Paleolithic dog

Polychrome cave painting of a wolf-like canid, Font-de-Gaume, France.

The Paleolithic dog was a Late Pleistocene – early Holocene canid and was smaller in size to an extant Gray wolf (Canis lupus). They were directly associated with human hunting camps. They are now extinct.

"Palaeolithic" is the European spelling, however this article will use the US "Paleolithic" spelling to maintain consistency with links to related pages.

Specimen references used in this article relate to the following institutions:
MAE RAS - Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Science, Saint-Petersburg
PM NASU - Palaeontological Museum National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kiev
RBINS - Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
ZIN RAS - Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, Saint-Petersburg

Naming

In 2002, a study looked at 2 fossil skulls of large canids (references: MAE RAS 447 and ZIN RAS 23781) dated at 13,905 years BP that had been found buried within metres of what was once a mammoth-bone hut at the Upper Paleolithic site of Eliseevichi 1 in the Brayansk region of central Russia, and using an accepted morphologically-based definition of domestication declared them to be "Ice Age dogs".^[1] A later study recalibrated the age to 15,000 BP with the genetic analysis of one skull deposited in GenBank with accession number KF661082 and classified as Canis lupus familiaris (dog).^[2] In 2009, another study looked at these 2 early dog skulls in comparison to other much earlier but morphologically similar fossil skulls that had been found across Europe and concluded that the earlier specimens were "Palaeolithic dogs", which were morphologically and genetically distinct from Pleistocene wolves that lived in Europe at that time.^[3]

Taxonomy

The taxonomy is not well defined.^[3] A nuclear genome study of recent dogs and wolves has indicated that before the divergence of dogs from wolves there was much more wolf diversity.^[4]

Morphology

In comparison to the Pleistocene wolf they had a short skull length, short snout, a wide palate and braincase, relatively short and massive jaws, and a shorter carnassial length but these were larger than the modern dog. The mandible of the Paleolithic dog is more massive compared to the elongated mandible of the wolves, and presents a high frequency of crowded premolars and of a hook-like extension of the caudal border of the coronoid process. The Paleolithic dog had a mean body mass of 36–37 kg compared to Pleistocene wolves 42–44 kg and recent European wolves 41–42 kg.^[3]

Diet

In general, the Paleolithic dog ate reindeer as did the humans they were associated with, while Pleistocene wolves were eating bison. Although considerable variation occurs in the fossil canid isotope signatures between sites, the Belgian fossil large canids preyed in general on horse and large bovids.^[3][5]

Habitat

The Paleolithic dog's fossil remains have been found across Europe.

Relationship to the domestic dog

See also Origin of the domestic dog

See also Megafaunal wolf

Recently, a major Mitochondrial DNA study has found that divergence times from wolf to dog implies a European origin of the domestic dog dating 18,800-32,100 years ago, which supports the hypothesis that dog domestication preceded the emergence of agriculture and occurred in the context of European hunter-gatherer cultures.^[2]

In 2009, a study looked at 117 skulls of recent and fossil large canids. Several skulls of fossil large canids from sites in Belgium, the Ukraine and Russia were examined using multivariate techniques to look for possible evidence of the presence of Palaeolithic dogs that were separate from Pleistocene wolves. Reference groups constituted of prehistoric dogs, and recent wolves and dogs. The osteometric analysis of the skulls indicated that the Paleolithic dogs fell outside the skull ranges of the Pleistocene wolf group and the modern wolf group, and were closer related to those of the prehistoric dog group. The fossil large canid from Goyet, Belgium (RBINS 2860), dated at 31,700 BP is clearly different from the recent wolves, resembling most closely the Eliseevichi 1 prehistoric dogs (see under Naming above). Thus it is identified as a Palaeolithic dog, suggesting that dog domestication had already started during the Aurignacian. The Epigravettian Mezin, Ukraine (PM NASU 5490) and Mezhirich, Ukraine (PM NASU 4493) skulls are also identified as being Palaeolithic dogs.^[3]

It has been proposed that based on the archaeological evidence of the Paleolithic dog remains have been found at known human camp-sites, and based on morphology and collagen analysis, the Paleolithic dog was domesticated. It has been further proposed that the Paleolithic dog may have provided the stock from which early dogs came from.^[3] The earliest dogs that scientists agree are dogs include one 14,700 years old from Bonn-Oberkassel and one 12,500 years old from the Kartstein cave both in Germany (see the origin of the dog).

There has been an ongoing debate in the scientific press about what the fossil remains of the Paleolithic dog might be, with some commenters declaring them as either wolves or a unique form of wolf. These include a first article proposing the Paleolithic dog,^[3] its refutation,^[6] a counter to the refutation,^[7] a second article,^[5] its refutation,^[8] a third article that includes a counter to the refutation,^[9] its refutation,^[10] a counter to the refutation,^[11] and another refutation.^[12]

As the ancestor of the dog has not been positively identified by scientists as yet, this debate continues.

References