MEXICO: Early humans in Europe were able to dominate and eventually eradicate their Neanderthal cousin rivals thanks to early dogs bred from domesticated wolves that gave them a hunting advantage, an American anthropologist suggests.
Dogs, “man’s best friend,” prized for their loyalty and their abilities to chase and hunt, played a crucial role in modern humans taking over the continent 40,000 years ago and vanquishing the Neanderthals living there, says Professor Pat Shipman of Pennsylvania State University.
“At that time, modern humans, Neanderthals and wolves were all top predators and competed to kill mammoths and other huge herbivores,” she explains. “But then we formed an alliance with the wolf and that would have been the end for the Neanderthal.”
Her claim is a challenge to the conventional theory that wolves weren’t domesticated until around 10,000 years ago, around the time of the rise of agriculture.
Shipman says she believes humans may have begun domesticating wolves and breeding dogs 70,000 years ago when modern humans first arrived in Europe from Africa.
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