Tag: Megan Bieraugle

Teaching old dogs new tricks: ageing canids from Junction site, Alberta

Jared

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt summary of a study by Megan Beiraugle et al. For more details, the full study and references can be found here.

Written by: Megan Bieraugle

Despite their tight connection to people over the past several thousand years, understanding the past lives of dogs and wolves is a challenge. Ancient canine companions in Alberta are no different. Despite more than 300 archaeological sites in Alberta having canids (dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes), we know comparatively very little about their relationships with Indigenous people. One of the best ways for understanding the lives of archaeological dogs stems from age-at-death studies; essentially asking, “how old was this critter when it died?”

A wolfdog at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, Alberta. Source: Megan Bieraugle.

Traditional age-at-death studies involve destructive methods, where a sliver of bone or tooth is cut from the fossil and examined. A recent method, developed by Bieraugle et al. (2025), avoids causing this damage by micro-CT (micro-computed tomography) scanning teeth to view the cementum bands instead. Cementum is a non-uniform mineralized connective tissue that grows on tooth roots and essentially anchors the tooth within its socket. What makes cementum interesting is that it kind of grows like tree rings do, with a new ring being added roughly each year.

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Long in the Tooth: Using Crown Height Measurements to Age Dogs and Wolves

Jared

Written by: Megan Bieraugle

People, dogs and wolves have had long and complex relationships, ranging from cooperation to competition. Alberta’s rich archaeological record includes many canids (mammals including dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes), and understanding canid age at death can provide insights into their relationships with Indigenous people and how they vary geographically, temporally, and by species.

For example, assessments of dog age at death could be informative about how past people cared for their working animals as they aged beyond their prime years. In cases where dogs appear to have been kept primarily for use as food resources, ageing data could reveal how such populations were being managed, with individuals perhaps being slaughtered around 1–2 years of life once they reached full adult body size. Relationships with wolves also might be more fully understood with age-at-death information, particularly in North America, where they are often found in mass bison kill assemblages. Ageing data might reveal if whole packs were killed while scavenging human prey or if primarily young and inexperienced individuals met their fates in such settings. Finally, age-at-death information can be important for assessing aspects of canid life histories, including animals’ rates of tooth loss and fracture and their relationship to diet, but also experiences of degenerative joint disease and trauma. Despite their importance, methods for ageing archaeological dog and wolf remains are relatively limited.

Crown height measurements for each of M1, P4, and M1. A (lingual view of M1) shows measurements M1-1, M1-2, and M1-3. B (buccal view of M1) shows measurements M1-4, M1-5, and M1-6. C (buccal view of P4) shows measurement P4-1. D (lingual view of P4) shows measurements P4-2 and P4-3. Source: Megan Bieraugle.
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