Mysterious red-painted dog penis bones found in ancient Roman grave

Finding bones in ancient Roman quarries isn’t unusual – finding a hand-painted dog penis bone, however, is.

Bioarchaeologist Ellen Green from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom discovered a painted dog bone, or penis bone, that dates back more than 2,000 years. Scientists found the painted bone in a Roman shaft from the first century BC in Surrey, England. Archaeologists discovered the bone among other skeletal remains, and it could have been used in fertility or good luck rituals, as first reported by Live Science. Green describes the red-stained artifact in a to study published on December 25 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.

Archaeologists discovered the 13.1-foot (4-meter-deep) ancient Roman grave (an ancient pit, not the penis) in 2015 at a site called Nescot near the town of Ewell, and discovered hundreds of skeletal remains humans and animals. The researchers specifically discovered the remains of more than 280 domestic animals, including dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Most were without evidence of slaughter, disease or burning. Of those animals, almost 200 of them were dogs, but only one of their penises was painted.

Green used X-ray fluorescence (a non-destructive technique that determines the elemental composition of an object) to determine that the red paint was iron oxide, a chemical compound that ranges in color from light yellow to dark red . He then narrowed the explanation behind the artifact’s pigmentation to two scenarios: “either the ocher was applied directly to the bone, dyeing it red, or the rod was kept in a cloth dyed with ocher which then decomposes, staining the bone.” bioarchaeologist wrote in the study. Ocher is a natural pigment composed mainly of iron oxide.

That said, no other bones appear to have been painted, archaeologists found no metal artifacts in the shaft that could have stained the bone with rust, and natural red ocher was absent from the Nescot site. As a result, Green concluded that someone had intentionally painted the penis bone with red ocher before throwing it into the tree, making it a truly special find.

“I could find no other similar instances of Roman use of red ocher on bone, nor examples from the British Iron Age,” Green said. Live Science. “It’s a very unique artifact from a very unique site, but ultimately it’s a bit of a mystery.”

While Green describes how the bone was probably painted, many questions still remain for what. In the study, she suggests that the artifact may have been used as a ritual item, citing “an already strong association between dogs and fertility in Roman Britain.” In the greater Roman world, the penis also represented good luck and protection against the evil eye, although “this is the only example I could find of a real penis that could be used as a ritual object “, he added, second. Live Science.

This statement, however, is missing many examples of penile bones be used in rituals across cultures. The Saami of northern Scandinavia, for example, attached bear horns to sacred drums, while indigenous groups in Alaska polished polar bear penis bones for knife handles. These practices point to a broader tradition of genitalia symbolizing power, fertility, protection, and possibly even luck.

The entire grove, which was used as a burial site nine separate times over the course of about half a century after it was disused as a quarry, probably also served a wider ritual purpose. This is indicated by the presence of many young animals, as well as many animals born in spring and summer, which tentatively indicates a connection with agricultural fertility, according to the study.

While Green said The independent that “the idea of ​​ritual trees being associated with fertility is not new,” certainly takes ancient phallic symbolism to a whole new level. Maybe it’s time for us to replace the rabbit’s foot keychain.