Recent research indicates that the bond between humans and dogs may have begun as early as 12,000 years ago in the Americas, significantly earlier than previously thought.
In 2018, archaeological remains were discovered at Swan Point, near Fairbanks, Alaska, which have pushed back the timeline of canine companionship by approximately 2,000 years.
François Lanoë, a co-author of the study and anthropologist at the University of Arizona, stated, "People like me who are interested in the peopling of the Americas are very interested in knowing if those first Americans came with dogs. Until you find those animals in archaeological sites, we can speculate about it, but it's hard to prove one way or another. So, this is a significant contribution."
The research team found the lower leg bone, or tibia, of an adult canine at Swan Point, which radiocarbon dating indicated lived around 12,000 years ago, during the end of the ice age.
In a separate excavation in 2023 at Hollembaek Hill, the team uncovered an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone showing signs of potential domestication. Chemical analyses revealed large traces of salmon proteins in the tibia and jawbone, suggesting that these canines consumed fish regularly, a deviation from the typical land animal diet of canines at that time.
Lanoë explained, "The most likely explanation for salmon in the canine's diet is that they depended on humans to feed them." This discovery at Swan Point establishes some of the earliest known close relationships between canines and humans in the Americas.
However, it remains uncertain whether these canines were the first domesticated dogs in the region. The canines from both sites were likely dependent on humans, but they may not have been fully domesticated dogs as understood today.
Lanoë noted, "Behaviorally, they seem to be like dogs, as they ate salmon provided by people, but genetically, they're not related to anything we know." Since the 1930s, archaeologists have conducted research in Alaska's Tanana Valley, collaborating with the Healy Lake Village Council, which represents the Mendas Cha'ag people, to authorize genetic testing of the specimens involved in the study.