First Direct Evidence of Peruvian Hairless Dogs Found at Ancient Wari Site

Archaeologists have found the first direct evidence of Peruvian hairless dogs at Castillo de Huarmey, a Wari Empire administrative and funerary complex on Peru's northern coast, according to findings published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.

Located roughly 190 miles north of Lima, Castillo de Huarmey covers about 110 acres and served the Wari between 600 and 1050 CE, about 400 years before the rise of the Inca. Its hyperarid desert setting preserved rare organic remains, including a naturally mummified dog skull with hairless skin and ears still attached, coated with cinnabar, a pigment used to decorate the dead in ancient Peru.

First author Weronika Tomczyk, a research associate at Dartmouth's Department of Anthropology, identified the animals as Peruvian hairless dogs after noticing that some of the dog skeletons were missing teeth that had never erupted, particularly first premolars — a trait linked to the same gene responsible for hairlessness in dogs.

Researchers recovered 341 dog bone specimens representing at least 19 individuals, plus a complete mummified male dog, and used isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium to study the animals' diets and possible origins. The remains included a puppy buried with an elite craftsman nicknamed the "Master Basketmaker," an adult dog buried in the palace, and part of a puppy skeleton buried alongside a male guardian believed to have been sacrificed to guard a tomb.

Tomczyk said the findings show humans and dogs coexisted at the site, though reconstructing their bond is challenging because past emotions are difficult to capture through archaeological methods. She said the study also aimed to highlight that people in the past had contradictory relationships with animals, just as they do today: a pet to one group could be considered a pest by close neighbours.