Ancient DNA reveals humans and dogs have lived alongside each other since the Ice Age – UK Times

The close relationship between humans and dogs has been ongoing for more than 14,000 years, a new study has discovered.

Researchers have uncovered evidence that dogs were living alongside humans during the Ice Age, more than 5,000 years before they were thought to have been domesticated.

Bones recovered from Gough’s Cave in Somerset and from Pınarbaşı in Turkey dated to the Late Upper Palaeolithic period, long before the advent of farming.

Professor Oliver Craig, from the University of York’s Department of Archeolology, explains: “We have long believed dogs evolved from grey wolves during the last Ice Age, but physical evidence of their association with humans has been difficult to confirm.

“During the earliest stages of domestication, dogs and wolves looked almost identical, and behavioural differences do not show up in the archaeological record.”

Previous studies had relied on small DNA fragments and skeletal measurements, but this latest study was able to reconstruct whole genomes from remains that were over 10,000 years old.

Scientists at the University of York then compared them with over 1,000 modern and ancient species related to the canine family, which confirmed that dogs were already widespread across Europe and western Asia at least 14,000 years ago.

A dietary analysis also measured carbon and nitrogen isotopes preserved in bone collagen, which showed that dogs ate a similar diet to humans.

Lizzie Hodgson, a PhD student who assisted the study, said: “A key finding came from Pınarbaşı, where the data showed that domestic dogs consumed a diet rich in fish, closely matching that of local humans.

“It is unlikely dogs were catching significant amounts of fish themselves, suggesting they were being actively fed by people.”

The study, which has been published in the journal Nature, also suggests dogs were present among different hunter-gatherer groups towards the end of the Ice Age, and were more closely related to modern European and Middle Eastern breeds than to Artic dogs.

Dr William Marsh, from the Natural History Museum, said: “These specimens allowed us to identify additional ancient dogs from sites in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, showing they were already widely dispersed across Europe and Türkiye by at-least 14,000 years ago.”

Dr Lachie Scarsbrook, from LMU Munich, said this indicates that major dog lineages were already established around 15,000 years ago. He said: “Dogs with very different ancestries already existed across Eurasia, from Somerset to Siberia.”

Experts say this raises the possibility that dogs were domesticated more than 10,000 years before any other animals or plants.