The Faithful Dog
Transition Period between Palæolithic and Neolithic
Ages--Theory of the Neolithic Edge--Crô-Magnon Civilization was
broken up by Users of Bow and Arrow--Domesticated Dog of Fair
Northerners--Dogs as Guides and Protectors of Man--The Dog in
Early Religion--Dog Guides of Souls--The Dog of Hades--Dogs and
Death--The Scape-dog in Scotland--Souls in Dog Form--Traces of
Early Domesticated Dogs--Romans imported British Dogs.
The period we have now reached is regarded by some as that of
transition between the Palæolithic and Neolithic Ages, and by
others as the Early Neolithic period. It is necessary, therefore,
that we should keep in mind that these terms have been to a great
extent divested of the significance originally attached to them.
The transition period was a lengthy one, extending over many
centuries during which great changes occurred. It was much longer
than the so-called "Neolithic Age". New races appeared in Europe and
introduced new habits of life and thought, new animals appeared and
animals formerly hunted by man retreated northward or became extinct;
the land sank and rose; a great part of the North Sea and the English
Channel was for a time dry land, and trees grew on the plateau now
marked by the Dogger Bank during this "Transition Period", and
before it had ended the Strait of Dover had widened and England was
completely cut off from the Continent.
Compared with these great changes the invention of the polished
axe edge seems almost trivial. Yet some writers have regarded
this change as being all-important. "On the edge ever since its
discovery", writes one of them with enthusiasm, "has depended and
probably will depend to the end of time the whole artistic and
artificial environment of human existence, in all its infinite varied
complexity.... By this discovery was broken down a wall that for
untold ages had dammed up a stagnant, unprogressive past, and through
the breach were let loose all the potentialities of the future
civilization of mankind. It was entirely due to the discovery of the
edge that man was enabled, in the course of time, to invent the art
of shipbuilding."[42]
[42] Eirikr Magnusson in _Notes on Shipbuilding and Nautical
Terms_, London, 1906.
This is a very sweeping claim and hardly justified by the evidence
that of late years has come to light. Much progress had been
achieved before the easy method of polishing supplanted that of
secondary working. The so-called Palæolithic implements were not
devoid of edges. What really happened was that flint-working was
greatly simplified. The discovery was an important one, but it
was not due to it alone that great changes in habits of life were
introduced. Long before the introduction of the Neolithic industry,
the earliest traces of which in Western Europe have been obtained
at Campigny near the village of Blangy on the River Bresle, the
Magdalenian civilization of the Crô-Magnons had been broken up by the
Azilian-Tardenoisian intruders in Central and Western Europe and by
the Maglemosians in the Baltic area.
The invading hordes in Spain, so far as can be gathered from rock
pictures, made more use of bows and arrows than of spears, and it
may be that their social organization was superior to that of the
Magdalenians. Their animal "drives" suggest as much. It may be
that they were better equipped for organized warfare--if there was
warfare--and for hunting by organizing drives than the taller and
stronger Crô-Magnons. When they reached the Magdalenian stations they
adopted the barbed harpoon, imitating reindeer-horn forms in red-deer
horn.
The blond Maglemosians in the Baltic area introduced from Asia the
domesticated dog. They were thus able to obtain their food supply
with greater ease than did the Solutreans with their laurel-leaf
lances, or the Magdalenians with their spears tipped with bone or
horn. When man was joined by his faithful ally he met with more
success than when he pursued the chase unaided. Withal, he could
take greater risks when threatened by the angry bulls of a herd, and
operate over more extended tracks of country with less fear of attack
by beasts of prey. His dogs warned him of approaching peril and
guarded his camp by night.
Hunters who dwelt in caves may have done so partly for protection
against lions and bears and wolves that were attracted to hunters'
camps by the scent of flesh and blood. No doubt barriers had to be
erected to shield men, women, and children in the darkness; and it
may be that there were fires and sentinels at cave entrances.
The introduction of the domesticated dog may have influenced the
development of religious beliefs. Crô-Magnon hunters appear to have
performed ceremonies in the depths of caverns where they painted and
carved wild animals, with purpose to obtain power over them. Their
masked dances, in which men and women represented wild animals,
chiefly beasts of prey, may have had a similar significance. The
fact that, during the Transition Period, a cult art passed out of
existence, and the caves were no longer centres of culture and
political power, may have been directly or indirectly due to the
domestication of the dog and the supremacy achieved by the intruders
who possessed it.
There can be no doubt that the dog played its part in the development
of civilization. As much is suggested by the lore attaching to this
animal. It occupies a prominent place in mythology. The dog which
guided and protected the hunter in his wanderings was supposed to
guide his soul to the other world.
He thought admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog would bear him company.
In Ancient Egypt the dog-headed god Anubis was the guide and
protector of souls. Apuatua, an early form of Osiris, was a dog god.
Yama, the Hindu god of death, as Dharma, god of justice, assumed his
dog form to guide the Panadava brothers to Paradise, as is related
in the Sanskrit epic the _Mahá-bhárata_[43]. The god Indra, the
Hindu Jupiter, was the "big dog", and the custom still prevails
among primitive Indian peoples of torturing a dog by pouring hot oil
into its ears so that the "big dog" may hear and send rain. In the
_Mahá-bhárata_ there is a story about Indra appearing as a hunter
followed by a pack of dogs. As the "Wild Huntsman" the Scandinavian
god Odin rides through the air followed by dogs. The dog is in Greek
mythology the sentinel of Hades; it figures in a like capacity in
the Hades of Northern Mythology. Cuchullin, the Gaelic hero, kills
the dog of Hades and takes its place until another dog is found and
trained, and that is why he is called "Cu" (the dog) of Culann. A
pool in Kildonan, Sutherland, which was reputed to contain a pot
of gold, was supposed to be guarded by a big black dog with two
heads. A similar legend attaches to Hound's Pool in the parish of
Dean Combe, Devonshire. In different parts of the world the dog is
the creator and ancestor of the human race, the symbol of kinship,
&c. The star Sirius was associated with the dog. In Scotland and
Ireland "dog stones" were venerated. A common surviving belief is
that dogs howl by night when a sudden death is about to occur. This
association of the dog with death is echoed by Theocritus. "Hark!"
cries Simaetha, "the dogs are barking through the town. Hecate is
at the crossways. Haste, clash the brazen cymbals." The dog-god of
Scotland is remembered as _an cù sìth_ ("the supernatural dog");
it is as big as a calf, and by night passes rapidly over land and
sea. A black demon-dog--the "Moddey Dhoo"--referred to by Scott in
_Peveril of the Peak_ was supposed to haunt Peel Castle in the Isle
of Man. A former New Year's day custom in Perthshire was to send away
from a house door a scape-dog with the words, "Get away you dog!
Whatever death of men or loss of cattle would happen in this house
till the end of the present year, may it all light on your head." A
similar custom obtained among Western Himalayan peoples. Early man
appears to have regarded his faithful companion as a supernatural
being. There are Gaelic references to souls appearing in dog form to
assist families in time of need. Not only did the dog attack beasts
of prey; in Gaelic folk-tales it is the enemy of fairies and demons,
and especially cave-haunting demons. Early man's gratitude to and
dependence on the dog seems to be reflected in stories of this kind.
[43] Pronounced ma-haw'-baw'-rata (the two final _a_'s are short).
When the Baltic peoples, who are believed to be the first "wave" of
blond Northerners, moved westward towards Denmark during the period
of the "great thaw", they must have been greatly assisted by the
domesticated dog, traces of which are found in Maglemosian stations.
Bones of dogs have been found in the Danish kitchen middens and
in the MacArthur cave at Oban. It may be that the famous breed of
British hunting dogs which were in Roman times exported to Italy were
descended from those introduced by the Maglemosian hunters. Seven
Irish dogs were in the fourth century presented to Symmachus, a Roman
consul, by his brother. "All Rome", the grateful recipient wrote,
"view them with wonder and thought they must have been brought hither
in iron cages."
Great dogs were kept in Ancient Britain and Ireland for protection
against wolves as well as for hunting wild animals. The ancient Irish
made free use in battle of large fierce hounds. In the folk-stories
of Scotland dogs help human beings to attack and overcome
supernatural beings. Dogs were the enemies of the fairies, mermaids,
&c.
Dog gods figure on the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland. The
names of the Irish heroes Cuchullin and Con-chobar were derived from
those of dog deities. "Con" is the genitive of "Cu" (dog).