Dogs buried with owner in ancient Peruvian culture
A museum worker moves the mummy of a dog, dating from between 1100 and 1300, from the Chiribaya culture at El Algarrobal museum, near the port of Ilo in southern Peru. The cat, Ali, is kept by the museum to catch mice.
An ancient Peruvian culture loved its dogs so much it buried them alongside humans and even tossed in some tasty treats for the afterlife. Now, researchers are working to get these very same dogs official breed status.
The dogs, billed Chiribaya shepherds for their llama-herding abilities, were prized by the Chiribaya people who lived in southern Peru before the Incan empire.
Archeologists digging to discover more about the culture have found 43 dog remains dating back 1,000 years. Their bodies were naturally mummified by the region’s desert sands — making their identification as a possible distinct breed much easier.
“In other cultures, dogs were sacrificed. But here the dog’s burial contemplated an afterlife because in some cases it was wrapped in cloths and buried along with food in a cemetery for humans,” said anthropologist Sonia Guillen, adding that such treatment of pets was only seen before in ancient Egypt.
Researchers at the Mallqui Center of biological archeology, who have led the excavations, teamed up with the country’s Kennel Club to study these ancient dogs’ traits, noting their type of paw or the color of their fur.
Ultimately, their goal is to convince the Belgium-based World Canine Organization that the dogs buried in Peru’s Ilo valley represent a new and distinct breed, indigenous to South America.
Researchers say some dogs living today in the Ilo valley share the traits of their ancient predecessors.
“The Chiribaya shepherd has a medium-sized snout, hare-like paws, long hair. It is generally beige-colored with a bristling tail, and its ears neither stand up nor lay flat. It is similar to a small golden retriever,” said veterinarian Carol Willbrecht of the Mallqui Center.
Guillen, director of the Mallqui Center, said it’s very possible that the Chiribaya people selected and cross-bred different types of dogs to obtain the best creature for the crucial task of herding llamas.
“We believe the recognition of the Chiribaya shepherd dog is just one more example of the persistence of Peru’s ancestral culture and traits,” Guillen said.
The only Peruvian canine recognized internationally is a hairless dog popularly known as the Chinese dog because it was thought to have arrived with Asian immigrants in the 1800s. Studies later showed it had lived in Peru for more than 2,000 years.
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July 4th, 2007 at 5:23 am
eeeeeeewwwwwww thats sooooo gross who would wanna look at that yucky thingy ma bob