Dog or its master? Coprolites from a Slovenian pile dwelling

The scientific project deals with archaeological findings from the prehistoric site Stare gmajne in Slovenia. The pile-dwelling settlement locates in the region of Ljubljansko barje, where about forty of such sites are documented. Excavations unearthed various organic remains from waterlogged sediments, which usually preserve only charcoaled. The finds offer interesting insights in daily activities and nutrition of the prehistoric people. The large and small plant remains are not only food refuse but also tools and other objects of daily utility. The extraordinarily well preserved animal remains are from livestock as well from wild animals. Up to date sixteen very well preserved faeces, so called coprolites were recovered. Faeces contain direct information about the nutrition of their producers. However, the shape of the coprolites does not allow an identification of canine or humane origin. Therefore, the undigested organic remains from the coprolites must be thoroughly examined in a multidisciplinary approach, where pollen, other archaeobotanical-, archaeozoological- and paleoparasitological remains will be analysed. A peculiar high frequency of fish head bones besides other animal remains may speak for feeding dogs with fish heads. Nevertheless, faecal chemical biomarker from the coprolites analysed in a laboratory will provide through specific lipid contents information about the nutrition, if food was mainly meat or crop. Specific plant remain contain information on nutrition but also on seasonality. The study of gastro-intestinal parasites bear large potential to identify the host. Together with aDNA and radiometric dating of the coprolites, offers an absolute age and may confirm or falsify canine or human origin. The importance of the late Neolithic material is that such coprolites usually rarely preserve and these coprolites offer the extraordinary potential to study nutritional behaviour on one hand. At the other hand, the multidisciplinary approach will set up scientifically well founded and objective criteria to differ between canine and human faeces.

The Eneolithic lakeside settlement Stare gmajne situates in the Slovenian moorland Ljubljansko barje. The water-saturated sediment provides excellent conditions for the preservation of organic finds, including rare coprolites. The main research objective of this international and interdisciplinary project is to examine the origin of the coprolites - whether they are human or canine products. Each coprolite was subsampled for different micro-analyses, such as DNA, palaeoparasites, pollen and biochemical analyses. The rest was finely wet sieved through a sieve with 0,056 mm mesh size and macro-analysed. The Austrian research expertise mainly examined the ichthyo- and archaeozoological remains, which appeared most numerous, and the chemically analysed. In addition, samples were taken from vessels, moss accumulations and soil and also wet-sieved and macro-analysed. Altogether a total of more than 9000 archaeozoological finds were processed, including bones of fishes, remains of small ducks and other animals that could not be identified precisely. The fish remains provide a good overview of the ichthyofauna in the area of Ljubljansko barje, at a time when it was covered by a shallow lake. Most of the analysed fish remains come from the sediment samples and the lowest densities are found in the coprolites, all reflecting a wide range of species. Rather unexpected, only few finds were of eel, sturgeon and lamprey. Other scarcely remains represent loach, bullhead and of small river catfish. The most common fishes identified are cyprinids, including bleak, common carp, chub and roach. The second largest group is Northern pike, followed by river perch and very few ruffe. With the exception of a few larger northern pike remains, most of the fish remains indicate relatively small fishes. These small fishes were apparently most abundant in the catches of the inhabitants. The variability of the fish species does not differ significantly between the coprolites and the other samples. The two- and four-legged individuals obviously had a similar diet. Three chemically analysed coprolite sample revealed clearly identifiable cholesterol-peaks, which points to a partly meat-based nutrition. On the other hand, the carbohydrates and fatty acid patterns argues for a larger part on plant-based food. The coprolite contents indicated some differences such as intestinal parasites and the degree of decomposition of the food consumed. The external appearance of the coprolites appears very similar. However, results of archaeobotany, DNA and palaeoparasitology suggests at least two types of coprolites. It is most likely that we are dealing with both, human and dog faeces. The dogs were most probably fed with the food waste of humans and both excrements were deposited at an outer area of the settlement Stare gmajne. The fairly frequent discovery of moss inter-weavings during the excavations may confirm this idea, as hydrophilic moss has excellent hygienic properties.