Ashkelon dog cemetery

The Ashkelon dog cemetery is an ancient burial site in today's Ashkelon National Park, Israel, where possibly thousands of dogs were interred between the 5th century BC and the 3rd century BC. The majority of these dogs were puppies; all had similarities to the modern Canaan dog, perhaps representing the ancestral population from which the modern breed is descended. It is the largest known animal cemetery of this kind in the ancient world.

Dogs are thought to be connected to the worship of the goddess Astarte in the Canaanite religion. The Estonian scholar M. Heltzer notes evidence from Sicily, Italy, of a possible cultic link between dogs and Astarte, and the Greek historian Herodotus mentions that the oldest temple in Ashkelon was dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, who was associated with Astarte in the Greek religion.