Researchers examine the dispersal of dogs and humans into the Americas. Dogs are thought to be the first species domesticated by humans. However, the timing of dog domestication, and when dogs first accompanied people to the Americas, are unclear. To better understand the dynamics of early dog domestication, Angela Perri and colleagues compared population genetic results derived from the ancient DNA of human and dog remains excavated from Siberia, Beringia, and North America. Analyses of ancient dog DNA suggest that dogs were likely domesticated from Eurasian wolves by approximately 23,000 years ago, possibly in Siberia, where both humans and wolves were isolated together during the harshest period of the last Ice Age. From Siberia, domesticated dogs crossed the Bering Land Bridge with the first people to reach the Americas and traveled with them as humans rapidly dispersed throughout the continent, beginning around 15,000 years ago; further DNA analysis supports this theory in revealing late Pleistocene gene flow from ancient humans in northern Siberia to ancient Native Americans. The findings suggest that all ancient dogs belonged to a single haplogroup lineage, A2b, which is no longer found in the Americas. Furthermore, overlapping migration histories and population divergences of dogs and humans suggest that early domesticated dogs may have followed humans as they dispersed across the globe, according to the authors.
Article #20-10083: "Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas," by Angela R. Perri et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Angela R. Perri, Durham University, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44 (0) 7537 877772; email: angela.r.perri@durham.ac.uk
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences