Big Cats and 'Ritual' Dogs Lived in Maya Captivity
Dog bones were found at the lowest levels of two pits, each within a pyramid at Ceibal in Guatemala.
Credit: Ashley Sharpe/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Dogs and cats — big cats — played a larger role in early Maya society than realized before, new research finds.
The ancient Maya were keeping big cats in captivity and transporting dogs long distances as early as 400 B.C., according to a new analysis of animal bones from the central Guatemala site of Ceibal. At least one large cat, probably a jaguar, was kept in captivity from its youth at the site during that era. And two dogs, both of which were born 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, were found in two separate pyramids in the central part of Ceibal. The dogs may have belonged to an important person or even been used in religious rituals, said study leader Ashley Sharpe, an archaeologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
https://www.livescience.com/62061-ritual-dogs-mayan-pyramid.html
