If you’re not already familiar with Atlas Obscura, you’re in for a treat if you like unusual and obscure information. Though the website explains that the user-generated content centers around travel destinations, we have found that Atlas Obscura “factoids” are interesting to “homebodies,” too.
It was in the course of reading about the most lavish Mesopotamian tomb ever discovered (it belonged to a woman, by the way) that we wondered, “Hmmmm. What dog breeds originated in Mesopotamia?” The question is made somewhat easier by knowing that Mesopotamia occupies today’s modern Iraq, but in looking for some answers, we found some “share-able” theories.
A student of Ancient Semitic languages and Orientalist, Wolfram von Sodden, believed that four breeds could be positively identified as having originated in ancient Mesopotamia: The Greyhound, Great Dane, Mastiff (or molossus) and Saluki.
Some experts believe the Kuvasz also had origins in Mesopotamia. The modern day Kuvasz was developed in Hungary, of course, but clay boards found in Mesopotamia from 1300 BC show the name “ku-assa,” (meaning “dog-horse” ) and many people regard this as evidence of the breed’s ancient roots in Mesopotamia.
Caucasian Ovcharka Club USA states that recent archaeological findings point to the Ovcharka’s origins as lying in Mesopotamia, and native breed.org theorize that Anatolian Shepherd Dogs probably descended from powerful hunting dogs from (wait for it) Mesopotamia. Several sources also make the case that the Basenji, too, can be traced to Mesopotamia through artwork.
We circle back to the mastiff, however, and conclude with the remains of a terracotta dog figure dating to the second millennium B.C.
Currently located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the clay figure is clearly a mastino-type dog. If, indeed, the mastiff has its earliest origins in Mesopotamia, then so, too, do mastiff breeds of today by virtue of their lineage. Consider the circuitous routes taken by Neapolitan Mastiff, Tibetan Mastiff, Pyrenean Mastiff, Kurdish Mastiff, and Spanish Mastiff to end up in the lands we now consider to be their origins. And one can’t forget the Boerboel, Cane Corso, Bullmastiff, Dogo Argentino, and other breed with mastiff in their DNA. Maybe it’s a subject for Atlas Obscura.
Could you be feeding a Mesopotamian dog dinner tonight?
Really interesting, thank you very much.
Thank YOU!, Dana!