Excerpt from René L. Vellanoweth, et al., “A Double Dog Burial from San Nicolas Island, California, USA: Osteology, Context, and Significance.” Journal of Archaeological Science 35, no. 12 (2008): 3111, 3119.
On the California Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California, dogs have been found in a variety of archaeological contexts, including midden deposits, pits, and formal burials often associated with human cemeteries. As early as 1602, European explorers notes the presence of a dog at the foot of a religious altar on Santa Catalina Island (Bolton, 1930: p.85)....
When compared to the Channel Islands as a whole, more dogs have been found on San Nicolas Island than on any of the other islands despite the fact that it is the outermost and most isolated (Rick et al., 2008).
Last updated: November 3, 2017