Small dogs as pets, objects of affection and special consideration by their owners, are known in the Western Mediterranean since classical Antiquity through texts, epigraphy and iconography. The study of a small-sized canid with a brachycephalic skull discovered in a cemetery, among other specimens, in the southern Hispania yields new interpretations regarding the relationships between dogs and humans at the outset of the Common Era in the western Roman world and sheds light on how to evaluate their symbolic implications in funerary rites. The physical characteristics of these specimens were analysed through morphological, osteometric, palaeopathological and biochemical isotopes methods. The findings represent a step forward in the understanding of the everyday life, mobility and diet of dogs, as well as the cause of their death which, in the case of the small-sized specimen, appears to correspond to a deliberate sacrifice.

中文翻译：

---

谁让狗进来的？罗马公墓Llanos del Pretorio（西班牙科尔多瓦）的狗，犬类牺牲和丧葬活动

自古代古典以来，通过文字，碑文和肖像画，在西地中海就以小型犬为宠物，成为主人的宠爱和特殊照顾的对象。研究在西班牙裔南部的公墓中发现的带有头颅头骨的小型犬科动物在西方罗马世界的共同时代之初就对狗与人之间的关系提出了新的解释，并阐明了如何评估其在葬礼中的象征意义。通过形态学，骨测量，古病理学和生化同位素方法分析了这些标本的物理特性。这些发现代表了对狗的日常生活，活动性和饮食以及其死亡原因的理解上的一个进步，就小型标本而言，这似乎是故意的牺牲。