Fossil tooth hints dog domesticated 33,000 years ago

Mar 08, 2013 |

A 33,000-year-old fossil tooth recovered in southern Siberia belonged to one of the oldest known ancestors of the modern dog, according to a new study.

The researchers found that this fossil, named the “Altai dog” after the mountains where it was recovered, is more closely related to modern dogs and prehistoric canids found on the American continents than it is to wolves.
The findings by Anna Druzhkova from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Federation, and colleagues from other institutions could indicate that dogs were domesticated around 33,000 years ago.
The point at which wolves went from wild to man’s best friend is widely debated, though dogs were well-established in human societies by about 10,000 years ago. Dogs and humans were buried together in Germany about 14,000 years ago.

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