How and when did human-dog friendship begin? A new fossil find in Alaska holds the answer

“A dog is man’s best friend” – this is not just a saying, it is a fact that can be proven. A new scientific discovery shows how old this friendship is – the data will surprise you.

dog and human
How and when did friendship between humans and dogs begin? A new fossil find in Alaska answers the question.

Large canids (such as wolves, dogs, and coyotes) and humans form a close relationship in northern (subarctic and arctic) socioecological systems. In a recent scientific paper published in the journal Science Advances , they documented the antiquity of this bond and the multiple ways in which it manifested itself in the interior of Alaska , a key region for understanding the peopling of the Americas and early northern ways of life.

A new study led by a University of Arizona researcher is one step closer to finding the answer to how indigenous peoples of the Americas interacted with early dogs and wolves.

Analysis by these scientists shows that people and the ancestors of today's dogs began forming close relationships 12,000 years ago!, about 2,000 years earlier than previously recorded in America.

Dogs and humans, friends for 12 thousand years (at least)

" We now have evidence that canids and humans were related earlier than we knew they existed in the Americas ," said study senior author François Lanoë, a research assistant professor in the University of Arizona's School of Anthropology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Wolf fossils and the human-dog friendship
A- Tibia, or lower leg bone, of an adult canine found in 2018 at the ancient Alaskan archaeological site Swan Point (dated 8,100 years). B- Canine jaw found in 2023 at the Hollembae site (dated 12,000 years).

Lanoë and his colleagues unearthed a tibia, or lower leg bone, from an adult canine in 2018 at an ancient Alaskan archaeological site called Swan Point , about 70 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Radiocarbon dating showed the canine was alive about 12,000 years ago, near the end of the Ice Age .

Another excavation by researchers in June 2023, of an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone at a nearby site called Hollembaek Hill , south of Delta Junction, also shows signs of possible domestication.

Both the jaw and the leg bone showed traces of salmon proteins in laboratory tests , leading researchers to conclude that humans had fed the dogs the fish , as canids in the area at that time hunted land animals almost exclusively.

The samples indicate that the canid had eaten fish regularly. This was unusual for canids, as they hunted land animals almost exclusively. The most likely explanation for salmon appearing in the animal's diet is dependence on humans.

Researchers are confident that the Swan Point canine helped establish the first known close relationships between humans and canines in the Americas . But it is too early to say whether the discovery is the first domesticated dog in the Americas.

From domesticated wolves to dogs

"This study is very valuable," the researchers say, because it raises the existential question: "What is a dog?" The Swan Point and Hollembaek Hill specimens may be too old to be genetically related to other, more recent known dog populations, Lanoë said . She noted that they could have been domesticated wolves rather than fully domesticated dogs.

Humans and the ancestors of today's dogs began forming close relationships 12,000 years ago!
Humans and the ancestors of today's dogs began forming close relationships 12,000 years ago!

For this study, scientists collected original and extant genomic, isotopic, and osteological data on canids from archaeological, paleontological, and modern sites. The results show that, unlike canids recovered in non-anthropogenic contexts, canids recovered in association with human occupations are markedly diverse. This includes multiple species and intraspecific lineages, morphological variation, and diets ranging from terrestrial to marine.

This variation is expressed along geographic and temporal gradients, beginning in the late Pleistocene with canids displaying high marine dietary estimates. This paper provides evidence of the multiple ecological relationships between canids and humans, from predation, probable commensalism to domestication.

News references:

Late Pleistocene onset of mutualistic human/canid (Canis spp.) relationships in subarctic Alaska. 4 de diciembre, 2024. Science Advences, Vol 10, Issue 49. François Lanoë, et al.

How did humans and dogs become friends? Connections in the Americas began 12,000 years ago. 4 de diciembre, 2024. The University of Arizona. Kyle Mittan.