The guys at Barakat gallery aren’t scientists any more than we are, but; a dog in a turtle shell!?
It appears instead to be one of the varieties of the glyptodonts, who were inhabitants of South America, supposed to have gone extinct between 15,000 and 2,000,000 years ago.
We are certain that this is an accurate depiction of an actual living animal rather than a mythological dog/turtle. There is a stong similarity between the glyptodonts, the anklyosaurs and certain of the giant armadillos, and this object is certainly closer to them, particularly the glyptodonts than it is to a turtle-shelled dog. It’s somewhat surprising that they did not go to that tried and true “worship object” or fetish.
In the photo below, the Pre Columbian artifact from between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. is compared from bottom right, clockwise to; glyptodont, top left an 18th century Dogon glyptodont depiction (in our humble opinion), and a depiction of Doedicurus, a type of glyptodont supposed to have lived during the Pleistocene.
“Colima Vessel in the Form of a Dog with a Turtle Shell –
Origin: Western Mexico
Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD
In the mythology of ancient Meso-America, the gods sometimes played strange tricks with nature: men were changed into animals, odd hybrids were created, the world was turned upside-down.
This fascinating turtle-dog, with his beautifully burnished shell, perhaps played a key role in the deceased’s passage into the underworld. He challenges our notions of the conventional world even as he delights both the eye and the hand. “…Barakat Gallery
Glyptodon was one of the biggest ancient armadillos. Fossils of this car-sized mammal have been found in Argentina, South America. Glyptodon lived in the Ice Ages, during the Pleistocene (between 2 million and 15,000 years ago). Glyptodon (meaning “carved tooth”) was named by paleontologist R. Owen in 1839. These herbivores (plant-eaters) may have been preyed upon by saber-toothed cats….Wikipedia