Scientists find first evidence of dogs traded for Maya ceremonies - News Techcology

Scientists find first evidence of dogs traded for Maya ceremonies - News Techcology
Researchers have found the first evidence of live dogs being traded in the Americas - and they were exchanged over distances of more than 100 miles (160km).The Maya were trading live dogs in 400BC from Ceibal in Guatemala, which is one of the earliest ceremonial sites from the Mesoamerican civilisation, researchers found.The bones were largely found in the ceremonial centre meaning the animals were probably owned by someone important or could have even been a prestigious gift.These traded dogs - which were probably slightly bigger than chihuahuas - were older than dogs for eating and were thought to be treated better too.They would have been used for 'showing off' by elites as something exotic and would have been used in animal and human sacrifices, scientists say.Researchers found that animal trade and management began in the Preclassic Period some 2,500 years ago.Most of the bones and teeth they tested were from the Maya Middle Preclassic period (700-350 BC) and from 400 BC it seems some of these animals were exchanged.Previously the earliest evidence of live trading dogs was found in the Caribbean in around 1000AD.'I definitely think dogs were moving before 400 BC, although dog trade probably didn't happen until after people became sedentary and had set settlements to trade between',  Ashley Sharpe, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama who led the research told MailOnline.'In Asia, Africa and Europe, animal management went hand-in-hand with the development of cities,' she said.However, in the Americas people may have raised animals for ceremonial purposes.Researchers believe the dogs had short legs and smaller heads than most medium-sized breeds today.'Most of the dogs were likely eaten and seem to have died at less than a year old, because their bones are not always fused as they would be as adults', she said.'The traded dogs might have been treated better, or at least were fully grown.'Researchers made the discovery by looking at carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotopes.Isotopes are atoms that have the same number of protons and electrons but different numbers of neutrons. This means they have different physical properties.For example, carbon has two stable isotopes: carbon 12 with six protons and six neutrons and carbon 13 with six protons and seven neutrons.Carbon in animals' bodies comes from the plant tissues they consume directly or indirectly.Most plants use the most common type of photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. This process leaves mostly the lighter carbon isotope, carbon 12, behind, bound up in carbohydrate molecules.Corn, sugar cane and other grasses use another type of photosynthesis that concentrates heavier, carbon 13 molecules.By looking at these isotopes, researchers could work out what they ate.The animals fell into two categories - those with lower carbon isotopes were mainly eating wild plants while those with higher isotopes were probably eating corn.All
Source: