I have pets on the brain today — Candace’s JRT was stung by a bee, and my cat has a stubborn mat of fur I’m trying to snip away at when she’s not paying attention. This is irrelevant except that it made me snap to attention when I saw the words “richly decorated canine skeleton” in a National Geographic News story.

You may have heard the excited buzzings of archaeologists in Mexico back in 2006, when a monolith was discovered that indicated they may have found Emperor Ahuizotl’s tomb. This was big news, because we’ve never had an Aztec ruler’s tomb to examine. (One reason why is because the Spanish helpfully built atop the Aztec civilization, and archaeologists have been unenthused about tearing down those artifacts to look for others.)

Work has been going on in the area near Mexico City since then. We don’t much about Aztec burial rituals or kings, so if this turns out to be his tomb, it would be very valuable from an academic perspective. And who doesn’t like a good tale of sated archaeological curiosity?

The latest news is this canine skeleton, which was adorned with beads and bells. According to archaeologist Leonardo López Luján, this may be a sign the researchers are on the right track — the Aztecs thought that dogs could accompany you to the underworld and guide you through its dangers, so it would make sense to have one near the funeral site of an emperor.

That isn’t the only promising sign — the team has also found unbroken seals, indicating that the tomb remains undisturbed, which means that it hasn’t been looted or destroyed by intruders. Stay tuned — López Luján and his team are still painstakingly excavating the area.

If this story is your kind of thing, try Was there really a curse on King Tutankhamen’s tomb?