Just like fish and chips, Batman and Robin or Jack and Jill, man and dog are a pair meant to be together. But how long has this dynamic duo been going? Scientists might finally know exactly when this friendship started.
It's all thanks to a new study led by a University of Arizona researcher who looked at archaeological remains from Alaska. Through this, scientists identified that people and the ancestors of today’s dogs began their close relationship as early as 12,000 years ago.
"We now have evidence that canines and people had close relationships earlier than we knew they did in the Americas," said lead study author François Lanoë, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona School of Anthropology.
"People who are interested in the origins of the Americas want to know if those first Americans came with dogs. Until you find those animals in archaeological sites, we can speculate about it, but it's hard to prove one way or another. So, this is a significant contribution."
In a 2018 archaeological study, the same scientists discovered a lower-leg bone of an adult canine at a site in Alaska. Radiocarbon dating showed that the canine was alive 12,000 years ago, near the end of the Ice Age.
More recently, another excavation by the same team in June 2023 unearthed an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone at a nearby site. They believe this also showed signs of possible domestication.
The clearest sign came from chemical analysis of the bones. Through these tests, the team identified salmon proteins, suggesting the canine had regularly eaten fish. This was not typical of canines of the time as they hunted land animals exclusively, hinting at human interference.
While the team is confident that this is the earliest known relationship between humans and dogs, it is too early to know for sure. This is due to one key sticking point: "The existential question, what is a dog?", said co-author Ben Potter, an archaeologist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The specimens may be too old to be genetically related to more recent dog populations that we might know. They acted and looked like dogs, but genetically, they are different. The researchers note that it could be tamed wolves, rather than fully domesticated dogs.
Here's hoping they're not barking up the wrong evolutionary tree.
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