Archaeologists working at the Wari site of Castillo de Huarmey in Peru have found what they say is the first faunal evidence of Peruvian hairless dogs, offering a rare look at how ancient dogs lived with people in one of the Andes’ earliest large empires.
The study suggests these animals were not a single, uniform group. Instead, they filled different roles in daily life and ritual, from possible working dogs to scavengers, companions, and funerary offerings.
The research was led by Weronika Tomczyk of the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College in the United States and published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
The study focused on dog remains recovered from Castillo de Huarmey, a ceremonial, administrative, and funerary center of the Wari Empire on Peru’s north coast, dated to about 600 to 1050 CE. Researchers combined standard zooarchaeology with multi-isotopic analysis to reconstruct how individual dogs lived, moved, and ate.
First evidence of Peruvian hairless dogs
They identified at least 20 dogs at the site. Most were adults, but the remains also included puppies and one older male. Some bones came from mixed deposits disturbed by looting. Others came from more specific burial settings.
A puppy was buried with the so-called Master Basketmaker, an elite craftsperson. Another puppy was buried with a man believed to have served as a tomb guardian. A partial adult dog skeleton was found with a teenage child in a palatial context.
Standing tall against the sacred walls of Machu Picchu, this magnificent Peruvian Hairless Dog (Peruvian Inca Orchid) embodies the spirit of the Inca Empire. With its striking hairless form, alert ears, and powerful gaze, it's a living relic of a rich cultural history. pic.twitter.com/aNhpT5OMlr
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) April 15, 2026
Those burials stood out. Researchers said they point to an ideological or ceremonial role for some dogs, not just a practical one. The findings also suggest dogs may have acted as psychopomps, animals believed to guide the dead to the afterlife, an idea known from later Andean traditions.
The team also reported three animals that were tentatively identified as Peruvian hairless dogs, an Indigenous Andean breed now regarded as part of Peru’s cultural heritage.
Burial clues point to ritual status
The case rests on a mix of evidence, including missing teeth consistent with the genetic condition tied to hairlessness. In one naturally mummified dog, preserved skin showed sparse light-colored hair, a trait seen in modern hairless breeds. Researchers were careful not to overstate the claim, noting that missing teeth alone cannot prove a dog was hairless.
The isotope results showed that most dogs lived locally and depended on food systems closely tied to humans. But their life histories were not the same. One dog had a strikingly different diet that may point to work linked to camelid movement, hunting, or caravan activity. Others appear to have lived off human food waste.
The most unusual pattern involved the suspected hairless dogs. As puppies, they showed tightly clustered isotope values that resembled those of human children, suggesting they were fed in a distinct way early in life.
Puppy diets suggest special early care
As adults, their diets became more varied. Researchers said that the pattern may reflect special care or organized breeding, though they stressed that the sample is still small.
The study argues that archaeologists should widen the idea of “companion species.” At Castillo de Huarmey, dogs were not just pets in the modern sense. They lived with people, fed from human environments, moved through work and ritual, and in some cases were buried with the dead.
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