Facts about dogs…
FACTS ABOUT DOGS What Was the First Dog on Earth?
PREHISTORIC DOGS
The oldest known domestic dog was discovered in the Razboinichya Cave in the Altai Mountains of modern Siberia. It was a complete well-preserved skull.
In 2007 the animal was carbon-dated to have lived around 31,000 BC. And DNA testing revealed that even that skull was of an animal “more closely related to modern dogs than to wolves.” Which meant that the development of human-raised wolf dogs goes back long before that.
Now here’s where the numbers get really interesting.
If our dogs of 33,000 years ago were still genetically closer to modern dogs than to their original wolf puppy ancestors, it could well mean that we first invited pure-blooded wolves into our families over 60,000 years ago.
Which is before Humankind underwent what paleo anthropologists call Behavioral Modernity. That magical moment when we had our “Great Leap Forward.” Humankind discovered Religion (or Religion discovered us!). As well as Language, Singing, Games, Cooking, the Creative Arts and radically changed our basic Primate social structure.
Perhaps Humans and Wolves began our evolutionary journey together.
With the discovery that dogs were Humankind’s companions thousands upon thousands of years earlier than we had believed, I really like the idea that Wolves adopted Humans. Teaching our primate ancestors such un-primate traits as pack loyalty, the role of involved fatherhood and pair-bonding — mating for life.
Look at it this way: I’d rather think of myself as a Wolf, not a Monkey. How about you, mon ami?
RESEARCH: “Before the Razboinichya Cave discovery, the earliest known relationship between dogs and humans is attested by the 1914 discovery of the Bonn–Oberkassel dog, who was buried alongside two humans in…” See Human–canine bond.
TAGS: Brian Alan Burhoe, Civilized Bears, dog and human relationship history, dog breeds, dogs, Human–canine bond, what was the first dog on earth, what was the first dog breed on earth?