This seems highly suspect. The paper says there's no evidence of burial and the evidence (mussel shells) that humans were involved with the site at all is thin. That they came from a "feeding ritual" seems to be based on nothing more than speculation.
Seems a lot more plausible that it washed up on a river bank during a flood. Or it died next to a river which subsequently changed course.
Seems a lot more plausible that it washed up on a river bank during a flood. Or it died next to a river which subsequently changed course.
Hundreds of years? Damn, that's probably well more than most cultures would afford even beloved pets.