{"id":5358,"date":"2016-09-13T17:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T22:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fertur-travel.com\/blog\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2023-08-25T16:46:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T21:46:08","slug":"the-spiritual-afterlife-of-dogs-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fertur-travel.com\/blog\/2016\/the-spiritual-afterlife-of-dogs-in-peru\/5358\/","title":{"rendered":"The spiritual afterlife of dogs in Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"

The evidence\u00a0continues to\u00a0mount that ancient\u00a0Peruvians who lived in and around present \u00a0day Lima were serious dog lovers<\/strong>. Archaeologists announced that they had discovered the remains of 10\u00a0dogs, along with two black guinea pigs and a tattooed woman at\u00a0the Huaca El Rosal ruins<\/strong> located inside Parque de las Leyendas<\/strong>, Lima’s large municipal zoo.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This adds to the find of\u00a0137 dogs, many buried alongside people, in the same archaeological zone between 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n

Chief archaeologist Luc\u00e9nida Carri\u00f3n Sotelo, told Radioprogramas<\/a>\u00a0that the canines belong to the\u00a0\u00a0Ychsma culture<\/strong>, which dominated this stretch of\u00a0Peru’s\u00a0central coast from around 900 to\u00a01470.<\/p>\n

It’s just the latest, and largest, indication that dogs were considered a man’s best friend long before the Spanish Conquest in the 1530<\/strong>s. But not just man’s best friend.<\/p>\n

The woman whose remains were found was\u00a025 to 30 years old when she died,\u00a0\u00a0Carri\u00f3n Sotelo said. She had\u00a0fish motif tattoos on her wrist and forearm. Guinea pigs<\/a> were a common food, and a offering to Pachacamac deities that the Ychma culture venerated. And dogs were sacrificed as a companion to help Ychma people\u00a0find their way after death.<\/p>\n

“Definitely dogs were constant companions for human beings and they were guides for the afterlife,” \u00a0Carri\u00f3n Sotelo said.<\/p>\n

Among the canines previously found at Huaca El Rosal were \u00a0puppies, young adults and even some pregnant dogs. Many were complete specimens, with their bodies manipulated in a “resting posture” consistent with the funerary practices of the Ychma and earlier Lima cultures<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"ancient_dog_remains_excavated_at_parque_de_las_leyendas\"In 2006, archaeologists excavated<\/a> another thousand-year-old pet cemetery just south of Lima, with 40 sheep dogs from the\u00a0Chiribaya Culture<\/strong>. They were\u00a0buried in warm blankets and even provided treats for the afterlife. In 2010, another six mummified dogs from the 15th century Inca period were discovered in one of the adobe temples at Pachacamac<\/a>. \u00a0And in\u00a0January 2013, another six Inca-era \u00a0pooches were found at Pachacamac, buried near the mummified remains of four children.<\/p>\n

\"ProfessionalSo dogs were, and continue to be, exalted.<\/p>\n

To this day in the Andes, there are indigenous people who believe that dogs play an important role in helping to usher the spirits of those who have died to travel across a turbulent river to the afterlife.<\/p>\n

The waterway is known to some as the Map\u2019a Mayu (“Dirty River\u201d\u009d), and to others as the River Jordan or Yawar Mayu (“River of Blood<\/strong>\u201d\u009d).<\/p>\n

There, the spirit must enlist the help of a mystical black dog, a spiritual agent known as a L\u00e1zaro, to lead it over a bridge of woven human hair, called the Achacaca, to reach the other side, where the ancestors dwell.<\/p>\n

That’s the afterlife of dogs in Peru<\/strong>. For the living canines, it’s an even more complex story, especially in last thirty years.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0If you like this post, please remember to share on Facebook, Twitter or Google+<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The evidence\u00a0continues to\u00a0mount that ancient\u00a0Peruvians who lived in and around present \u00a0day Lima were serious dog lovers. Archaeologists announced that they had discovered the remains of 10\u00a0dogs, along with two black guinea pigs and a tattooed woman at\u00a0the Huaca El Rosal ruins located inside Parque de las Leyendas, Lima’s large municipal zoo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[643,644],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-5358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology_sites","tag-dogs-in-peru","tag-peruvian-dog-lovers","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t