The Ancient Maya Kept Big Cats in Captivity as Early as 400 BC

We have an interesting “big cats in archaeology” news short for you today, as a recent study has indicated that as early as 400 BC, the ancient Maya of Central America had big cats that they kept in captivity.

Some of the ruins at Ceibal, Guatemala.
Photo by Chixuy (2006) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

The first physical evidence of the Maya having a captive big cat

This portion of a mural from Chichen Itza, Mexico, shows a
jaguar grasping a human heart.
Photo via Adobe Stock.

The evidence comes from the site of Ceibal, which is in present-day Guatemala. It was occupied for some 2,000 years, from about 1000 BC to AD 1000. There, archaeologists discovered a mandible and molar believed to be from a jaguar (or possibly a puma). Researchers tested isotopes (different forms of an element’s atoms) of carbon, nitrogen, strontium, and oxygen from these and other animal bones found at the site. The carbon and nitrogen would give clues about what the animal ate, and the strontium and oxygen, which came from tooth enamel, would show where the animal was born and grew up. That analysis showed that, from a young age, the jaguar either ate maize or ate other animals that had eaten maize. A wild cat wouldn’t be expected to have this kind of diet, so it is possible that this jaguar was raised in captivity for ceremonial purposes (i.e., to be sacrificed).  Captive cats had shown up in Maya art before, but this jaguar’s jaw and tooth are the first physical evidence of the Maya keeping a big cat in captivity.

There were dogs too

The same study found that two of the dogs discovered at Ceibal had come from over 100 miles away. These two dogs were from the same time period as the jaguar—about 400 BC—and their presence there is evidence of dogs being traded over long distances by the Maya.

Why are we telling you this?

Because occasionally we like to blog outside the lines to tell you something interesting about our wild cousins, and one should always keep tabs on one’s wild cousins.

Keep track of your wild cousins!
The Maya carved this head of a jaguar ca. 550-950.
Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) [CC BY 2.5].

Sources

Pappas, Stephanie. 2018. “Big Cats and ‘Ritual’ Dogs Lived in Maya Captivity.” Live Science, March 19. https://www.livescience.com/62061-ritual-dogs-mayan-pyramid.html

Sharpe, Ashley, et al. 2018. “Earliest Isotopic Evidence in the Maya Region for Animal Management and Long-Distance Trade at the Site of Ceibal, Guatemala.” PNAS, March 19. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713880115