The link between canine and man is undoubtedly a strong one but how far can you trace this relationships origins back to? New DNA evidence has recently been discovered that leads scientists to believe that this relationship may have spanned over 40,000 years! This gives a whole new meaning to man’s best friend! Although the dog in your living room may not resemble the dogs of 9,000 years ago that same loyalty runs through its veins! Check out this article by our friends at Daily Mail!
How dogs became a farmer’s best friend: New DNA evidence reveals early canines faithfully followed their masters from the Middle East as farming spread to Europe and Asia
- Domesticated dogs tagged along with early farmers 9,000 years ago
- Experts say they were ‘an integral component of the Neolithic farming package’
- Study looked at 99 samples of canine DNA found at sites across Europe and Asia
- Hunter gatherers may have domesticated dogs as long as 40,000 years ago
The world’s first farmers were already reliant on their ‘wolf-like’ dogs who followed them into Europe and Asia 9,000 years ago, according to a new DNA study.
Domesticated dogs faithfully tagged along with early agriculturalists who were ‘already really connected’ to their hounds when they spread out of the Fertile Crescent.
Last year, a major genetic study revealed that hunter-gatherers may have domesticated dogs from wolves as long as 40,000 years ago.
This recent study shows that not only were dogs useful to early hunters but they were ‘an integral component of the Neolithic farming package’ too.
The Fertile Crescent is an ancient area of fertile soil arcing around the Arabian desert from Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and ending in Iraq and Iran.
According to a paper by researchers from the University of Rennes in France, dogs accompanied humans when they first spread out from this area.
‘Our study shows that dogs and humans have an intertwined story – dogs followed humans during this migration across Europe,’ Dr. Morgane Ollivier told BBC.
Their research shows that humans and dogs were ‘already really connected’ at this stage, she said.
The team looked at 99 different samples of canine DNA found at sites across Europe and Asia.
‘Dogs were the only domestic species present in both Europe and the Near East prior to the Neolithic’, researchers found.
Early farming is believed to have spread to Europe around 9000 years ago when immigrant farmers arrived from all over from the Fertile Crescent.
These societies, which were accompanied by sheep, goats, pigs, and cows, substantially replaced the local hunter-gatherer population, researchers found.
Becoming farmers meant early humans could stay in one place rather than regularly moving to follow food sources as human hunter-gatherers had done previously.
This also allowed larger settlements to spring up while the larger quantities of food allowed people to spend time learning other skills, eventually resulting in specialized craftsman who could innovate and develop new technology.
Last year, a major genetic study revealed that dogs may have been used by humans for up to 40,000 years.
Read more at Mail Time
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