Morphological and Metric Analysis of Medieval Dog Remains from Wolin, Poland

Abstract

This study presents a detailed osteometric analysis of 209 domestic dog remains from early medieval Wolin (Poland), revealing significant variation in body size and morphology. Measurements of skulls and long bones indicate the presence of at least two or three distinct phenotypes, with estimated shoulder heights ranging from 40 to over 60 cm and body masses between 4 and 40 kg. The observed diversity is interpreted in the context of functional roles, trade-related gene flow, and environmental adaptation in a dynamic urban port settlement. The results contribute new data to the study of canine morphology and domestication in the early medieval Baltic region. Keywords: archeozoology, body mass estimation, dog, medieval, osteometry, Poland, withers height estimation