The First Domesticated Dog

By Amy Fernandez

DNA analysis has revolutionized the painstaking craft of archeological investigation. Traditionally, human evolution has been the primary focus of that research.  Canine evolution came under the microscope simply because it was nearly impossible to sift through early human settlements without finding evidence of domestic dogs.

Theories abound regarding how, when and where dogs originated and at least seven archeological sites have been under consideration as the birthplace of the domestic dog. Usually, that sort of thing leads to decades of volatile debate rather than clear-cut answers. And that’s been the case for the past 30 years. Of course, the wonderful thing about genetic testing is the expectation of a definitive outcome, and testing canine fossils has been generating those kinds of results.

Oxford’s Dog Domestication Project has spearheaded work to solve this particular evolutionary mystery. They have been piecing together this puzzle using DNA sequences obtained from 59 dog fossils along with the complete genome of a 4800-year-old dog discovered in Ireland a few years ago. Their latest findings were recently published in the journal Science and it’s looking like the dog sprang from two different wolf lineages in separate domestication events.

Domestication is an extremely rare phenomenon. It’s only happened to a handful of species. In that respect, it seems quite improbable for a species to undergo this transformation multiple times, but it has been documented. For instance, the wild boar was domesticated in both China and ancient Turkey.

In the case of dogs, two possible theories have emerged from the current evidence. Possibly, they originated in East Asia and gradually spread westward with their human counterparts.  Or maybe they evolved from independent domestication events in both Europe and East Asia. These Oxford researchers have pinpointed an ancient genetic division within the species which certainly adds weight to the theory that it happened twice.

Needless to say, like all scientists, they want to examine more evidence before calling it the official location of the first domesticated dog. Unearthing more evidence usually prolongs these sorts of discussions instead of resolving them, but in this case, it appears that we may have a wrap!

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Posted by chesliepickett on Jun 21 2016. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.