Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia

Interesting article with lots of pictures from the rock art from 7th to 8th millenium BCE found in Shuwaymis and Jubbah, Saudi Arabia.

Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia

Interesting, I recently went to a talk by Alice Roberts on her new book about domesticated animals, Tamed.

The first part of her talk was how dogs became domesticated and she believes that dogs adopted man rather than the other way round.

The last time I read something on this, which was several decades ago, archaeologists believe the domestication of the dog may have started prior to 20,000 b.p., and this is largely based on the lower levels of calcium in some dog bones than what normally is found with wild dogs. Unfortunately, I can't remember where this was first noticed.

BTW, dogs have evolved to the point whereas they will do things that wild dogs, wolves, coyote, etc. do not do, such as fetch or look where you point.

metis said:

BTW, dogs have evolved to the point whereas they will do things that wild dogs, wolves, coyote, etc. do not do, such as fetch or look where you point.

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I'm sure that talk by Alice also said that domesticated dogs have evolved to 'wag their tails' which wild dogs don't do. I should have bought the book!

Jumi said:

Interesting article with lots of pictures from the rock art from 7th to 8th millenium BCE found in Shuwaymis and Jubbah, Saudi Arabia.

Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia

Click to expand...

Not directly related, but still about ancient dogs:

Archaeologists find mysterious, 4,000-year-old dog sacrifices in Russia

Polymath257 said:

Not directly related, but still about ancient dogs:

Archaeologists find mysterious, 4,000-year-old dog sacrifices in Russia

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I'm glad most of humanity has moved past these pointless sacrifices. My ancestors hunted bears for similar reasons, they believed bears were sort of gods, so they believed the hunt was a mode of worship/respect where when succesful that "flesh of god" was consumed. Of course failure might have meant death.

I'm typing this with a dog literally at my feet. As humans have evolved beyond hunting and gathering, dogs have taken advantage of this by replacing hard work with a sad look and a gently waving tale. This illustrates the intelligence of dogs.