3Novices:Dogs and cats may have been involved in Maya rituals

HUMAN beings domesticated several of the animals they encountered during their colonisation of the Americas—notably guinea pigs, llamas and turkeys. But they brought only one such tame companion with them when they first crossed from Siberia to Alaska. This was the dog. And, though genetic studies show that most modern dogs in the Americas are descended from post-Columbian European imports, a few breeds preserve their ancient ancestry.

These relics include Chihuahuas, from Mexico and Central America. Chihuahua-like skeletons have been found in many Mesoamerican archaeological sites. But what role these tiny dogs played in pre-Columbian society has been unclear. It is a little less unclear now, though, thanks to a study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Ashley Sharpe of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. In it Dr Sharpe shows that the Maya, a Mesoamerican people who flourished between the eighth century BC and the tenth century AD, traded dogs over long distances, and that these...Continue reading

http://ift.tt/2FYcj9O
3Novices