The expression “man’s best friend” may be cliché, but the date this famous friendship began remains a mystery within the scientific community. A recent study carried out by a specialist from the University of Arizona has brought us closer to a clear answer regarding the first interactions of indigenous peoples of the Americas with wolves and the first dogs.
This work, published in Science Advancesand based on archaeological digs in Alaska, demonstrate that our ancestors and those of contemporary dogs began forming relationships at least 12,000 years ago, about 2,000 years earlier than the previous estimate for the Americas.
“We now have evidence that canines and humans had complex relationships earlier than we estimated,” says François Lanoë.
“Those who, like me, are interested in the settlement of the Americas want to know if these first arrivals were accompanied by dogs,” he added.
“Unless you find these animals at archaeological sites, we can speculate, but it’s difficult to prove anything. So we made an important contribution. »
Mr. Lanoë and his colleagues unearthed a tibia from an adult canine animal in 2018 at an archaeological site called Swan Point, in Alaska, about 100 km from Fairbanks. Carbon dating determined that this canine was alive around 12,000 years ago, near the end of the most recent ice age.
Another excavation carried out by researchers in June 2023 unearthed an 8,100-year-old jaw bone at a nearby site called Hollembaek Hill. Here again, we would have found signs of what could be domestication.
The clue? A stomach full of fish
A chemical analysis of the two bones discovered a significant intake in the form of salmon protein, meaning the canines had been eating fish regularly. This was not common among dogs of this period, since they hunted land animals almost exclusively.
The most likely explanation, in this case? Dependence on humans for food.
“This is our strong evidence, since these dogs, or ancestors of dogs, didn’t actually hunt salmon in the wild,” says Ben Potter, an archaeologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and co-author of the study.
According to the researchers, the Swan Point discoveries help establish the date of the first known close relationships between humans and canids in the Americas. But it is still too early to say whether this is indeed the oldest example of domesticated dogs on the megacontinent.
This is why, says Professor Potter, the study is important. “This allows us to ask a fundamental question: what is a dog? »
In fact, suggests Mr. Lanoë, the two specimens could be too old to have significant genetic similarities with more recent populations of dogs.
“Behaviorally, they could have acted like dogs, since they ate the salmon offered by humans,” he added. “But genetically, they are not related to anything that we know about. »
According to the researcher, in fact, they could have been tamed wolves, rather than completely domesticated dogs.
