MEXICO: Researchers from Skidmore College used 3D imaging techniques in the analysis of several fossil skulls to discover that dogs had evolved from their wolf ancestors much more recently that originally thought. Older research studies had made the suggestion that dogs had been present during humanity’s hunter-gatherer period some 30,000 years ago – a period of time known as the late Paleolithic – but this new research has indicated otherwise.
Skidmore college biologist and study co-author Abby Grace Drake said that there’s large amounts of evidence that dogs were a product of the Neolithic, a more recent period. she pointed to not just genetic evidence found in the skulls but cultural evidence as well. In an interview with CBS, Drake remarked that the dog remains uncovered from the Neolithic had been draped with ornaments like deer tooth necklaces and were found buried alongside humans.
The scientist said that one theory as to how wolves came to be domesticated during the Neolithic has much to do with the fact that humans were making permanent settlements. With these settlements requiring places for the humans there to dump their trash such as food waste, one proposal revolves around the wolves scavenging for food near these dumps became tolerant of the presence of humans, leading eventually to the long-standing alliance between humanity and the canine world.
Drake and her colleagues examined so-called “dog” skulls discovered in Belgium and Russia that had been dated to as far back as 32,000 years ago using 3D imaging. The researchers looked at 36 different points on the fossil skulls and then compared them with more than 100 other wolf and dog skulls, both from the Neolithic period and from modern day; their analysis found that the ancient skulls were not from dogs but wolves, calling into question the domestication of dogs during the Paleolithic.
Drake said she was confident in her findings even in the face of resistance from the academic community. However, she did say that the debate over dog domestication won’t be resolved by her research findings alone.
