The World's first images of dogs

These may be the world’s first images of dogs—and they’re wearing leashes

By David Grimm  Nov. 16, 2017  

Carved into a sandstone cliff on the edge of a bygone river in the Arabian Desert, a hunter draws his bow for the kill. He is accompanied by 13 dogs, each with its own coat markings; two animals have lines running from their necks to the man’s waist.

The engravings likely date back more than 8000 years, making them the earliest depictions of dogs, a new study reveals. And those lines are probably leashes, suggesting that humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

“It’s truly astounding stuff,” says Melinda Zeder, an archaeozoologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. “It’s the only real demonstration we have of humans using early dogs to hunt.” But she cautions that more work will be needed to confirm both the age and meaning of the depictions.


The dogs look a lot like today’s Canaan dog, says Perri, a largely feral breed that roams the deserts of the Middle East. 

That could indicate that these ancient people bred dogs that had already adapted to hunting in the desert, the team reports this week in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 

The ancient hunting dogs of Saudi Arabia (bottom) may have resembled the Canaan breed of dog (top).
(Top to bottom): Alexandra Baranova/Wikimedia Commons; M.Guagnin et al., Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017



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Archaeology
Plants and Animals
David Grimm

David is the Online News Editor of Science.

Sources: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/these-may-be-world-s-first-images-dogs-and-they-re-wearing-leashes?utm_source=newsfromscience&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=dogleash-16407


Saudi find may reveal how humans harnessed early dogs to survive.

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