The Origins of Dogs: Archaeozoology, Genetics, and Ancient DNA
Authors
Fabio Verginelli
Department of Oncology and Neuroscience, G. d'Annunzio University, and Center of Aging Sciences (Ce.S.I.), "G. d'Annunzio University" Foundation, Chieti;
Cristian Capelli
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome;
Valentina Coia
Departments of Animal and Human Biology and Experimental Medicine - Section of History of Medicine, La Sapienza University, Rma;
Marco Musiani
Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4 Canada;
Mario Falchetti
Department of Experimental Medicine - Section of History of Medicine, La Sapienza University, Rome;
Laura Ottini
Department of Molecular Medicine
Sapienza University of Rome
Raffaele Palmirotta
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology and Archeozoology, Special Superintendency at the Luigi Pigorini Museum of Prehistoric-Ethnography, Rome
Antonio Tagliacozzo
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology and Archeozoology, Special Superintendency at the Luigi Pigorini Museum of Prehistoric-Ethnography, Rome
Iacopo De Grossi Mazzorin
Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Lecce
Renato Mariani Constantini
Department of Oncology and Neuroscience, G. d'Annunzio University, and Center of Aging Sciences (Ce.S.I.), "G. d'Annunzio University" Foundation, Chieti;
Keywords:
Evolution , Ancient DNA, Dog , Wolf
Abstract
The domestication of the dog from the wolf was a key step in the pathway that led to the Neolithic revolution. The earliest fossil dogs, dated to the end of the last glacial period (17,000 to 12,000 years ago), have been found in Russia, Germany and the Middle East. No dogs are represented in the naturalistic art of the European Upper Palaeolithic, suggesting that dogs were introduced at a later date. Genetic studies of extant dog and wolf mitochondrial DNA sequences were interpreted in favour of multiple dog founding events as early as 135-76,000 years ago, or of a single origin in East Asia, 40,000 or 15,000 years ago. Our study included mitochondrial DNA sequences from Italian fossil bones attributed to three Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene wolves (dated from ª15,000 to ª10,000 14C years ago) and two dogs, dated to ª4,000 and ª3,000 14C years ago respectively. Taking paleogeography into account, our phylogenetic data point to a contribution of European wolves to the three major dog clades, in agreement with archaeozoological data. Our phylogeographic studies also suggest genetic differentiation of dogs and wolves related to isolation by geographic distance, supporting multicentric origins of dogs from wolves throughout their vast range of sympatry
