Posted on 02/05/2012 8:24:42 AM PST by DogByte6RER
Dog: man's best friend for over 33,000 years
He's been man's best friend for generations.
An ancient dog skull found in Siberia and dating back 33,000 years presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication.
When combined with a similar find in Belgium, the two skulls indicate that the domestication of dogs by humans occurred repeatedly throughout early human history at different geographic locations -- rather than at a single domestication event, as previously believed.
"Both the Belgian find and the Siberian find are domesticated species based on morphological characteristics," said Greg Hodgins, a researcher at the University of Arizona's Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory and co-author of a study reporting the find.
"Essentially, wolves have long thin snouts and their teeth are not crowded, and domestication results in this shortening of the snout and widening of the jaws and crowding of the teeth."
The Altai Mountain skull is extraordinarily well preserved, Hodgins said, enabling scientists to make multiple measurements of the skull, teeth and mandibles that might not be possible on less well-preserved remains. "The argument that it is domesticated is pretty solid," he said. "What's interesting is that it doesn't appear to be an ancestor of modern dogs."
At 33,000 years old, neither the Belgian nor the Siberian domesticated lineages appear to have survived earth's last ice age. Still, they show, just how far back our special relationship with our canine companions goes, Hodgins said.
"The interesting thing is that typically we think of domestication as being cows, sheep and goats, things that produce food through meat or secondary agricultural products such as milk, cheese and wool and things like that," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Figure 1. The Razboinichya canid.
A) aerial view, B) profile, C) palate, D) left mandible, E) left lower tooth row (scale on ruler in cm). Sub-triangular hole in the skull is the place of initial sampling for 14C dating in 2007.
More backgroound info:
A 33,000-Year-Old Incipient Dog from the Altai Mountains of Siberia: Evidence of the Earliest Domestication Disrupted by the Last Glacial Maximum
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022821#s5
Some more write-up:
Dog skull dates back 33,000 years
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-dog-skull-dates-years.html
Ping?
I have to give a plug for our Maltipoo puppy, who relishes chasing his tail around in circles as shown on this YouTube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPDlRKNwx1g
Ping
ggg related stuff, maybe
ping
No, dog domesticated man.
Now, over with that part, the writer seems to believe that early man (in the Paleolothic) didn't think of dogs as food items.
How strange. Of course they are food, and a very good food at that. You can call and whistle for one of your small dogs and he'll run and jump right up in your arms where you can begin the slaughter without a further word.
Even cows don't do that!
They say a dog is man’s best friend. If you spell dog backwards you get God.
My 85lb. Pitador and 95 lb. Great Dane agree with you. Just look at all the free services and goodies they get out of us.
To: DogByte6RER
There’s also genetic evidence man domesticted the dog 100,000 years ago: http://www.workingdogweb.com/DogOrigins.htm. If true it would mean man and dog literally evolved together. It’s no wonder they play us like violins. Obie Wan has been my faithful companion for 7 years. He protects me day and night and is better company than most humans I know. |
Adam and Eve packed up their stuff, dog in tow, and left the garden.
I believe most of us dog owners knew intuitively that 5,000 years had to be wrong.
It's like knowing, intuitively that man had language, tools, shelter etc. more that 5,000 years.
It's arguable that dogs enabled man to truly civilize and subdue the planet.
Before them we had no eyes, ears or noses. We were too slow.
With them we became the Alpha Predator and were no longer prey to any beast.
A fundamental transition point in human development.
Oh, and fundamental to canine development as well. It was and has been a synergistic association.
Dogs got food, warmth and protection too.
And music.
And BACON! :)
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