Oldest Canine Bone Ever Documented Shows How Long Man's Best Friend Has Been Around

Though these companions have been around for millennia, nobody knows how long they have existed. However, with the help of precise carbon dating, the timeline is being narrowed down, as noted by Science Alert.

Now, thanks to the discovery of a primordial bone, scientists have been adjusting the timeline of man's friendship with canines.

Oldest Canine Bone Dates to at Least 17,000 Years Ago

A dog humerus was discovered back in 1985 inside the Erralla cave in the Basque Country, Spain. Now, it has been analyzed and dated to years ago that range between 17,096 and 17,410. This was analyzed through carbon dating.

All of these were found by researchers of the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. They also confirmed that the sample was that of Canis lupus familiaris. Before this confirmation, researchers thought the bone belonged to a wild dog from Asia.

Now, with the confirmation that the bone was a dog's and not a wolf's, this discovered humerus is the oldest dog bone that has ever been found.

(Photo: Pexels / Chris F)

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The Debate That Dogs Came From Wolves

This data is incredibly essential in understanding dog domestication. It also provides room to discuss the timeline and the characteristics of the remains of dogs like wolves. These dog-like wolves are perceived to be a transitional stage between both animals.

According to Yahoo News, Conchi de la Rúa of the University of the Basque Country mentioned that the findings increased the probability that wolf domestication took place earlier in western Europe.

Yahoo News also notes that this dog has a mitochondrial connection with some Magdalenian dogs that had been analyzed. The roots of this lineage can be connected to a time when low-temperature climates clashed with the last glacial maximum that took place in Europe more than 22,000 years ago.

While some think that these two animals started diverging more than 100,000 years before, it is more accepted on a general level that dog domestication took place between 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. Science Alert also notes the possibility that this process could have started with the self-domestication of wolves as they fostered attachment toward areas settled by humans.

However, identifying biological remains can be challenging. Over time, DNA gets ravaged, so identification can only be done through the analyses of the shape of bones. Such a basis of identification falls short when it comes to reliability because wolves could have had varying shapes and forms during this time, or they may have had differences in particular regions.

Nevertheless, whether dogs bred from wolves and when these dogs started getting domesticated are still being debated.