WASHINGTON: Fossil samples that were once thought to have been the earliest dogs have been reanalyzed, and now researcher are saying that they were just wolves.
That’s at least according to a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, which details how cutting-edge 3D mophometric analyses of the skulls previously identified as “dog” fossils from the Paleolithic era (2.6 million years ago to 10,200 B.C.) have turned out to actually be small wolf remains.
“We did confirm that the Neolithic specimens Shamanka II (around 7,372 years old) and Ust’-Belaia (about 6,817 years old) are dogs, and therefore domestication took place by this time period or earlier,” the study’s lead author, Abby Grace Drake, first explained to Discovery News.
And that actually makes a lot of sense. Past canine domestication theories have centered around the idea that early hunter-gatherers could have used canine companions to guard their camps and corner prey. However, that would have required a great many early humans to be talented ‘wolf-whisperers,’ so to speak. What’s more, these constantly moving pet owners then would of needed enough readily available food to support breeding their animals.
