Dogs in the New World
The Book of Mormon mentions dogs (Mosiah 12:2; Alma 16:10; Helaman 7:19), but there were no dogs in the New World until after the arrival of Europeans.
This assertion, though made by a critic who is a biologist, is incorrect. It is a well-established fact that dogs have been present in the New World since the first inhabitants arrived.[i] Dogs were domesticated in Mesoamerica during the Olmec period.[ii] DNA tests have confirmed that the Carolina dogs living in the wild in the southeastern United States are descendants of the dogs that accompanied the first humans to the New World thousands of years ago.[iii]
There were at least two different species of Mesoamerican dog-a large white humped mastiff, used in the hunt, which would fit the wilder variety, and a smaller hairless and voiceless breed, which was castrated, fattened, and then eaten as a delicacy and sometimes sacrificed.[iv] This smaller dog was apparently used on a rather large scale as a source of meat[v] and is said to have been “the principal source of meat for much of Preclassic Mesoamerica.”[vi] There are numerous references to this smaller dog in the descriptions of the early chroniclers.[vii]
[i] Ricardo E. Latcham, “Los animales domesticos de la America precolumbiana,” 37; Felix Webster McBryde, Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala (Smithsonian Institution Institute of Social Anthropology Publication No. 4. Washington, 1945), 37; Michael Coe, America’s First Civilization, 26; Jacques Soustelle, The Olmecs: The Oldest Civilization in Mexico (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), 23; Jane M. Rosenthal, “Dogs, pets, horses, and demons: some American Indian words and concepts,” International Journal of American Linguistics 51 (1985): 563-65; Michael Coe, The Maya, 167, 182; Michael Coe, Mexico, 29, 45, 52, 58, 69, 78, 104, 199, Figures 28, 95.
[ii] Jacques Soustelle, The Olmecs, 23. Some LDS scholars believe that the Olmec were the Jaredites.
[iii] Christine Mlot, “Stalking the Ancient Dog,” Science News 151 (1997): 400-401; E. Morehead, “The Carolina Dog: Making a Comeback,” Dog World (May 1992): 50-51; R. K. Wayne, “Molecular Evolution of the Dog Family.” Trends In Genetics 9/6 (1993): 218-224.
[iv] Ricardo E. Latcham, “Los animales domesticos de la America Precolumbiana,” 37; Felix Webster McBryde, Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala, 37; Michael Coe, The Maya, 167, 182.
[v] Felix Webster McBryde, Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala, 37; Michael Coe, Mexico, 58.
[vi] Michael Coe, Mexico, 45; see also 69, 78.
[vii] See for examples, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain, J. M. Cohen, ed., (London: Folio Society, 1975), 143-44, 146-47, 160, 229-30, 232; “The Anonymous Conquistador,” in Patricia de Fuentes, The Conquistadors, 167; Pedro de Alvarado, in Fuentes, 185, 192.
I am fascinated by ancient American history. During at least one time period in this ancient history, world trade was taking place. African and other ancient artifacts have been found as well as elephant tusks, etc. Thank you for your brief and well-documented article about dogs in the ancient Americas.
In all honesty, I don’t care what science can or cannot find. I don’t care about how much evidence either side can amass to prove their side of an argument. With more effort, each side can amass more evidence in its favor – and usually that addition of information has been tainted by bias. Nobody will ever do an unbiased study because an unbiased person has no motivation: nothing to gain or lose by the outcome.
The LDS faith (it’s doctrine, canon of scripture, its members) has shaped my understanding of Christ, and has helped me draw closer to Him more than I believe any other source has the power to do. The Bible makes sense from Genesis to Revelations – and the profoundness of the gospel within its pages is only visible because of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Priesthood and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
I have yet to find a better verse of scripture that more effectively explains the true gospel of Jesus Christ – and it’s only in the Book of Mormon. God lives, and so does Christ; our existence doesn’t end at death. And I believe it with all my heart and mind because Joseph Smith and subsequent Prophets of the LDS church, and the Book of Mormon all testified to me that it’s so.
I just reread my comment and wanted to make an edit (for clarification).
I have yet to find a better verse of scripture that more effectively explains the true gospel of Jesus Christ – and this scripture is only in the Book of Mormon.