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1,500-year-old burial of lynx with 4 dogs stacked on it puzzles archaeologists

www.livescience.com 1,500-year-old burial of lynx with 4 dogs stacked on it puzzles archaeologists

Archaeologists aren't sure why a lynx and four dogs were buried together in Hungary around 1,500 years ago.

1,500-year-old burial of lynx with 4 dogs stacked on it puzzles archaeologists

The discovery of a lynx buried with four dogs at an early-medieval settlement in Hungary is confounding archaeologists, as these wild cats are rarely found in archaeological digs.

The fifth-to-sixth-century pit, which was about 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) deep, contained a complete lynx skeleton at the bottom and the skeletons of four dogs — the size of present-day pointers or German shepherds — layered on top of it. Possible interpretations of the unique find, such as a hunting accident and a lynx cult, are detailed in a new study published March 21 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

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