Dog remains from Epipaleolithic Portugal

As suspected, the dog was already domestic before the Neolithic and that was certainly the case in Europe. This seems confirmed by new findings of dog remains in the shell middens of the Muge area, the main clutural group of pre-Neolithic Portugal.

Cleia Detry and Joao Luis Cardoso, On some remains of dog (Canis familiaris) from the Mesolithic shell-middens of Muge, Portugal. Journal of Archaeological Science, 2010. Pay per view.

Just for the record. Notice that the oldest known dog skeleton is from Aurignacian Belgium although its mtDNA line is now extinct.

Origin of small dogs in West Asia

New genetic research suggests that the alleles causing small size in certain dogs may have evolved early in the process of domestication and be derived from the wolf of West Asia (Canis lupus pallipes), of smaller size and tamer behavior than its more common relative Canis lupus lupus.

Melyssa M. Gray et al., The IGF1 small dog haplotype is derived from Middle Eastern grey wolves. BMC Biology, 2010.

See also the commentary by C.A. Driscoll and B. Macdonald: Top dogs: wolf domestication and wealth. Journal of Biology, 2010, arguing for a true origin of the dog in West Asian Mesolithic and later introgression of large size genes from the common wolf.

Dog origin anywhere in Eurasia

It was claimed some years ago (Savolainen et al., 2002) that dog domestication had happened apparently in East Asia, reasoning based on the genetic diversity of the animals sampled in that region. But now new research by Adam Boyko and colleagues challenges this after having sampled numerous dogs through Africa, while in honeymoon, Boyko has found that the diversity there is comparable to that found in East Asia.

But the study does not challenge the fundamental notion that the domestic dog descends from the Eurasian grey wolf (Canis lupus), so Africa cannot be the place where it was first domesticated. Where then? The question remains unanswered by the moment and East Asia could still be the place but the evidence is inconclusive.

The highest diversity found in Africa and East Asia so far doesn't seem to correspond to anything but the fact that village dogs, in contrast to purebreeds and mixes from these breeds, are intrinsecally much more diverse genetically. It is rural disinterest for dog breeding what has preserved that higher diversity, not any aboriginal pervivence.

It may be worth remembering here too that the oldest dogs found in the archaeological record belong to the Aurignacian culture of Europe, specifically in modern Belgium. It is also interesting to mention in this regard that this dog is apparently not the direct ancestor of modern dogs, at least matrilineally. (Note: I found another media article claiming that there are dog remains from Britain from before 100,000 BP, what would make the domestication a Neanderthal achievement - I cannot confirm this claim though).

Source: BBC.
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Around the Web: European UP people and dogs

Magdalenian Faces.- Tim at remote central, makes a nice review of the Magdalenian portraits of La Marche and other sites, their history and their striking modernity.

Aurignacian dogs.- Several blogs touch this issue recently: I found it first at Anthropology.net but Dienekes and John Hawks also adress the matter of ancient domestic dogs. It seems that Aurignacian people already had dogs and that these were alredy somewhat different from their wild ancestors (wolves).

In relation with these issues, I'd thank if anybody could provide some nice info on the forgotten issue of Magdalenian domestic (?) horses. Anticipated thanks.