>>A new study shows how canines trained to find human remains could help archaeologists locate new sites

In a recent paper in the Journal of Archeological Method and Theory, Vedrana Glavaš, an archaeologist at the University of Zadar in Croatia, and Andrea Pintar, a cadaver dog handler, describe how dogs trained to find human remains helped them track down gravesites dating to around 700 B.C.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dogs-archaeologists-detect-3000-year-old-graves-croatia-180973409

You’d think any smell of death would have faded to nothing after all that time.

Bubblecar said:

You’d think any smell of death would have faded to nothing after all that time.

+1

Peak Warming Man said:

Bubblecar said:

You’d think any smell of death would have faded to nothing after all that time.

+1

There is an explanation if you have not already read the article.

> Cadaver dogs are champions at finding remains that are just hours and even several decades old. But the team wasn’t sure if sensitive canine noses could detect the scent of death—actually, the more than 400 scents of death; decomposition releases hundreds of complex compounds—after 2,700 years in the ground.

> To test the dogs, Glavaš had them sniff around an area where they she had excavated three grave sites the year before. The human remains had been removed, and due to weathering, it was no longer apparent where the excavations had taken place. Two dogs, working independently, easily located all three spots.

> They then allowed the dogs, Sattve and Mali, to sniff around another site where they suspected there were more graves. The dogs located six of the unique graves, which consist of a small stone burial chest containing small finger and toe bones and a few small artifacts surrounded by a walled stone circle. The paper describes five of those graves. The dogs located others …

Great work :-)

The location shown is very dry and rocky. Which would help.

Animal burials? Might be a different smell, or not, between a cooking fire and a grave.

Could the technique be used in Australia? And if so, where?