Russian, American, and Canadian researchers have discovered the skull of a wolf-dog in the early stages of domestication which appears to push back the date at which our best friend emerged by 10,000 years or more:
A very well-preserved 33,000 year old canine skull from a cave in the Siberian Altai mountains shows some of the earliest evidence of dog domestication ever found.
But the specimen raises doubts about early man’s loyalty to his new best friend as times got tough.
The findings come from a Russian-led international team of archaeologists.
The skull, from shortly before the peak of the last ice age, is unlike those of modern dogs or wolves.
Although the snout is similar in size to early, fully domesticated Greenland dogs from 1,000 years ago, its large teeth resemble those of 31,000 year-old wild European wolves.
This indicates a dog in the very early stages of domestication, says evolutionary biologist Dr Susan Crockford, one of the authors on the study.
“The wolves were not deliberately domesticated, the process of making a wolf into a dog was a natural process,” explained Dr Crockford of Pacific Identifications, Canada.
But for this to happen required settled early human populations: “At this time, people were hunting animals in large numbers and leaving large piles of bones behind, and that was attracting the wolves,” she said.
What modern dog most closely resembles this early domesticated wolf? The Samoyed. 😉
Update
My wife’s reaction to this news: “Was it still barking?”
And all of the bones were covered in white hair! Wonder what they found in the dog’s stomach? poo, dead things from the road, cat poo….. Gotta love Sammies!