The dog’s paw prints remain visible on the hardened mudbrick after millennia.
Paw prints left by a dog on an unfired mudbrick approximately 4,000 years ago have been discovered during excavations at Tavşanlı Mound in western Türkiye, offering a glimpse into everyday life during the Bronze Age.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the discovery, saying the prints were found on a mudbrick recovered from the rubble of a building that was destroyed by fire during the Bronze Age.
The brick had once been part of the building’s wall. The dog’s paw prints remained on its surface after it walked across the brick before it had dried, preserving the marks for thousands of years. “The paw prints on it preserved a small moment from everyday life 4,000 years ago,” Ersoy said.
He added that excavations at Tavşanlı Mound, one of the largest Bronze Age cities in western Anatolia, were revealing not only structures and artifacts but also small and unexpected traces of daily life.
Mudbricks were made by mixing soil, water and straw, shaping the mixture in molds and leaving it to dry in the sun. The dog’s footprints became preserved as the brick hardened.
The mudbrick was later used in a house wall before the building was destroyed by fire and collapsed. It remained among the rubble until it was uncovered during archaeological excavations.
Led by Professor Erkan Fidan since 2021, excavations at Tavşanlı Mound have been shedding light on the architecture and material culture of one of western Anatolia’s largest Bronze Age settlements.
