The oldest known dog expands the genetic history of our canine companions

Ancient remains in Turkey dating back 15,800 years have been confirmed to be from a dog, the oldest ever found. Genetic evidence also reveals that our best friends were widespread across Europe as early as 14,300 years ago, when humans were hunter-gatherers and agriculture had not yet emerged.

When dogs were domesticated is a complex question, given the physical and genetic similarities between dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and gray wolves (Canis lupus). Previously, the oldest remains were genetically identified as coming from the dog it was given to about 10,900 years ago. However, there are dog-like bones from the distant past 33,000 years ago from animals that weren’t quite dogs yet genetically, known as incipient dogs.

To better understand how the history of dogs developed, Lachie Scarsbrook at the University of Oxford and his colleagues examined genomes obtained from several early dog-like remains at archaeological sites across Europe.

The earliest remains confirmed as a dog were from Pınarbaşı an archaeological site on the central Anatolian plateau in Turkey. These remains date from 15,800 years ago to the Upper Paleolithic, pushing the earliest direct evidence of dogs back by about 5,000 years.

“At least 15,800 years ago, dogs were dogs, and they already look genetically and morphologically like modern dogs,” says Scarsbrook.

The team also genetically confirmed that the remains from Gough’s Cave in Somerset, UK, were a dog from around 14,300 years ago.

The two dogs are so genetically similar that they must have descended from a relatively recent common ancestor, which was puzzling at first, Scarsbrook says. This is because they are associated with human populations that were thousands of kilometers apart, with very limited evidence of gene flow between them: the Magdalenian hunter-gatherer culture of Gough’s Cave and the Anatolian hunter-gatherer culture of Pınarbaşı.

The genomes revealed that the two Paleolithic dogs were members of a population that expanded across the continent between 18,500 and 14,000 years ago.

“And yet we don’t think dogs are roaming around Europe under their own steam,” says Scarsbrook. The team suggests that a third group, the Epigravettian culture, brought dogs with them, as ancient peoples demonstrably did.

During a key time window, these people spread northward from the Italian peninsula into western Europe and then southeastward into Turkey. They would have interacted with both other groups, potentially leading to cultural and technological exchange.

Dogs would give hunter-gatherer groups “a new way to hunt and keep your cave safe and a living blanket to keep you warm on cold nights,” Scarsbrook says.

Remains in Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı provide clues about how the ancients regarded dogs. “It seems that the nuggets of modern human-dog interaction were there,” says a team member William Marsh at the Natural History Museum in London.

Isotope analysis suggests that the people of Pınarbaşı fed their dogs the fish they themselves ate, and the animals were buried just like the people there. “Humans around 15,000 years ago treated these animals seemingly symbolically,” says Marsh.

At Gough’s Cave, the diet for both humans and dogs appears to have been an omnivorous mix, and there are various hints of symbolism, he says. “Rather than burying their dead, these individuals would cannibalize their dead as a funerary behavior.” This led to the discovery of postmortem incisions, tooth marks and engravings on human bones, which were considered evidence of ritual human cannibalism.

The canine mandibles from Gough’s Cave bear similar markings and also appear to have been pierced by humans. This suggests that humans may have had the same burial traditions they gave humans, according to their dogs, and may have even eaten parts of their bodies, Marsh says.

“These people were also people who feel and have emotions. So I’m sure they would have an attachment to those animals. But how they express it is hard for us to deduce,” he says. James Cole at the University of Brighton in Great Britain. “We know that Gough’s Cave at the time was a really harsh environment for the people they were living in, so they were going to eat what they could and not lose much.”

Scarsbrook thinks the initial domestication of dogs occurred during a cold period known as the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 26,000 to 20,000 years ago. “It was a terrible time to be alive in northern Eurasia, so everything is pushed south, whether you’re a wolf or a human,” he says. These populations would be forced into the same refuges, they would have to interact with each other in a way they didn’t have to before, which could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Human origins and gentle walking in prehistoric south-west England

Immerse yourself in the early human periods of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages on this gentle walk.

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