New Evidence for Dog Butchering from Prehistoric Coastal Sites in the Sultanate of Oman

Cynophagy is well documented from the archaeological record in different regions worldwide. Despite a subsistence economy mainly centred on marine resources complemented with land mammals (either wild or domesticated), the coastal prehistoric sites of the Oman Peninsula have a high percentage of dog bones with traces of burning and butchery. In Oman, this practice is first proven in the Capital Area during the late fifth millennium BCE. In the Sharquiyyah region, previous studies confirmed evidence for dog-meat eating during the third millennium BCE at Ra’s al-Hadd HD-1 and HD-6. This practice can be now dated back to the late fourth millennium BCE on the basis of new data generated by recent excavations at Ra’s al- Hadd HD-5 and Ra’s al-Khabba KHB-1. This paper presents in detail these new data and their archaeological context, embedding them in the wider perspective of local subsistence economies. Framing this evidence with contextual archaeological, environmental and ecological data will provide a better understanding of the adaptive strategies developed by prehistoric groups on the shorelines of eastern Arabia. Dog meat eating might have compensated for a temporarily poor diet low in proteins and fat, designing a precise subsistence strategy influenced by climatic and seasonal factors. The earliest evidence for dog meat eating in the Oman Peninsula can thus be considered a particular adaptation of semi-sedentary fishermen in a phase of increasing sedentarism during the fifth and also in the fourth millennium BCE.