A recent study published in the journal Science indicates that nearly half of the diversity observed in modern dog breeds was present during the Stone Age, challenging the belief that such variation largely arose during the Victorian era. Researchers examined hundreds of skulls from dogs and wolves spanning 50,000 years to determine when distinctive traits in dogs began to emerge.
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Carly Ameen, co-lead researcher and bioarchaeologist at the University of Exeter, stated that the findings suggest a significant level of diversity in skull shapes and sizes more than 11,000 years ago. Ameen noted that this early variation indicates that much of the physical differences we associate with modern breeds has deep historical roots, emerging shortly after the domestication of dogs.
Dogs evolved from wolves as companions of humans, but timelines for this transition vary among scientific methods. Genetic evidence suggests that dogs diverged from wolves about 11,000 years ago, while fossil records indicate that early dogs may have existed as far back as 35,000 years ago. To study the evolution of these animals, researchers used 3D scans of 643 ancient wolf and dog skulls, producing clearer evidence of their morphological changes over time.
The analysis unveiled a distinctive skull shape related to dogs that appeared around 11,000 years ago, in alignment with genetic findings. Although ancient dogs did not exhibit the extreme skull shapes seen in some modern breeds, the research revealed that they showcased about half of the total variation found in contemporary dogs by the Stone Age.
Melanie Fillios, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of New England, highlighted that the findings suggest human intervention was not the sole factor in the breed diversity observed. She mentioned that environmental factors also likely played a role in shaping early dog varieties, with different contexts demanding variations in morphology based on roles like hunting or companionship.
Further research is needed to understand the complexities of dog domestication and the evolution of outliers such as dingoes. Fillios noted that while the study consolidates existing information, it does not fully address the domestication process or the emergence of specific dog species like dingoes, whose evolutionary timeline diverges from that of modern domestic dogs.
Overall, the study underscores the long history humans and dogs share, with Ameen concluding that while dog domestication has been extensively studied, a great deal still remains to be uncovered.