Hairless Dogs, Divers and Spondylus shells a Continental History

Abstract

The revision of new data linked to topics which at first glance might appear unrelated: the hairless dog, its origins and representations; the Spondylus, its gathering at great depths, its symbolism and the prospect of an hypothetical guild of continental merchant-travelers associated to its trade as well as a group of objects found in Michoacán yet coming from very distant provenance and origins, seeks to revitalize interest in exploring relationships between Mesoamerica and the Andean World, in particular, the role Tarascan people and Ecuadorian seamen might have had in vast exchange networks that spanned the American continent.