[Aztlan] DOGS IN THE ANCIENT SOUTHWEST

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

There are hundreds of prehistoric dogs buried in the southwestern  
United States and they played a key role in the spiritual life of  
ancient americans. Fellow Aztlan member Dody Fugate has conducted a  
survey of known dog burials in the Southwest where many have been  
found with jewelry alongside women and children. Fugate believes they  
were divine escorts into the next world. She has a database of 700  
dog burials, many buried in groups or with humans. Many are  
concentrated in northwestern New Mexico and along the Arizona/Mexico  
border.

The burials were most common from 400 BCE to 1100 CE and the earlier  
burials of humans more often had dogs with them. The practice stopped  
in the 1400-1500s. The dogs were surprisingly diverse in physicality.  
White dog fur was used for ritual garb. Susan Crawford who is at the  
University of Victoria in Canada has found the same practices in the  
north.

As an additional note, the practice of burying dogs as divine escorts  
is suggested from the time of the Olmecs and especially among the  
Mixtecs and in Ancient West Mexico where the Colima sculpted dogs in  
shamanistic styles and buried these ceramics along with real dogs in  
human burials.

National Geographic has the story here;
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080423-dog-burials.html

Here is a tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/62fun4

Mike Ruggeri



Mike Ruggeri's The Ancient Southwest
http://tinyurl.com/2j8whx