Buried Dogs Were Divine "Escorts" for Ancient Americans

Hundreds of prehistoric dogs found buried throughout the southwestern United States show that canines played a key role in the spiritual beliefs of ancient Americans

Throughout the region, dogs have been found buried with jewelry, alongside adults and children, carefully stacked in groups, or in positions that relate to important structures,

"I'm suggesting that the dogs in the New World in the Southwest were used to escort people into the next world, and sometimes they were used in certain rituals in place of people,"

"The earlier the [human] burial, the more likely you are to have dog in it,"

Many of the burials are concentrated in northwestern New Mexico and along the Arizona-New Mexico border