A recent study indicates that the relationship between humans and dogs began approximately 12,000 years ago, which is 2,000 years earlier than previously recorded.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona, the findings were published in the journal Science Advances. The research was led by Francois Lanoe, an assistant research professor at the School of Anthropology. The team discovered a tibia, or lower-leg bone, of an adult canine in 2018 at Swan Point, an archaeological site in Alaska.
Radiocarbon dating revealed that the dog lived around 12,000 years ago, near the end of the Ice Age, and exhibited signs of close contact with humans. Chemical analyses showed a significant presence of salmon proteins in the remains, suggesting the dog had a fish-rich diet, which is atypical for canines of that era who primarily hunted terrestrial animals.
Lanoe stated, “We now have evidence that canids and people had close relationships earlier than we knew they did in the Americas.” This discovery raises questions about the domestication of dogs, as a jawbone of an 8,100-year-old canine found nearby in June 2023 showed similar signs of interaction with humans.
While both findings indicate a connection between humans and canines, researchers caution that it is premature to label them as the earliest domesticated dogs in the Americas. Lanoe remarked, “Behaviorally, they seem to be like dogs, as they ate salmon provided by people, but genetically, they're not related to anything we know.”
The study prompts further investigation into what defines a dog: its relationship with humans or its genetic traits.