Ancient Peru’s Dogs Were Companions, Scavengers, Possible Guides To The Dead

A naturally mummified dog skull painted with a vivid red mineral and buried at one of ancient Peru’s most powerful imperial centers is offering a rare window into the surprisingly personal relationships between humans and their canine companions more than a thousand years ago.

Researchers studying dog remains from Castillo de Huarmey, a ceremonial hub and royal burial ground of the Wari Empire that dominated much of present-day Peru between roughly 600 and 1050 CE, found that the site’s dogs were not simply pets or working animals. Some were buried alongside revered craftsmen and possible human sacrifices. Some had puppyhood diets that chemically resembled those of children. Others may have traveled long distances alongside livestock. At least three show traits consistent with the Peruvian Hairless Dog, a wrinkled, nearly furless animal still celebrated in Peru today as a national symbol.

Published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, the findings draw on bone analysis and chemical tests on the dogs’ teeth and skeletal remains, painting a picture of animals woven into Wari society in ways that were far from uniform.

Dogs Buried at Castillo de Huarmey Held Varied Roles

Castillo de Huarmey sits on Peru’s northern coast, about four kilometers from the Pacific. Polish and Peruvian archaeologists have been excavating there since 2010, uncovering a major Wari administrative and burial complex. Among the thousands of animal bones recovered are 341 dog bones, along with two sets of naturally preserved remains that survived the region’s extreme desert conditions.

Lead researcher Weronika Tomczyk of Dartmouth College and her team identified at least 20 individual dogs. Most were adults, but puppies appeared too, including one buried with a skilled artisan known as the “Master Basketmaker,” interred with elaborate tools and apparently living without both feet. Another puppy’s bones were found with a male figure interpreted as a tomb guardian whose left foot had been amputated. A third dog’s partial skeleton was buried alongside a teenage child who appears to have been sacrificed.

Burying dogs with significant human individuals, repeatedly and across different contexts, suggests these animals held real meaning for the Wari beyond their practical uses.

What Chemistry Reveals About Ancient Peruvian Dogs

To go deeper than bones alone could show, the researchers ran chemical fingerprinting tests on eight adult dogs. By measuring specific signatures locked in bone and tooth tissue, scientists can reconstruct what an animal ate, where it drank, and where it spent different life stages.

Seven of the eight dogs showed remarkably similar dietary signatures, placing them firmly within the human food chain. Their diets appeared to include more maize, a crop central to Andean civilization, than the llamas and other large animals also found at the site, with protein levels elevated in ways consistent with consuming human food or food from animals that ate agricultural products. Whether this reflects deliberate provisioning or opportunistic scavenging, the isotopic data alone cannot say.

Three of those dogs, all showing traits consistent with the Peruvian Hairless breed, had chemical signatures in their tooth enamel closely matching those of human children. Tooth enamel locks in a chemical record of what an animal consumed around four to six months of age, suggesting these three dogs were eating food very similar to what young children were eating. Historical accounts describe the Peruvian Hairless Dog as a household companion valued for the warmth of its skin, and the data appears consistent with the idea that at least some of these dogs may have received genuine human care.

One dog told a completely different story. A small animal labeled PIT-209 had a chemical profile resembling the large herding animals at the site far more than the other dogs. Its diet appeared lower in maize and higher in plant-heavy proteins associated with grazing livestock. Researchers suggest this dog may have traveled with camelids essential to Andean trade, serving as a working animal rather than a household companion.

A Cinnabar-Painted Skull and Peru’s Oldest Dog on Record

Among the most notable individuals are two naturally preserved specimens. One is a mummified skull with preserved ears and naked skin painted with cinnabar, a vivid red mineral with ritual significance across ancient Andean cultures. Another is a nearly complete adult male found alone in a shallow pit with no offerings, identified as a Peruvian Hairless Dog based on sparse light-colored hairs preserved on his skin and a dental pattern consistent with the breed’s known genetic marker. A radiocarbon date from one of his bones placed him at the site sometime between 688 and 870 CE, the earliest date yet recorded there.

Among the lavish offerings from the site’s undisturbed royal tomb was a single vessel depicting a seated, anthropomorphized Peruvian Hairless Dog holding what appears to be a musical instrument, the only dog image among the site’s rich artistic collections.

Neither “pet” nor “working animal” fully captures what these dogs were. Most appear to have grown up in or near the Huarmey region. Some were buried with honored dead. Some may have traveled with livestock. Some were possibly fed like members of the household, while others simply wandered and scavenged. An ancient empire built roads, administered distant territories, and left behind spectacular tombs. It also kept dogs that were painted red, fed alongside children, and laid to rest with the dead.

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