It has long been believed that dogs were first domesticated about 14,000 to 17,000 years ago. But a recent report by Mietje Germonpre of Belgium's Museum of Natural History and her research team has produced evidence for dates closer to 31,500 to 37,000 years ago.
Three canid skulls documented in the report were found at Predmosti in the Czech Republic and were dated at around 31,500 years ago. A separate research team working at Razboinichya Cave in Siberia found a skull believed to be 33,000 years old. An even older skull, reported in 2009 by Germonpre, was discovered at Goyer in Belgium and dated at 36,000 years.
Researchers generally consider shorter snouts and wider brain cases, among other characteristics, when trying to separate dogs from wolves. These distinctive characteristics, appearing on skulls from three separate regions of Europe and Eurasia, seem to indicate that the domestication and breeding of dogs was not the product of a single anomalous event. Also, one of the dogs found in the Czech site had been buried with a mastodon bone in its mouth. Did its owner place it there as a parting gift?
This is most likely not the end of this story. Now that these new discoveries have been reported, other researchers may take a closer look at some of their own finds.
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