CONICETDrawing of the dog carrying a loadCONICET
Argentine researchers have found the bones of a dog that seemed to have been used to carry loads near the city of Sarmiento, in the south of the country. Their analysis indicated that the animal, a male estimated to have been 2 to 3 years old and 19 kilograms in weight, lived around 300 years ago. A group led by Eduardo Moreno, from the Southern Institute for Diversity and Evolution (Ideaus), found deformations in the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Since there was no sign that disease or postmortem changes were the cause, the most likely hypothesis is that they resulted from physical stress induced by bearing weight, probably due to the use of a pack load. The discovery, the first of its kind in South America, could shed light on the bond between people and dogs and the importance the animals had among nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples who once inhabited southern Argentina. “Together with other members of the group, the dogs had to transport loads during trips,” said Leandro Zilio of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) in a statement issued by the organization, although it is still a hypothesis (CONICET, June 13; Journal of Archaeological Science, September).
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