In Memoriam: Man's Best Friend

In ancient times, bereaved, erstwhile pet owners likely didn't sport wearable keepsake pet urns. Still, folks have been honoring their deceased canine cohorts for thousands of years, USA Today reports. "The deliberate burial of dogs is confined to the past 12,000 to 14,000 years," said anthropologist Darcy Morey. "By that time, many people had begun treating dogs in death much like they treated people in death." After surveying thousands of sites worldwide, Morey concluded dog burials "are documented from every major land mass in the world except Antarctica." What's more, often dogs were interred with their owners, and burials were highly ritualized. Said Morey about a 2,000-year-old Israeli sepulture, "Each corpse was carefully placed in its own grave, with the dogs buried on their sides and their tails arranged to curl at the feet."