World's oldest genetic evidence for domestic dogs identified in Europe and Türkiye

A new study published in Nature has uncovered the earliest genetic evidence for the existence of dogs. Using ancient DNA analysis, researchers identified dogs at archaeological  sites in the UK and Türkiye dating to the Late Upper Palaeolithic, approximately 16,000–14,000  years ago, a time when all humans were hunter-gatherers and agriculture had not yet emerged.

Scientists have known that dogs emerged from grey wolf populations and they suspected that the process took place around the last Ice Age. Evidence from pre-agricultural archaeological sites has been limited and difficult to confirm. During the early phases of domestication, the skeletons of  dogs and wolves were likely to have been indistinguishable, and their behavioural differences do 
not leave traces in the archaeological record. 

Previous studies have mostly used very short DNA sequences and skeletal measurements to evaluate the earliest presence of dogs in the archaeological record. In this new study, researchers from 17 institutions recovered whole genomes from archaeological specimens older than 10,000 years excavated from Upper Palaeolithic sites including Gough’s Cave in the UK, and Pınarbaşı in Türkiye. They then compared the genomes with more than 1,000 modern and ancient dogs and wolves from across the world.

The results of these analyses confirmed that these bones belonged to dogs, and pushed back the earliest direct evidence for dogs by more than 5,000 years. Re-analysis of the earlier data also showed that dogs were likely distributed across Epigravettian and Magdalenian hunter-gatherer communities in Europe toward the end of the Ice Age. 

Dr William Marsh, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Natural History Museum and co-first author of the study, said: “The genetic identification of two Palaeolithic dogs from Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı represents a step-change in our understanding of the earliest dogs. These specimens allowed us to identify additional ancient dogs from sites in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, which clearly show that dogs were already widely dispersed across Europe and Türkiye by at-least 14,000 years ago.” 

These new DNA data revealed not only that the Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı individuals were dogs, but that they were more closely related to the ancestors of present-day European and Middle Eastern breeds, such as boxers and salukis, than to Arctic breeds like Siberian huskies. This indicates that today’s major dog genetic lineages must have been established by the Upper Palaeolithic.  

Dr Lachie Scarsbrook, Postdoctoral Researcher at the LMU Munich and co-first author of the study, explains: “This means that by 15,000 years ago, dogs with very different ancestries already existed across Eurasia, from Somerset to Siberia. This raises the possibility that domestication occurred during the last Ice Age, more than 10,000 years before the appearance of any other domestic plants or animals.”

What role these dogs played in Palaeolithic communities remains unclear. The study suggests they may have been transferred between genetically and culturally distinct groups, including Epigravettian and Magdalenian communities in Europe. 

Tantalising clues of close association between humans and dogs were also evident in the analysis of dietary isotopes and morphometric signals led by researchers at the University of York and the Natural History Museum. The isotope analysis showed people at Pınarbaşı likely fed dogs fish, which, together with evidence that the animals were intentionally buried, suggests a close interaction between people and their dogs. Suggestions of similar interaction were also seen at Gough’s Cave and a site in Germany, indicating dogs may have held cultural significance across Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer communities. 

This study, entitled Dogs were widely distributed in Western Eurasia during the Palaeolithic, is published today in Nature.

Artistic reconstruction of Pınarbaşı c. 15,800 years ago based on evidence from archaeological excavations by University of  Liverpool. The illustration shows dogs, the burial of pups and the local wetland landscape, alongside personal ornamentation, various foods including fish (consumed by dogs), basketry and ritual practices. Illustration by Kathryn Killackey.