A Carolina Dog Effigy Bottle
Mitochondrial DNA research has answered many questions about various species inhabiting our planet but it also has promoted many controversies among molecular geneticists concerning this research. Among these discussions is the age and characteristics of the prehistoric American dog. The pre-Columbian American Indians certainly had dogs as companions but just where did these canines come from? And are they of the breed known today as the Carolina Dog?
It is actually unknown just when and where the dog as we know it today (Canis familiaris) was domesticated. It believed by some researchers that the canid reached a tame state tens of thousands of years ago in Asia or Europe from the Old World Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) but there are too many obvious differences between modern dogs and the wolf for this to probably be true. They are distinct species with independent histories. The ancient pariah or feral dogs of southeastern Asia are most reminiscent of modern dogs both in form and genetics. Whether this human comrade actually developed from prehistoric feral dogs or from wolves is not known nor is it known if humans had any direct intervention in this process or if was a natural evolution. It is definitely believed that these domesticated dogs, regardless of their ancestry, came across the Bering Strait as companions to the Pleistocene era people. When studying fossils and DNA of prehistoric dogs from this continent, scientists have determined that there are few similarities between the natural American wild canines and these ancient Euro-Asian dogs which means that the prehistoric Indian pets were probably not related to the North American wolves, coyotes or foxes. But why would primitive peoples travel hundreds of miles across a frozen Artic wasteland with dogs? This would have been a treacherous journey for the humans without having to account for the care and feeding of animals. Were these dogs used as food? Or where they used for hunting? Or, as in today, were they simply beloved life partners?
When the European explorers began arriving in this continent about 500 years ago, they most certainly did have their own dogs as companions. But DNA study has also not proven that there are any connections between the prehistoric American Indian dogs and the European canines brought to this hemisphere during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Did the early Europeans forbid the breeding of their domesticates with the native animals as is thought by many scholars today? And if that is indeed the case, what happened to the ancient American dogs? Along the coastal plains in modern South Carolina and Georgia there were found, in the 1970’s, groups of wild dogs living in cypress swamps and large stands of longleaf pines. These canines, that were subsequently named Carolina dogs, appear both physically and scientifically to be of ancient pack type animal origin and are similar to the Australian dingo and the contemporary pariah dogs of India. Their behavioral patterns mimic animals that live in packs – organized and cooperative hunting; pack hierarchy with an alpha male dominating and rearing communally of pups. They are a rugged breed with burly bodies, strong legs and curled over tails. When studying body and skull bones of prehistoric American canines, scientists have noted likenesses to the skeletal structures to the modern Carolina dogs. And some ancient American Indian paintings and rock art depict dogs having a strong resemblance to these modern canines. But are the Carolina dogs the same animals that traveled across the ice age land bridge from Asia to America 12,000 or more years ago? As of now there is no firm agreement among scientists about this but the opinion of many seems to be that there is a direct link from these contemporary Carolina dogs to the prehistoric Indian canine companions.
As the prehistoric Americans progressed through the ancient millennia, their cultural habits also progressed from simply nomadic hunters and gatherers to semi-permanent villagers onto settled people who raised their own crops for consumption and thrived in towns near water bordering alluvial plains. As these people advanced into the time epoch called the Mississippian Period, they made many thousands of ceramic vessels. And they would have certainly had their canine pets in these village environments. We know that these circa AD 1000-1700 Indians had dogs as companions because they made ceramic stylizations of these revered animals. Such is the case of this dog effigy vessel.
The Mississippian Indians apparently, though, made relatively few effigies of the dog and since early European explorers made note that the native villages had many more canines than human inhabitants that is an oddity. There is some speculation that the society leaders and warriors cooked and ate dogs during special occasions and had ceramic effigies made to extol the consumed animals. Of the small number of this type vessel that has been found, most are in the bottle form (except for the Quapaw teapot dog effigies). Many feature short legs, a muscular body, a keen nosed head, erect ears and a curled over tail – all similarities of the Carolina dog. The bottle effigy dog pictured with this article was found on the Smith Site in Mississippi County, Arkansas and will probably date to the AD 1400-1700 time period. It is 5 ¾ inches tall and 5 ½ inches long head to tail and is made of shell tempered Bell Plain greyware ceramics. It is essentially a realistic tetrapodal canine effigy with four large legs, a stout and squarish body and a curled over tail. The head is modeled with two erect ears, two large eyes and an open and snarling mouth. These are all attributes of the modern Carolina dog. The head of this ceramic replica, though, does not have the pointed type face of the Carolina dog but this is probably due to the fact that there is minor ancient damage to the snout thus reducing it to a pug-like appearance. Do not let the name Carolina dog and the fact that this bottle was made in ancient Arkansas fool you. The moniker we use today for this canine species is simply a name given to the dogs because the original ones were encountered in the state of South Carolina. They could well be named Arkansas dogs or Mississippi River dogs or simply Prehistoric Indian dogs. Remember the old saying “a rose would still be a rose by any other name”. But since that name is currently being used for these canids, that name will be used here in the story about this unusual Carolina dog effigy bottle.
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