"The coyote and wolf have a sequence divergence of 0.07 +/-
0.002 and diverged about one million years ago, as estimated from
the fossil record. consequently, because the sequence divergence
between the most different genotypes in clade 1 (the most diverse
group of dog sequences) is no more than 0.010, this implies that
dogs could have originated as much as 135,000 years ago.
Although such estimates may be inflated by unobserved multiple
substituions at hypervariable sites, the sequence divergence
within clade 1 clearly implies an origin more ancient than the
14,000 years before the present suggested by the archaeological
record. Nevertheless, bones of wolves have been found in
association with those of hominids those of hominids from as
early as the middle Pleistocene, up to 400,000 years ago."~Carles
Vila et al, "Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog,"
Science, 276(June 13, 1997):1687-1689, p. 1689
The reason this was surprising is that the earliest domesticated dog found
in the fossil record is from 14,000 years ago at Oberkassel, Germany (Juliet
Clutton-Brock, "Origins of the Dog: Domestication and Early History," in
James Serpell, ed. The Domestic Dog, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1995), p. 10)
To explain this discrepancy the researchers suggest that wolves took up
residence with early man. Vila et al write:
"Nevertheless, bones of wolves have been found in
association with those of hominids those of hominids from as
early as the middle Pleistocene, up to 400,000 years ago."~Carles
Vila et al, "Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog,"
Science, 276(June 13, 1997):1687-1689, p. 1689
I spent some time looking up these locations where man and wolf lived
together. I found out several things. First, wolves are a northern
hemisphere, circumpolar species. Animals called wolves who live in the
southern hemisphere are not wolves. There are also more than 30 subspecies
of wolf. Wolves also do not normally live deep in caves. They dig burrows
and will live in shallow spaces between rocks. (Stanley J. Olsen and John
W. Olsen, "The Chinese Wolf, Ancestor of New World Dogs," Science, August 3,
1977, p.533-535, p. 533)
In spite of this, wolf skeletons have been found at lots of hominid sites,
including Zhoukoudian, China, the site of Peking Man. Olsen and Olsen relate,
"At the site of Chouk'outien, 42 kilometers southwest of
Peking, some vertebrate remains were found in close association
with Homo erectus pekinensis. An approximate date of 500,000
years ago can be set for the period of maximum Homo utilization
of the cave's lower area. The canid found along with Peking Man
has been described as Canis sp.. It was later renamed as Canis
lupus variabilis, for, as was noted, it differed from the common
wolf of the area only in that it was a bit smaller with a more
slender muzzle and a weak sagital crest."~Stanley J. Olsen and
John W. Olsen, "The Chinese Wolf, Ancestor of New World Dogs,"
Science, August 3, 1977, p. 533-535, p. 534
The speculation is that the wolf was raised by Homo erectus which often
tames it. This has been done by Buffon as well as people in this century.
Zeuner writes:
"Buffon, as long ago as 1797, related that in Persia wolves were
trained for shows, being taught to dance and exhibit a number of
tricks. He himself reared several, and found them very docile
and even 'courteous' during the first year. They never attempted
to seize poultry or other animals when properly fed, until, they
were about eighteen months old, when they began to do mischief.
According to Blanford, the young of the Indian wolf are born with
drooping ears, have all the habits of domesticated dogs and are
readily tamed, and Mr. Cris Crisler has recently tamed them in
Alaska. It is therefore easy to imaging conditions in which the
domestication of wild dogs might have been carried out in more or
less permanent living sites, such as camps or
villages."~Frederick E. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated
Animals, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963), p. 83-84
Modern human sites with wolves include:
Kesslerloch Scweiszersbild (approx 15,000 years ago)
Timonovka Russia (approx. 23,000)
Neandethal sites
Wildkirchli, Switzerland (approx 80,000 years ago)
Lunel-Viel, France, (approx 200,000 years ago)
Homo erectus sites:
Lan-tien (660-700 kyr)
Yuanmou, Yunnan (700,000-1.7 myr)
(see Frederick E. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated
Animals, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963), p. 80
Dennis A. Etler, "The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution in
Asia," Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 1996, 25:275-301, p. 281
Stanley J. Olsen and John W. Olsen, "The Chinese Wolf, Ancestor of New World
Dogs," Science, August 3, 1977, p. 533-535, p. 535)
Once again, here is a human activity found among early man. I might point
out that many anthropologists, including Richard Leakey, Franz Weidenreich
(the excavator of Peking Man),Milford Wolpoff, Rachael Caspari, Jan
Jelinek, and others have suggested that there really should only be one
species of man over the past 2 million years, this species would be Homo
sapiens.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm