(ORDO NEWS) — A group of scientists from the University of the Basque Country, using the latest genetic analysis methods, was able to identify a mysterious creature whose bones were discovered back in 1985. This creature is recognized as one of the oldest domestic dogs in Europe.
The mysterious humerus was discovered in 1985 in the Spanish cave of Erralla during excavations led by a team led by archaeologist Jesús Altouna.
It was an almost completely preserved bone of some representative of the canine family. These predators include many animals, including wolves, dogs, foxes, and coyotes. Until recently, scientists could not accurately identify the species.
And only recently have technologies emerged that have helped unravel a long-standing mystery. A team from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, led by Professor Concha de la Rua, conducted an in-depth study of the skeletal remains.
Morphological, radiometric and genetic analysis was carried out. All this together allowed us to identify the species as Canis lupus Familiaris (domestic dog).
In addition, a new dating of the humerus was carried out, and for this, not only the classical radiocarbon method was used, but also the method of mass spectrometry on a particle accelerator.
This made it possible to determine the age of the bone quite accurately – it ranges from 17,096 to 17,410 years.
That is, Errall’s dog lived during the Magdalenian period of the Upper Paleolithic, which makes it one of the oldest domestic dogs ever found in Europe.
“Our results raise the possibility that the domestication of the wolf occurred earlier than hitherto thought, at least in Western Europe, where Paleolithic hunter-gatherer interactions with wild species such as the wolf may have increased in areas of glacial refuges (such as a Franco-Cantabrian refigium) during that period of the climate crisis,” explains Conchi de la Rua.
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