Dogs have long been considered humanity’s best friend—but when did that bond begin? A new study from the University of York takes a closer look at the relationship between humans and canines, pushing back the timeline of dog domestication by more than 5,000 years and suggesting the partnership began over 14,000 years ago.
The research team analyzed ancient DNA from excavated canine remains at archaeological sites in the United Kingdom and Türkiye, dating to the Late Upper Palaeolithic period, before the rise of agriculture.
Archaeologists identified a 14,300-year-old dog jawbone from Gough’s Cave in the United Kingdom, currently considered the earliest known domesticated dog in the region. Additional remains from Pınarbaşı in Türkiye also point to early evidence of dog domestication across Europe and Asia during the Ice Age.
“We have long believed dogs evolved from grey wolves during the last Ice Age, but physical evidence of their association with humans has been difficult to confirm,” said Professor Oliver Craig, Director of the BioArch Centre at the University of York, in a statement.
“During the earliest stages of domestication, dogs and wolves looked almost identical, and behavioural differences do not show up in the archaeological record,” Craig added.
Previous studies of early canines relied on small DNA fragments and skeletal measurements, often leaving questions about their origins unresolved. In this new research, scientists resequenced whole genomes from remains more than 10,000 years old and compared them with over 1,000 modern and ancient dog genomes. The findings confirm that dogs were already living alongside humans across Europe and western Asia by at least 14,000 years ago. Over time, these early lineages gave rise to the diverse breeds seen today through a long history of close association between humans and dogs.
The team also looked into the diet of our 14,000-year-old furry friends by analyzing carbon and nitrogen isotopes preserved in bone collagen, alongside human and wolf remains from the same sites.
“A key finding came from Pınarbaşı, where the data showed that domestic dogs consumed a diet rich in fish, closely matching that of local humans,” Lizzie Hodgson, a PhD student at the University of York, said, highlighting the team’s findings. “It is unlikely dogs were catching significant amounts of fish themselves, suggesting they were being actively fed by people.”
The similarity in their diets provides compelling evidence of a close, cooperative bond between humans and dogs during the Ice Age.
“These specimens allowed us to identify additional ancient dogs from sites in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, showing they were already widely dispersed across Europe and Türkiye by at least 14,000 years ago,” said Dr. William Marsh, from the Natural History Museum, in a statement.
The study suggests that dogs coexisted with various hunter-gatherer groups, including Epigravettian and Magdalenian communities, at the end of the Ice Age, and were genetically closer to the ancestors of modern European and Middle Eastern breeds than to Arctic dogs.
“Dogs with very different ancestries already existed across Eurasia, from Somerset to Siberia,” said Dr. Lachie Scarsbrook, from LMU Munich.
Experts suggest dogs may have been domesticated over 10,000 years before other species and were likely closely integrated into early human communities, and additional evidence also points to the cultural connection to the burial areas of dogs. For instance, a dog jawbone from Gough’s Cave is now evidence of the earliest domesticated dog from the United Kingdom, dating to around 15,000 years ago.
“This study reveals the beginnings of a human and canine bond that continues to this day,” notes Dr. Sophy Charlton, from the University of York’s Department of Archaeology. “It’s a narrative that began towards the end of the Ice Age but was foundational to many of the modern breeds we see today.”
The study was published in Nature.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.