Archaeologists in Sweden have discovered the skeleton of a dog next to a long bone dagger in a bog. An excavation of the Logsjmossen in Gerstaberg in advance of construction of a new high-speed rail line unearthed the remains of the Stone Age dog buried with the 10-inch long dagger 5,000 years ago. Finding complete skeletons of dogs from this period is rare enough, but the discovery of a dagger accompanying the canine is unique.The layer where the bones were found was removed from the bog in three large sections for later excavation in laboratory conditions. Archaeologists concluded from the dog was male and between three and six years old when he died. He was well-muscled from having lived an active life, and about 20 inches high at the withers. The bones were articulated in their anatomically correct positions, but his skull was found in fragments further away from his body. It appears his skull was crushed before he was deposited in the lake.His body was likely placed in an organic container perhaps a leather bag with stones to weight it down and was lowered into what was then a lake. It was about five feet deep and 100-130 feet from the shore.The dagger was found adjacent to the dogs paws. It is finely ground to a sharp edge with a hole cut out at one end. It was carved from an elk or red deer metatarsal bone. Daggers like this were imbued with ritual significance in the Neolithic era, and examples have been found in watery environments at several prehistoric sites in southern and central Sweden. Dogs are also known to have been used in ritual offerings from this period.The excavation of the bog has uncovered extensive wooden remains radiocarbon dated to 3,3002,900 B.C. and 2,9002,600 B.C. They include piles driven into the lakebed believed to have been the foundations of piers, a structure of willows intertwined and tied together and the remains of fish trap.The dog was probably killed and buried with the bone dagger in a ritual act performed by the same people built these structures and used the lake for fishing. The remains will now be subjected to carbon dating and DNA analysis which will hopefully confirm the timeline that connects the dog to the Neolithic people of the lake.