic and ritual life of the settlement.
Associated Wooden Structures and Fishing Evidence
Alongside the burial, the excavation recovered well-preserved wooden remains dated to between 3300 and 2600 B.C.E. Finds include stakes driven into the lakebed and posts that may have supported wooden platforms for shore-based fishing. Archaeologists also found deliberately placed stones interpreted as anchors or net sinkers and a six-foot-long willow fish trap with numerous surrounding footprints.
Hagberg noted visible trampled patches in the mud around the fish trap where people stood and moved — likely areas for checking nets or traps. Together, the wooden structures, fishing implements and the ritual dog burial provide a vivid snapshot of lakeside activity, economy and belief during the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age in southern Sweden.
Why This Matters
The combination of an intact animal burial and well-preserved organic fishing structures makes this site unusually informative. It offers direct evidence of ritual practice involving dogs, practical fishing technology and how communities organized work and ritual at water margins during the Stone Age.
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