During the 2002 season of Dust Cave excavations, on July 9, a domestic dog burial was recovered from a unit in the northwestern area of the cave (N64W65). The dog burial was at approximately 260 centimeters below datum (cmbd) in what was probably the Eva/Morrow Mountain component of the site, dating to between 7,000 and 6,000 rcypb.

The dog (Feature 483) was lying in a curled position with the top of the head oriented to the southwest and the hind quarters to the northeast (Figure 1). No clearly defined pit was evident around the bones and the feature fill was a mixture of silty-clay, charcoal, bone fragments (of wild animals) and lithic debris. The skull was slightly elevated above the post-crania and the feet were tightly flexed under the fore- and hind-legs.

Elements were carefully mapped and photographed, then removed for processing in the field laboratory. After removing as much of the cave sediment as possible, it was evident that there were no discernable cut marks or other pre- or peri-mortem damage to the bones. All of the breaks and marks were post-mortem, including burning around the anterior portion of the skull (Figure 2). Several burnt pieces of bone were recovered from the fill around the skull and may be the result of a burning episode in an adjacent unit (i.e. Feature 124 in N63W65). The animal appears to have been a young female (no baculum was recovered) aged between 2 and 4 years. Permanent teeth were erupted, but exhibited little wear.