Roman dog penis bone painted red discovered in ancient quarry
British biologists have discovered a dog penis bone buried in an ancient Roman quarry, and the bone was painted with
LIFE FROM DEATH: MULTI‐SPECIES FERTILITY RITUALS WITHIN A ROMANO‐BRITISH RITUAL SHAFT IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND - Green - 2025 - Oxford Journal of Archaeology - Wiley Online Library
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ojoa.12317
Roman-era dog penis bone painted red discovered in ancient quarry shaft
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-roman-era-dog-penis-bone.html
The penis bone was found in a quarry at the Nescot site in Ewell, Surrey, England. The Nescot site is a pit similar to those occasionally found at other Roman ruins, and like other sites, it was filled with human and animal bones, but the Nescot site was unique in that it contained a larger amount of sediment than the other pits.
The Nescot site is roughly divided into three sedimentary layers, and distinctive artifacts have been discovered in each layer. Since artifacts such as animal and human bones and coins have been found in all layers, the most likely explanation is that this vertical hole was used as a burial site.
In total, the top layer of the deposit contained the bones of 155 domestic mammals, three animals believed to be chickens, and a variety of other animals including stoats, rodents and amphibians, as well as 21 human skeletons with missing limbs that appeared to have been amputated some time after death, and one intact skeleton from an elderly woman.
There were no human bones in the middle layer, only animal bones. Looking specifically at mammals, the bones of pigs, cows, and horses were identified, with the most numerous being dogs, with 45 of them. A distinctive relic found in this layer was a dog's penis bone painted red with red-yellow soil.
In ancient Rome, dogs were associated with fertility and the birth of new life, so the researchers speculate that humans may have painted the penis bones of dogs red and buried them with the dead in some kind of ritual.
In addition, most of the animal bones buried in the top and middle layers showed no evidence of slaughter, and most of them were pet dogs, not sheepdogs or guard dogs, suggesting that the animals buried there were those that had died of natural causes. Horses in particular are associated with fertility and abundance, just like dogs, so they may have had a strong ritual significance.
The bottom layer only contained animal bones, fewer in number than the top two layers, and the only artifacts were pottery fragments. Furthermore, the bones in this layer showed signs of having been processed to obtain bone marrow, which suggests that the pit may have originally been used as a trash can.
Ellen Green of the University of Reading, who conducted the study, said: 'In ancient Rome, penises and depictions of penises were used in many contexts, many of which were for good luck. Other artefacts found in the pit support the idea that it was probably used in fertility-related rituals. The pit was used as a burial site for around 50 years, with new bones probably being added nine times. We can't say for sure why the penis bone was buried there, but this is truly a unique find.'
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