Twelve Aztec Canine Skeletons Unearthed by Investigators in Mexico City Olga R. Rodriguez - The Associated Press
go to original February 15, 2014

This image released by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History shows canine skeletons unearthed by investigators in Mexico City. (AP/INAH/Meliton Tapia)

MEXICO CITY - Archaeologists on Friday announced the discovery of "an exceptional" old burial site under an apartment building in Mexico City containing the remains of 12 dogs, animals that had a major religious and symbolic significance to the Aztec peoples of central Mexico.

Previously, the remains of dogs have been found accompanying human remains or as part of offerings, experts with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said in a statement. But this is the first time a group of dogs has been found buried together at one site.

"This is definitely a special finding because of the number of dogs and because we have found no connection to a building or with the deceased," said archaeologist Rocio Morales Sanchez.

Aztecs believed dogs could guide human souls into a new life after death on earth, and could guard pyramids and other monuments when buried under them.

The dogs were buried at around the same time in a small pit between 1350 a 1520 A.D., the heyday of the Aztec empire.

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