Some archaeologists were excavating a quarry shaft just outside of London. They found thousands of animal and human bones dating back to Roman times. Among them, they found the remains of over 280 domestic animals.

Pigs, cows, sheep, horses. 70% of those animals were dogs. Among those remains they found one animal bone that stood out among the rest: a dog’s baculum bone that had been partially painted red.

For anyone who hasn’t recently brushed up on their dog anatomy terminology, the baculum is a penis bone.

Ancient Painted Dog Penis Bone Likely Use For Fertility Rituals

This rare object thought to be used during rituals was found at the Nescot dig site in the town of Ewell in 2015. The site dates back to the late first or second century CE. Of the many dog remains they found, none of them showed signs of butchery, burning, or disease. However, the dog penis bone was covered in iron oxide, which is not naturally occurring at that site.

That means someone painted red ocher on the penis bone before dropping it off in the pile of bones. You might better know red ocher as the ancient version of red paint our distant ancestors used to paint figures on cave walls. It’s also a material commonly associated with Roman rituals.

The bone probably symbolized fertility and was used to offer some kind of protection, since the penis was considered a good luck charm and sometimes used to ward off the evil eye. Researchers believe that a lot of the animals found at the site were born in the spring and summer, times that align with agricultural fertility.

Both dogs and horses are animals that were closely associated with fertility rites in Roman Europe.