Floor tile with dog paw imprint

• fired clay
• Burg Stargard
• 13^th century
• edge length: 20 cm

The imprint of a paw from a running dog may have been created accidentally on the floor tile from Burg Stargard when it was left to dry before firing.

There are many legends based around the imprints of animals‘ and children’s feet on wall, roof and floor tiles. They all share the notion that, according to popular beliefs, something “living” must be incorporated into the wall so that the building will be secure. The imprints later symbolised the earlier actual animal sacrifices made when creating early medieval buildings. In more recent times many imprints were imitated using other objects or fingers.