Scientists have identified a female puppy that lived about 15,800 years ago in what is now Turkey as the earliest-known dog. The remains, a piece of skull recovered at the Pınarbaşı rock shelter used by Ice Age hunter-gatherers, are nearly 5,000 years older than the previously known oldest dog. DNA analysis and morphological study indicate the pup was a few months old and probably resembled a small wolf, according to Laurent Frantz of Ludwig Maximilian University, a co-author of a Nature paper on Paleolithic dog distribution across Europe and Asia.
Researchers say it remains unclear what precise roles dogs filled in human societies at that time. While the human–dog relationship likely differed from modern pet ownership, Frantz suggested that children probably still played with puppies.
A second Nature paper, led by Anders Bergström of the University of East Anglia and co-authored with Frantz, traces the genomic history of dogs in Europe. Bergström argued that dogs did not always have clearly defined roles and that companionship may often have been their primary function.
At Pınarbaşı, archaeologists found evidence of close human–dog connections: both human and dog burials, with dogs interred alongside people, and signs that hunter-gatherers fed fish to their dogs, said William Marsh of the Francis Crick Institute. Artifacts from the site shed light on human life during the last ice age, which ended around 10,000 years ago.
Distinguishing early dogs from wolves is difficult because early dogs were genetically similar to gray wolves. Despite that uncertainty, researchers estimate that dog and wolf populations diverged at least 24,000 years ago. Bergström’s team also identified the oldest dog in Europe from remains dated to about 14,200 years ago at Switzerland’s Kesslerloch site. The genetic links observed between ancient European and Asian dogs suggest a shared ancestry and hint at a single domestication event, though the timing, place and reasons for domestication remain largely unresolved.
Swedish geneticist Pontus Skoglund described a persistent “genetic abyss” between dogs and wolves and said the search for a clear missing link continues.
Edited by: Sean Sinico