According to a new study, ancient humans and hunter-gatherers from present-day Patagonia, Argentina, may have kept pet foxes before European dogs arrived roughly 500 years ago.
There were even cases where these ancient humans bonded so closely with the pot foxes that they were buried with them.
Though it was previously proposed that modern dogs in the area are a combination of dogs and foxes, this is not the case. Instead, it appears that foxes ultimately died out.
Grave Findings
A new study in the Royal Society Open Science journal sheds light on a grave examination in a grave within the site of Cañada Seca, roughly 210 kilometers south of Mendoza western city.
The site was discovered in 1991 and contains bones from at least 24 individuals and their belongings. The remains include those of children, while the belongings include stone tools, lip ornaments, and necklace beads. According to previous radiocarbon date calculations, the individuals could have lived there roughly 1,500 years ago.
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Pet Foxes of Ancient Humans
One grave also contains a fox's partial skeleton. The study identifies this as Dusicyon avus, an extinct species closely related to the Dusicyon australis (Falkland Islands fox or wolf) that became extinct during the 19th century.
It appears that the fox was deliberately buried alongside the individuals within the grave. This marks the second finding across South America.
Ophélie Lebrasseur, a zooarchaeologist from the University of Oxford, explains that there could have been a more profound relationship in the society of hunter-gatherers compared to the particular individual.
The researchers initially thought that the fox bones in the site were a specimen of the Lycalopex genus. However, as part of the latest study, they conducted accurate measurements of dimensions and ancient DNA analysis, which revealed that they were actually Dusicyon avus.
Analysis of nitrogen and carbon isotopes within the fox bones showed that the animal consumed a plant-rich diet similar to the individual in the grave. Usually, wild foxes eat more meat. Lebrasseur explains that this suggests that the grave fox consumed whatever the human did.
The study authors note that the most possible explanation is that the fox was a treasured companion of the group of hunter-gatherers. They note that the fox's close bonds with humans would have been the main factor for its position as a grave good after its owner's or companions' death.
Lebrasseur notes that Dogs began entering the continent of South America with individuals around 4,000 years ago. However, 3,000 years ago, their spread stopped in Patagonia's north.
Because of this, the earliest evidence of dogs in the area traces back to the 16th century. This was when some Indigenous groups began to breed dogs of European descent.
However, it is unlikely that the region's modern dogs may have come from a mixture of foxes and dogs. DNA analysis conducted on the Cañada Seca fox showed that most of its offspring with dogs would have ended up being infertile.
It appears that the Dusicyon avus ended up extinct due to climate change and as humans took over its habitats.
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