Barkaeology: A Brief History of Dogs

What better time to discuss the domestication and use of Canis familiaris than here in the dog days of summer? Anna and Amber discuss recent research tracing how wolves evolved into the pups we know and love, the earliest dogs known in the archaeological record, the evolution of our relationship with them, and some Very Good Boys and Girls throughout history. Plus, medieval pet name suggestions, Amber chokes up about the Odyssey (typical), waggy little flop-eared foxes, and Anna’s Movie Minute takes on Alpha (2018).The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia (Popular Science)North America’s earliest dogs came from Siberia (Science News)Human Footprints at Chauvet Cave (Archeology)26,000-Year-Old Child Footprints Found Alongside Paw Prints Reveal Oldest Evidence of Human-Canine Relationship (Ancient Origins)Earliest Dogs in North America (Canadian Museum of Nature)America’s first dogs vanished after Europeans arrived, study finds (Washington Post)Ancient American dogs almost completely wiped out by arrival of European breeds (AAAS)The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas (Science)America's Oldest Dog Discovery Helps Solve Canine DNA Riddle (National Geographic)Prehistoric Puppy May Be Earliest Evidence of Pet-Human Bonding (National Geographic)Dog Love Isn’t A New Thing: Even Yudhisthir Refused To Enter Heaven Without His Loyal Dog (Scoop Whoop)Trut, L. (1999). Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment. American Scientist, 87 (2) DOI: 10.1511/1999.2.160Trut, L. (2001). Experimental Studies of Early Canid Domestication. In The Genetics of the Dog, A Ruvinsky and J. Sampson, eds.A Loyal Companion and Much More: Dogs in Ancient China (Ancient Origins)On the custom of burying dogs in prehistoric burials (Chinese Archaeology)