Prehistoric Burials Add to Our Understanding of the Long, Long Relationship Between People and Dogs

Digging Prehistoric burials add to our understanding of the long, long relationship between people and dogs. By Jane Brackman, PhD Up Bones Studies of prehistoric dog burials have been making splashy headlines lately.i Although the popular press would have us believe that these finds are proof of the affectionate relationship our ancestors had with dogs, the unifying theory that gives meaning to burial patterns remains elusive because ancient people left no written record. What little we know about dogs’ social roles in antiquity is a patchy mosaic of information derived from physical analysis of bones excavated from gravesites. The accuracy of this mosaic has been further complicated by archaeologists’ long-standing difficulty with reliably distinguishing between wolves and dogs, not only because the two animals look similar, but also because changes in morphology during the early stages of domestication were subtle. However, in 1986, zooarchaeologist Darcy Morey, now adjunct professor in anthropological sciences at Virginia’s Radford University, developed a statisti- cal equation to more accurately identify dissimilarities between skulls. A decade later, geneticists were able to extricate even more conclusive information from DNA. Then, in a landmark paper published in 1999 in the Journal of Heredity, geneticists Carles Vilà, Jesus Maldonado and Robert Wayne suggested that the first domestication event occurred more than 100,000 years earlier than dog burial remains suggested. This marked the beginning of a decades-long trend that all but excluded archaeology and other academic disciplines from the equation. Morey—and later, Greger Larson, evolutionary biologist in Durham University’s Department of Archaeology in the UK—challenged the exclusive use of DNA analysis to identify the time and place of the first domestication event. They advocated a return to a cross-discipline approach that included traditional archaeology, DNA analysis, isotope geochemistry and radiocar- bon dating in the context of environmental sciences such as paleoclimatology and biogeography. David Mercado/Reuters 82 Bark Winter 2014 Winter 2014 Bark 83 Robert Losey, associate professor Goyet, cooperated with humans in a of anthropology at the University of symbiotic hunting partnership that Alberta, is among the scholars who From the Indian Knoll site along Kentucky’s could account for the significant and Green River. This skeleton is more than agree with this approach. “When the 5,000 years old and was originally excavated abrupt increase in the number of ani- genetic information can be integrated during the late 1930s by archaeologists mals found at mammoth kill-sites dat- with information on dogs’ diets, dis- from the University of Kentucky; 23 dog ing as far back as perhaps 45,000 years. eases, activity patterns and archaeo- burials were discovered during this dig. The initial domestication of dogs may logical context, we get a much more have been accidental, but once humans complex and informative picture of realized the value of these living “tools,” people’s emotional and day-to-day they began to refine them for increas- lives with their animals than we can ingly specialized purposes. through genetics alone.” In a separate study, a group of Mummy of a dog dating between researchers led by Ole Thalmann ex- Applied Forensics Artist’s rendition of canid burial 1100 and 1300, southern Peru. amined ancient DNA of Eurasian dogs Siberia’s Lake Baikal, the largest and (the Predmosti dogs had not been geno- oldest freshwater lake in the world, is Buryat shaman typed) along with others, and came up on Olkhon Island, known for its well-preserved Middle Lake Baikal. with some surprising results. Separated Holocene (3,000- to 9,000-year-old) by only a few thousand miles and a few hunter-gatherer cemeteries, which thousand years, the ancient dogs were attract scientists studying how social not related to each other, nor were they and environmental pressures influence related to modern dogs. In addition, long-term cultural change. Leading none of the lines survived, which sug- a team of researchers from various gests that domestication experienced disciplines, Losey analyzed numerous many starts and stops in different Lake Baikal sites containing human, regions with different wolf populations. dog and wolf remains dating back 5,000 Siberia, Lokomotiv canid burial, Scientists speculated that the last ice to 8,000 years; the team’s findings were roughly 8000 years BP. age, which began about 26,000 years published in 2011 in the Journal of ago, might have contributed to this Anthropological Archaeology. would have used or been familiar with not just their evolutionary history.” Waves of Proto-domestication far back as 30,000 years ago? Archae- stutter-step process. They also found As he explained, “What I tried to do during its life: a decorative collar-like Putting all of the small parts together, Although romanticized images of digs ologist Mietje Germonpré of the Royal that living dogs are more closely related in my study was to approach these dog pendant made with red-deer teeth, a the researchers painted a big picture. in the shadows of ancient civilizations Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences— to ancient, extinct wolves than they are skeletons just like we would a human round ball-like stone, spoons, antlers They suggested that ancient indigenous continue to feed the popular notion of lead author of the two papers describ- to modern wolves. skeleton. We applied a suite of analyses and other implements. people considered some dogs to be very archaeology, a more accurate but less ing the 2008 and 2012 research results If domestic dogs somehow cata- in order to tease out the interesting and Bone-wear suggested that the dogs special. Unlike the majority of sim- dramatic scene would have scientists in —said, “I believe that the dog skull strophically died out, would we have relevant details of their lives. The best had worked alongside people, likely as pler animals, whose spirits collectively white lab coats conducting microscopic with the bone between its teeth suggests the natural resources needed to recre- way to fully understand the domestica- transport animals hauling heavy loads. recycled after death, these dogs were analyses of polymorphic nucleotides some sort of ritual treatment. The posi- ate them? In Shipman’s opinion, “The tion of dogs is to use as many forms of Some had recovered from injuries that thought to be like humans, with power- extracted from bone remnants stored tion of the bone fragment in the mouth answer is both no and yes. If dogs dis- evidence as possible, and to employ a would have required special care. ful and unique souls that required mor- for many decades on museum shelves. suggests that it was inserted between appeared, they probably couldn’t re- wide range of specialists.” Their inter- People and dogs were buried near one tuary rites similar to those of deceased Indeed, bones unearthed long ago have the incisors of the dog post-mortem.” evolve from the wolves we have now. pretive model was partly based on eth- another in the same cemetery, and in people. proven to be quite revelatory. The most The ethnographic record indicates that But those extinct wolves evolved into nographic records of indigenous groups some cases, were buried together (in This special treatment was necessary unexpected discoveries regarding the placing body parts between the teeth of contemporary wolves, and canids in from across the northern hemisphere. one instance, a man was buried with for both dogs and humans so that their human/dog relationship are based on dead carnivores was a common practice general have a huge amount of variabil- For example, many northern people, two dogs, one on either side). Analysis souls could return in new individuals. analyses of materials extracted from in many cultures. Exactly why remains ity in their genomes, which is why we who have an animistic understanding of the dogs’ skeletons revealed a resem- Losey added, “I think the act of treating canid bones excavated, catalogued and open to speculation. have so many different types of dogs of their world, strongly believe that ani- blance to modern-day Siberian Huskies, a dog as a human upon its death indi- archived in 1873 and 1884, respectively. Paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman, today. If by ‘dogs,’ you mean a highly mals, plants and inanimate objects pos- although they would have been larger. cates that people knew it had a soul, The oldest skull, which dates to 31,700 who has written extensively on the evo- variable canid that can live with and sess souls. Genetic work on the specimens con- and that the mortuary rites it received years ago, was found at Belgium’s Goyet lutionary impact of the human/animal cooperate with humans, then I think Using stable isotope analysis, re- firmed an ancestral link to our modern were meant to ensure that this soul was Cave. Another from a site in Predmosti connection, suggested that the mam- the answer is yes. Would it be the same searchers determined that dog and dogs. properly cared for. These practices also in the Czech Republic proved to be moth bone points to a cross-species dog as today? We can’t be sure.” human diets were the same. In compar- According to Losey, “I think what we clearly indicate that people had close about 27,000 years old. One skull from alliance that may have developed even ison, a wolf found buried in the same are really looking at is a set of relation- emotional bonds with some of their the Predmosti site had a mammoth earlier—one that might account for the Laid to Rest with Care area had foraged on large game, a diet ships between people and dogs, and to dogs, and perhaps mourned their loss bone fragment in its mouth.

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