‘Exceptional’ Aztec burial of 12 dogs discovered
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Archeologists have announced the discovery of “an exceptional” old burial site under an apartment building in Mexico City containing the remains of 12 dogs, animals that had a major religious and symbolic significance to the Aztec peoples of central Mexico.
Previously, the remains of dogs have been found accompanying human remains or as part of offerings, experts with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said on Friday.
But this is the first time a group of dogs has been found buried together at one site.
“This is a special finding because of the number of dogs and because we have found no connection to a building or with the deceased,” said archaeologist Rocio Morales Sanchez.
Aztecs believed dogs could guide human souls into a new life after death on earth, and guard pyramids when buried under them.
The dogs were buried around the same time in a small pit between 1350 and 1520, the heyday of the Aztec empire.
The team of archaeologists determined when the dogs were buried through ceramics and other items found in nearby pits under the apartment building in the populous Mexico City borough of Aztacapozalco, Morales Sanchez said.
Michael E. Smith, an anthropology professor at Arizona State University who was not involved in the project, said the discovery is important because it is the first such find.
“It is the first find where many dogs were carefully buried together, in a setting that is like a cemetery,” Smith said.
Archeologist Antonio Zamora, who works at the excavation site, said a biologist told the team the remains were of medium-sized, likely common dogs.
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