For many, the dogs they live with They are another member of the familybecause the link that is created surpasses many friends with other humans. And it is no wonder, because we have been living with them for millennia, but the exact origin of our bond in history has always been involved in a scientific debate. But this has finally been solved thanks to genetics.
The study. They have been two monumental published reviews in Nature those that have hit the table thanks to the analysis of the DNA of a puppy that lived 15,800 years ago at the Pınarbaşı site, in modern-day Turkey. This discovery has not only set back the biological clock of our canine companions by at least 5,000 years, compared to previous genetic records, but demonstrate that our alliance with wolves was forged long before we invented agriculture.
A puppy with honors. The discovery is undoubtedly a triumph of pelogenetics, since for years scientists depended on the shape of bones to distinguish between a wolf and a primitive dog, a method that has many errors. But now science has turned to the genetic material found inside your cells to clear up any doubt.
The remains of three puppies were found at the site, but what is fascinating is not only their antiquity, but also how they lived. Here the chemical analysis that was carried out reveals that these animals had a diet surprisingly similar to that of the humans with whom they lived, including a strong base of fish. Furthermore, they were buried following human rituals, which is a posthumous treatment that demonstrates a deep emotional bond.
Its expansion. But the Turkish puppy is not an isolated case, since the first study of Nature demonstrate that, by the Late Upper Paleolithic, dogs had already spread rapidly throughout western Eurasia. Here the team also analyzed remains found in Gough’s Cave, in the United Kingdom.
There they identified another domesticated dog from 14,300 years ago whose jaw had perforations, again suggesting ritual practices. The most interesting thing is that, despite the enormous geographical distance that separates Turkey from England, the genomes of both animals present strong genetic similarities, confirming that they belonged to the same large population of Paleolithic dogs.
Another study. In parallel, he wanted to broaden the panorama after examine the remains of 200 European dogs from more than 14,000 years ago, managing to confirm the presence of another primitive dog in Kesslerloch (Switzerland), dated at 14,200 years.
This second team demonstrated that the lineages of these first Paleolithic dogs did not become extinct, but rather that their genetic signatures have survived and are present in the modern dogs that sleep on our sofas today.
Before agriculture. The most classical culture told us that the domestication of animals was a by-product of the Neolithic, since here we began to settle, invented agriculture, and along the way, we domesticated animals. But this has completely changed with these studies, since the genomes analyzed confirm that these dogs descend from a lineage of ancient wolves that formed an integral alliance with strictly hunter-gatherer humans.
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