North Americans had Domesticated Dogs for dinner, Oldest remains show

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/87f177b67338.jpg[/atsimg]

Nearly 10,000 years ago, man's best friend provided protection and companionship -- and an occasional meal. That's what researchers are saying after finding a bone fragment from what they are calling the earliest confirmed domesticated dog in the Americas.

University of Maine graduate student Samuel Belknap III came across the fragment while analyzing a dried-out sample of human waste unearthed in southwest Texas in the 1970s. A carbon-dating test put the age of the bone at 9,400 years, and a DNA analysis confirmed it came from a dog -- not a wolf, coyote or fox, Belknap said.

Because it was found deep inside a pile of human excrement and was the characteristic orange-brown color that bone turns when it has passed through the digestive tract, the fragment provides the earliest direct evidence that dogs -- besides being used for company, security and hunting -- were eaten by humans and may even have been bred as a food source, he said.

Belknap wasn't researching dogs when he found the bone. Rather, he was looking into the diet and nutrition of the people who lived in the Lower Pecos region of Texas between 1,000 and 10,000 years ago. "It just so happens this person who lived 9,400 years ago was eating dog," Belknap said.

Source: www.foxnews.com...

Well, I always assumed and/or suspected they did or would have. Savages..... lol

I don't know. Who is to say this dog remains are that of a Fido? Maybe then, the animal wasn't so dometicated.

I hope an ATS member is up on the dog domestication area and can update us.

Sad for the Dogs...

The problem is We still do it today. Well.... in China etc. Go to Google and type in Dog Meat-then click images. Tough.... I mean TOUGH (NOT for the weak).

I couldn't do it. Not under normal circumstances. You?

It doesn't shock me that they did eat dog. Or maybe this was just one person or group that did that, we can't assume they all did because of this one discovery.

Dogs are now so integrated into our society, and although i could and would never do it myself being a dog owner, i can understand other cultures or older cultures eating them. They are just meat after all. I find it strange that in the Western world we readily eat some animals and are repulsed by the thought of eating others. Why is eating one mammal ok and another not? It's strange.

I even watched a documentary where a US bear hunter ate bears. I never thought this happened and was pretty shocked that people in the US actually eat bears. But you eat what you shoot i guess.

Originally posted by Nammu
It doesn't shock me that they did eat dog. Or maybe this was just one person or group that did that, we can't assume they all did because of this one discovery.

Dogs are now so integrated into our society, and although i could and would never do it myself being a dog owner, i can understand other cultures or older cultures eating them. They are just meat after all. I find it strange that in the Western world we readily eat some animals and are repulsed by the thought of eating others. Why is eating one mammal ok and another not? It's strange.

I even watched a documentary where a US bear hunter ate bears. I never thought this happened and was pretty shocked that people in the US actually eat bears. But you eat what you shoot i guess.

The US is very big and cultures varied videly in ancient times as well as modern I was just reading the article eslewhere and was going to post it.. darned fast ATSers! This was discovered in SE Texas... straight up from Texas to Montana and a little over the Canadian border where my people are from we revered the dog. Before horses were brought here we used to dog as a pack animal, babysitter, alarm system, and etc. Never for food that I was ever told. WHen horses were brought over my people's word for it means roughly translated "dog dog".
Like I said, the US is huge.. one culture many times has nothing to do with another even in ancient times. Heck, even now cultures in diferent parts of the country are very different. Ive been bear hunting with my father when a kid and we ate bear when we killed it. In my adult life I dont hunt bear.. but it really isnt any different to many than eating deer or other large game. Bear is tasty, just real greasy!
Politically speaking the US is a horror.. but culturally speaking its incredible. Even among first nations.. Im native american... our individual tribal cultures vary very widely. The SW Natives even today are very different culturally and in their diet than those like mine up north or the Southern tribes and etc. Add into that the immigrants and we have one hell of a cultural mish-mash here. IMO its amazing we get along at all.. but we do If a person visits the country and only stays in one city or region they really have NO idea what the US is all about. thats how culturally diverse we are. Now if we can just keep that and not allow the govt to make us all robots with no cultural pride.. we will be doing good!

Originally posted by anon72
I couldn't do it. Not under normal circumstances. You?

Only if I had too.
I'm a realist when it comes to this topic. [survival] If it came down to my loved ones/family survival or Fido/Fifi [dog or cat] then sorry Fido.

They probably ate what was available for many reasons.

My oldest sister couldn't watch as my Brother in law butchered the Turkey they raised yet on Thanksgiving a day later she poured on the gravy.



Edit to Add: Everything tastes better with Gravy.....

Originally posted by SLAYER69

Originally posted by anon72
I couldn't do it. Not under normal circumstances. You?

Only if I had too.
I'm a realist when it comes to this topic. [survival] If it came down to my loved ones/family survival or Fido/Fifi [dog or cat] then sorry Fido.

They probably ate what was available for many given reasons.

My oldest sister couldn't watch as my Brother in law butchered the Turkey they raised yet on Thanksgiving a day later she poured on the gravy.

edit on 19-1-2011 by SLAYER69 because: (no reason given)

Ditto.. if it meant survival.. doggie is going to be smothered in gravy real quick.

It was very common when I was a kid to have one of the farm animals as your "pet". Us kids named them and had our own special friend.. and ate our friend when the time came. Kids back when who actually met dinner, petted it and ate it later have a deeper respect for life and where the food comes from so as not to waste than kids like mine. WHen the middle kid was 6 or 7 and asked me if pork chops were meat I was kinda stunned and realized Id been a pretty lazy momma for not being more specific about our food origins. Id just never considered that a kid not raised around it woudl have no concept that the meat in the package came from something that once was living!

reply to post by Advantage


In this day and age that doesn't surprise me.

If The Proverbial S*** ever Hit The Fat the only ones these days with the skills for survival I fear will be those who were raised on farms or hunters or those who have gone through military training with basic survival skills. The rest I'm sorry to say would end up as road kill IMHO

My mother was born on the reserve in northern Canada where in lean winters, they would eat wolf. My grandfather kept sled dogs and it was known for some trappers to eat their dogs for the same reasons, which he done at times. The weather and an empty stomach plays a role in how we treat our hairy friends.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by Advantage

 

In this day and age that doesn't surprise me.

If The Proverbial S*** ever Hit The Fat the only ones these days with the skills for survival I fear will be those who were raised on farms or hunters or those who have gone through military training with basic survival skills. The rest I'm sorry to say would end up as road kill IMHO

Or wind up in my special mystery meat, vegetable and barley soup.

We only find eating dogs distasteful because we keep them as pets.

We don't mind slaughtering and eating millions and millions of cows, pigs, sheep and chickens etc year in year out. If you want to find real savagery, take a look at modern mass-farming methods.

reply to post by VelvetSplash


Now, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Great point(s).

Star

A number of cultures (including the Hawaiians) raised dogs as food animals (the "poi dog", now extinct.) They are omnivores (poi dog ate veggies), grow quickly, require little space, and so forth. Dogs were also bred for their fur ("wool dogs" of the American northwest coast and southwest.)

As was said, it's repugnant because we keep them as pets, but they were often a food source for humans.

My family is not originally from this country and my uncle told me they used to keep turkeys as pets and age dogs. It is strange but these are cultural differences.

reply to post by anon72



The Central American Indians ate their hairless dogs.

www.mexonline.com...
For thousands of years in Mexico, a most remarkable dog has held center stage. This special dog, whose breed goes by the name of Xoloitzcuintli, or Xolo for short, is best known for the fact it is hairless. As a result, this particular breed is very popular with asthmatics as well as people who are extraordinarily neat and don't like to clean up after dog hair.


Highly collectible, these ancient artifacts illustrate the extraordinary importance that this dog held in ancient society. Additionally, as horrifying as it sounds, the Aztecs, along with other Mesoamerican societies would eat this breed of dog. It was believed that the flesh of the Xolo, much like the dog itself, had medicinal properties.

Originally posted by VelvetSplash
We only find eating dogs distasteful because we keep them as pets.

We don't mind slaughtering and eating millions and millions of cows, pigs, sheep and chickens etc year in year out. If you want to find real savagery, take a look at modern mass-farming methods.

In all fairness chickens and other poultry don't really count, as they are technically descendants of the dinosaurs... So there is a karma like balance in eating them..