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Earlier than thought: Dogs lived with humans in the Americas 10 kya

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From Bruce Bower at ScienceNews:

A trio of dogs buried at two ancient human sites in Illinois lived around 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest known domesticated canines in the Americas.

Radiocarbon dating of the dogs’ bones shows they were 1,500 years older than thought, zooarchaeologist Angela Perri said April 13 at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

An absence of stone tool incisions on the three ancient dogs’ skeletons indicates that they were not killed by people, but died of natural causes before being buried, Perri said. More.

Burial of dogs who died from natural causes implies, of course, a level of affection and esteem.

See also: A top anthropology finding of year show humans cognitively closer to dogs than chimps

and

Dogs can pass the smell test, not the mirror test, of self-recognition

Comments
Never mind dogs, what about cats? We know the ancient Egyptians worshiped them. Maybe one of the ancient civilizations in the Americas did the same. For all we know that Aztec god was really called Quetzacoatlolcat.Seversky
April 17, 2018
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Other than the age, I don't think that this is news. It has long been k now that native north americans kept dogs. Maybe not in the pampered style in which we treat our dogs now, but still in close proximity to humans.Allan Keith
April 17, 2018
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