Ancient Chihuahuas in Southeastern U.S.?

Chihuahuas’ Associations with Death

All of the dog effigy pots in Georgia have been found as burial objects which suggests these dogs held special importance in death rituals. The same appears to be true with the Techichi since the dog effigy pots in west Mexico were all grave goods in the west Mexico shaft tomb tradition. The Lange Foundation notes:“there are remains at some pyramids and other pointers to the early existence of the Techichi at Chichen Itza in Yucatan. The Techichi was a religious necessity among the ancient Toltec tribes and later among the Aztecs. Archaeologists have found the remains of this breed in human graves in Mexico and in parts of the United States.”18

The burial of dogs or dog effigies with humans appears to be a widespread phenomenon. One such burial was found at La Brea in California. According to the Southern California Academy of Sciences:

“The presence of this aboriginal dog near the remains of La Brea Woman is considered significant. Driver (1969) lists domestic dogs among animals sacrificed by most New World Indians at the death of their owners to propitiate the supernatural. Domestic dog burials of pre-Columbian age are relatively rare in the United States, and most are reported in the southwest (Allen 1920; Lawrence 1944; Olsen 1968, 1972). Allen (1920) reports the Greenland Eskimo custom of placing the head of a dog in a human burial to guide the deceased to the Land of Souls because “a dog can find its way everywhere,” and a similar custom among the Yucatan Mayas, the dog to carry its master’s soul across the “Chicunauhapan” or nine-fold flowing stream. Burial of dogs with humans, probably for similar supernatural reasons, is documented in California.”19

Accounts of Chihuahuas in Georgia

In addition to the dog effigy pots from the Bull Creek and Neisler sites, historical eye-witness accounts of Chihuahuas or Techichis in Georgia exist in the journal entries of Spaniards that were part of the Hernando de Soto expedition. This expedition travelled through Georgia in the 1530s. In several entries the Spanish mentioned that Georgia tribes raised “little dogs” to eat which they kept very fat for that purpose. The Spaniards noted the dogs were quite tasty. Like the Techichi, the Spanish also noted that this dog could not bark.20 Later historians thought the Spanish accounts could have referred to opossums instead of dogs.21 Yet the eye-witness descriptions of these “little dogs” along with the dog effigy pots from Bull Creek seem to confirm they were Chihuahuas.

Tribal Identity of Bull Creek Site & Kasihta Migration Legend

Culloomas and Cusseetas appear near the Bull Creek site on this 1755 map.

The Bull Creek site is located along the Chattahoochee River in southwest Georgia in an area once inhabited by the Cusseetas or Kasihta band of Lower Creek Indians. A town by the name of Cusseta still exists nearby in honor of this tribe. The Kasihta were considered one of the four “mother towns” of the Creek Nation. As argued in my paper “West Mexico Cultural Traditions at Mississippian Period Sites in Georgia” the Kasihta migration legend supports an origin in west Mexico, likely Colima.22 Coincidentally, on the 1755 John Mitchell map of Georgia a tribe called the Culloomas are indicated to have lived in the area of the Bull Creek site along the Chattahoochee River just north of the Cusseetas.

More Evidence for a West Mexico Origin?

As previously noted, similar dog effigy pots have been noted as part of the elaborate shaft tomb tradition of West Mexico including the area of Colima. This same tradition was also found in the nearby state of Jalisco, Mexico associated with mounds and featured stone slab tombs like those discovered at the Nacoochee site in Georgia:

“The cemeteries generally contain one of several artificial mounds with shaft-tombs and pit burials located under and around them. The shaft-tombs are usually spaced apart in rows….The artifacts from San Marcos fall into two groups with respect to both site location and style. The first group is composed of one clay vessel, one hollow anthropomorphic figure and one hollow two-headed dog. These artifacts were found in a site located on the outskirts of the pueblo of San Marcos… Here in a pasture next to the ruins of an old adobe house is a low mound that contained four separate burials. Human bones were encountered at a depth of about a meter in four tombs that extended in a row across the western side of the mound. One of the earth tombs contained the funerary objects mentioned above, and another, without tomb furniture, was covered with stone slabs.”23

The Nacoochee Mound (Courtesy Wikipedia)

The Nacoochee site includes an earthen mound and featured numerous stone slab tombs, one of which contained a dog effigy pot.The Nacoochee Mound site dates to the same time period as the Bull Creek site.(Continues…)

Gary C. Daniels

Gary C. Daniels is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated television, video and multimedia writer and producer. He has a M.A. degree in Communications from Georgia State University in Atlanta, a B.F.A. degree in TV Production from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an A.A. degree in Art from the College of Coastal Georgia. He has appeared on the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel and History Channel. His History Channel appearance became the highest-rated episode in the network's history. He has a passion for Native American history and art. He is the founder and publisher of LostWorlds.org.

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