How did humans and dogs become friends? Connections in the Americas began 12,000 years ago

U of Arizona ^ | December 5, 2024 | Kyle Mittan, University Communications

[SunkenCiv]

A new study led by a University of Arizona researcher is one step closer to an answer on how Indigenous people in the Americas interacted with early dogs and wolves.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances and based on archaeological remains in Alaska, shows that people and the ancestors of today's dogs began forming close relationships as early as 12,000 years ago – about 2,000 years earlier than previously recorded in the Americas...

"People like me who are interested in the peopling of the Americas are very interested in knowing if those first Americans came with dogs," Lanoë added. "Until you find those animals in archaeological sites, we can speculate about it, but it's hard to prove one way or another. So, this is a significant contribution." ...

Lanoë and his colleagues unearthed a tibia, or lower-leg bone, of an adult canine in 2018 at a longstanding archeological site in Alaska called Swan Point, about 70 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Radiocarbon dating showed that the canine was alive about 12,000 years ago, near the end of the Ice Age.

Another excavation by the researchers in June 2023 – of an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone at a nearby site called Hollembaek Hill, south of Delta Junction – also shows signs of possible domestication.

Chemical analyses of both bones found substantial contributions from salmon proteins, meaning the canine had regularly eaten the fish. This was not typical of canines in the area during that time, as they hunted land animals almost exclusively. The most likely explanation for salmon showing up in the animal's diet? Dependence on humans.

[SunkenCiv]

Ice Age Bone Needles Discovered in Wyoming | Archaeology Magazine | December 5, 2024 | CNN reports that 32 fragments of bone needles have been discovered at Wyoming's La Prele Mammoth site, which consists of dozens of temporary dwellings and the butchered remains of a young mammoth. The 13,000-year-old needles were found when sediment from the site was sifted through a fine mesh screen. Analysis of bone collagen with zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, or ZooMS, indicates that the needles had been made from the bones of red foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, lynx, the extinct American cheetah, and hares or rabbits. "It was extremely surprising that these needles were made out of small carnivores," said Spencer Pelton, Wyoming state archaeologist. He and his colleagues had expected to find that the needles had been crafted from the bones of bison or mammoths, but they soon realized that using the fine limb and paw bones of smaller animals would reduce the amount of work necessary to produce each tool. The needles were likely used to make warm, tailored clothing, Pelton added. "It would have likely incorporated fur fringes around the sleeves and hood, which is why we think people were trapping animals like foxes, cats, and hares in the first place," he explained. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE.

Bone needle and needle preform reconstructions and Micro-CT scans of comparative faunal specimens

Pelton et al., 2024, PLOS ONE

[SunkenCiv]

[Red Badger]

I saw the movie ‘Alpha’................🙄

[Rio]

[rlmorel]

One word: Bacon.

[I want the USA back]

People fed canines, and the dogs/wolves alerted the humans to danger, and protected them. A formula that has worked and is still working.

[sopo]

Cats came along

[Hatteras]

[Sirius Lee]

Because cats were willing to intercede on behalf of their clumsy friends.

[Seruzawa]

Doga and cats are amongst the smartest of animals. They allied themselves with the planet’s most apex predator that ever lived.

[Red Badger]

CATS: Okay, I’ll kill your mice and rats, but you gotta give me TUNA FISH!... DEAL?..........

[AnAmericanMother]

All is explained here:

The Cat That Walked By Himself

[HereInTheHeartland]

“ Doga and cats are amongst the smartest of animals. They allied themselves with the planet’s most apex predator that ever lived.”

Even childless cat ladies?!
Those cats chose poorly

[TexasGator]

“One word: Bacon.”

Two words: Not bacon

[Charles Martel]

[Racketeer]

People worship God yet the animal that will do anything for a person is called a Dog.

God spelled backwards and I have always wondered how did that happen?

[Son-Joshua]

How can we not love our dogs. Husky’s are my breed. They are pack oriented so while my kids were young my husky’s treated them like their children. But, I saw my male husky hunt a pheasant and eat it. There is another side to husky’s but they know when to act on it. Very smart dogs.

[Honorary Serb]

Native Americans used dogs as beasts of burden before they had horses!

https://www.godsdogs1.com/history-of-the-native-american-dog.html#/

[Carry_Okie]

Dogs cleaned up the camp site.

No digging necessary.

[Son-Joshua]

I adopted a female husky who was abused. She had eating disorders so she would snap at my male during dinner. He cared for her so much that he would let her eat out of either bowl. Then he would eat the rest. Talking about God. Wouldn’t it be a blessing if people cared for each other that way?