Mémoire n°1 - The Phenomenon of Dog Burials in the Prehistoric Times in the Area of Middle Europe

The work deals with the problem of dog burials, i.e. it refers to finds of remains of individuals belonging to dog species intentionally buried in the ground and not consisting of post-consumption bones. It deals with finds originating from the area between Bug and Elbe, and between Danube and the Baltic Sea (Jutland included) and dated from the period of the Neolithic Age until the decline of antiquity. The basic objective of this work is to present a possibly complete register of the prehistoric burials of these animais, a multiaspect analysis of these finds (among others in order to find differences and similarities among them conditioned by their different chronology, local traditions and extemal influences) as well asto explain the genesis of this phenomenon.