Excerpt from "Archaeology Dogs Can Help Scholars Sniff Out the Past"
A dog's nose performs at least 10,000 times better than ours. Specifically, dogs pick up on low-molecular-weight compounds that easily evaporate at room temperature and often carry an odor—what scientists call volatile organic compounds. Canines can detect one such part in every trillion.
As a result, dogs have demonstrated uncanny olfactory abilities. They have sniffed out melanoma skin cancer in humans and detected pregnancy in cows just by picking up scents in their bodily fluids.
So, what exactly are canines detecting at archaeological digs? "Our dogs are not actually searching for bones," Glavaš emphasizes. "They are searching for the molecules of human decomposition."
As a result, dogs have demonstrated uncanny olfactory abilities. They have sniffed out melanoma skin cancer in humans and detected pregnancy in cows just by picking up scents in their bodily fluids.
So, what exactly are canines detecting at archaeological digs? "Our dogs are not actually searching for bones," Glavaš emphasizes. "They are searching for the molecules of human decomposition."
