Gerald F. Schroedl and Paul W. Parmalee 



the Southeast, dogs may have been used more frequently as a food 

 source (Mooney 1900:26) or consumed in ritual contexts (Swanton 

 1911:129). In general, however, wide-spread use of dogs for food or 

 ritual was uncommon in the Southeast. 



Cherokee use of dogs is poorly documented, but the animals were 

 obviously kept as pets, sometimes eaten, and perhaps used in hunting 

 as recorded for other southeastern groups (Swanton 1946:345). Southeast 

 Indians once may have raised distinctive breeds of dogs, but soon 

 after historic contact most dogs were probably hybrids of European 

 and aboriginal animals (Parmalee and Bogan 1978:100-101). Most dogs 

 probably scavenged for food in village areas and received infrequent 

 handouts. The animals were tolerated but generally not provided great 

 care except for the occasional individual that was treated with some 

 respect or reverence such as the ones archaeologically represented by 

 intentional burial. 



Despite their marginal role in Cherokee economic life, dogs also 

 are represented in myths and supernatural beliefs. The howling of a 

 family dog, for example, was an omen of sickness and death in the 

 family (Mooney and Olbrechts 1932:37). Dogs also played a prominent 

 role in myths about the great deluge and the creation of the Milky 

 Way (Mooney 1900:259, 261). Another story describes how dogs were 

 once wild, and how they replaced wolves who were once domesticated. 

 In Cherokee sacred formulas, dogs sometime occur as a metaphor for 

 spiritual healing. For example, spiritual deer chief, the cause of rheumatism, 

 is overcome by the spirit of the dog who is more powerful and the 

 natural enemy of the deer (Mooney 1886:346-347). 



THE CHATTOOGA DOG REMAINS 



In 1984, test excavations were made in the area of a domestic 

 structure and the deteriorated skulls of two animals (Dog Burial 1 

 and Dog Burial 2) were recovered from a pit-feature (Feature 3) associated 

 with the building. The pit measured 50 by 70 cm and 11 cm deep 

 (Elliot 1984:30). The position of the skulls on the pit floor and the 

 size of the pit suggest that the animals had been placed there together. 

 Decomposition of the postcranial skeletons of both animals was so 

 complete that none of these bones was observed or recovered for study. 

 In 1994, excavations at Chattooga in the vicinity of the village 

 council house or townhouse, approximately 500 m from the area studied 

 in 1984, revealed a second pit-feature containing the remains of a 

 single animal (Dog Burial 3) (Fig. 1). This pit, Feature 11, measured 

 86 cm long, 70 cm wide, and 42 cm deep. It may have been originally 

 dug for another purpose because it was much deeper than needed to 



