25 March 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

New study reveals Dog ancestry can be traced back to two separate wolf populations

An international group of geneticists and archaeologists with participation of the University of Potsdam have found that the ancestry of dogs can be traced to at least two populations of ancient wolves.

This finding, published in “Nature” yesterday, means a step forward to solve the question where dogs underwent domestication, which is one of the biggest unanswered questions about human prehistory.

Dogs are known to have originated from the gray wolf, with this domestication occurring during the Ice Age, at least 15,000 years ago. But where this happened, and if it occurred in one single location or in multiple places, is still unknown.

A 32,000 year-old wolf skull from Yakutia from which a 12-fold coverage genome was sequenced as part of the study. Photo: Love Dalén

In their study, published in Nature on 29 June, the researchers turned to ancient wolf genomes to further understanding of where the first dogs evolved from wolves. They analyzed 72 ancient wolf genomes, spanning the last 100,000 years, from Europe, Siberia, and North America. The remains came from previously excavated ancient wolves and included a full, perfectly preserved head from a Siberian wolf that lived 32,000 years ago.

Nine different ancient DNA labs collaborated on generating DNA sequence data from the wolves. One of the labs is situated at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biology at the University of Potsdam. Co-author Ulrike Taron from the Adaptive Genomics Group explains: “Genomic analyses show that both early and modern dogs are genetically more similar to ancient wolves in Asia than to those of Europe, suggesting domestication in eastern Eurasia.“ However, they also found evidence that two separate populations of wolves contributed DNA to dogs.

‘Dogor’, an 18,000 year-old wolf puppy from Yakutia which was included in the study. Photo: Sergey Fedorov

Early dogs from north-eastern Europe, Siberia, and the Americas appear to have a single, shared origin from the eastern source. But early dogs from the Middle East, Africa, and southern Europe appear to have some ancestry from another source related to wolves in the Middle East, in addition to the eastern source.

First author Anders Bergström from the Ancient Genomics lab at the Francis Crick Institute, says: “Through this project we have greatly increased the number of sequenced ancient wolf genomes, allowing us to create a detailed picture of wolf ancestry over time, including around the time of dog origins. By trying to place the dog piece into this picture, we found that dogs derive ancestry from at least two separate wolf populations – an eastern source that contributed to all dogs and a separate more westerly source, that contributed to some dogs.”

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04824-9

Cover Photo : Jessica Rae Peto, The Francis Crick Institute

Banner
Related Post

Archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old Roman road in Cluj-Napoca in northwest Romania

23 January 2023

23 January 2023

Archaeologists from the National Museum of the History of Transylvania have discovered a well-preserved 2,000-year-old Roman road in the city...

Spectacular gold find from early medieval tombs in Basel

28 November 2022

28 November 2022

An excavation in Basel’s Kleinbasel neighborhood, Switzerland, has uncovered 15 graves, some richly furnished, from an early medieval burial ground....

Environmentalists react to the rehabilitation works in the Assos ancient port

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

Among the continuing landscaping and restoration works at the historic city of Assos in the northern province of Canakkale, a...

1600-Year-Old Geometric Motifs Mosaic Found in Yavne

26 April 2021

26 April 2021

The Israel Antiquities Authority declared Monday that a 1,600-year-old mosaic discovered in Yavne, which archaeologists believe may have once graced...

Tang-e Chogan bas-relief carvings, Majestic treasures of Sassanid art, are under threat of destruction 

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

Treasures of Sassanid art, some of Tang-e Chogan’s bas-reliefs are under threat of complete destruction due to lack of maintenance...

The bronze age village Afragola buried by the Plinian eruption of mount Vesuvius 4,000 Years Ago

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Mount Vesuvius’ Plinian eruption about 4,000 years ago—2,000 years before it buried the Roman city of Pompeii—left remarkable preservation of...

6,000-year-old island settlement found off the Croatian coast

24 June 2021

24 June 2021

Archaeologist Mate Parica, a professor at the University of Zadar, noticed something unusual while examining satellite images of Croatia‘s coastline....

New discoveries announced at Sanxingdui Ruins

20 March 2021

20 March 2021

Chinese archaeologists announced on Saturday that some new major discoveries have been made at the legendary Sanxingdui site in southwestern...

Poland’s largest megalithic cemetery discovered

3 March 2021

3 March 2021

Archaeologists excavated in Poland discovered a large megalithic complex, including dozens of tombs dating back 5,500 years. The site was...

The Ancient City of Miletos’s “Sacred Cave” Opened to Visitors

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

In the ancient city of Miletos, which had an important place in the advancement of philosophy, art, and science in...

On a 5,300-year-old skull, archaeologists find evidence of the first known ear surgery

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

Humans may have begun performing ear surgery more than 5,000 years ago, say Spanish archaeologists. Spanish researchers say the skull...

An inscription containing 15 headless falcons and unknown ancient rituals found in an ancient Egyptian temple

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a shrine containing previously unknown ancient rituals during excavations at Berenike, a Greco-Roman port in Egypt’s eastern...

Colossae Ancient City Excavation Works Begin

8 September 2021

8 September 2021

Excavations of the ancient city of Colossae, located in the Honaz district of Denizli province in western Turkey, are starting...

The first Iberian lead plate inscribed with an archaic script was found at Pico de Los Ajos in Yátova

13 June 2021

13 June 2021

At the Pico de Los Ajos site in Valencia, Spain, a rare lead sheet engraved in ancient Iberian was unearthed....

800-year-old Jin dynasty palace complex found in Beijing Olympic Village

9 February 2022

9 February 2022

While building the athletes’ Olympic Village for this year’s Winter Games in Beijing, China found the remains of an ancient...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *