essay

Ritual burials of a dog and six domestic donkeys

Excavations at Tell Brak2 • Published In 2001 • Pages: 327-338

By: Clutton-Brock, Juliet.

Abstract
Clutton-Brock describes the animal burials and their skeletons found in the large public building in Area FS, level 5; they consist of one dog and six equids that had been sacrifices. The dog would have been similar to todays Saluki or Persian greyhound. One of the equids may have been a onager x donkey hybrid (kunga), with the rest of the equids identified as donkeys. The donkeys had been housed in stalls, were used as pack animals, and were ridden or harnessed to vehicles.
Subjects
Domesticated animals
Prayers and sacrifices
tradition
Akkadian
HRAF PubDate
2009
Region
Middle East
Sub Region
Middle East
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Archaeologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Sarah Berry; 2008
Field Date
1987, 1991
Coverage Date
circa 4000 BP uncalibrated
Coverage Place
Tell Brak, Syria
Notes
Juliet Clutton-Brock
For bibliographical references see document 13: Oates
LCCN
00303945
LCSH
Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian/Excavations (Archaeology) Iraq/Mitanni (Ancient kingdom)/Dayr al-Zawr (Syria) Antiquities