Dogs have been living alongside humans for a very long time, but two new studies published in the journal Nature just pushed that timeline back by about 5,000 years and introduced us to the oldest dog whose identity has ever been confirmed through genetics. Researchers examined ancient DNA from the bones of more than 200 canines recovered from archaeological sites across Europe and southwestern Asia, and found that the oldest was a dog who lived in Switzerland approximately 14,200 years ago, alongside a hunter-gatherer group. A second study identified an even older animal: a 15,800-year-old domesticated dog from a site in Turkey, making it the earliest dog yet identified anywhere in the world. Before these findings, the previous oldest genetic evidence of a domestic dog came from remains in northwestern Russia dated to roughly 11,000 years ago, meaning the new research rewrites the known timeline of one of the most significant relationships in human history.
What makes the discoveries especially moving is the evidence of how those ancient people treated their dogs. Despite the Turkish and English dogs being separated by nearly 2,000 miles, chemical analysis showed that people from both groups fed their dogs the same food they themselves ate. The English dog’s skull had decorative perforations similar to those found on human skulls, and in Turkey, dogs were buried on top of deceased people. An Oxford paleogeneticist who co-authored both studies described how early dogs were spreading from group to group much like an exciting new technology might, with everybody enthusiastic about having this useful, interesting and probably very cute new presence around. The studies support the idea that all modern dogs share a single domestication origin, most likely somewhere in Asia, and that what began between wolves and humans more than 15,000 years ago has never really ended.
