The First American Dogs The Koster Dogs of Illinois are the oldest known dog burials in the Americas. They’re also the oldest individual dog burials in the world. Recently, a nearby site known as “Sitwell II” has revealed another dog burial. A team of researchers (Perri et al (2018)) conducted archaeological and genetic analyses on these remains. I’ll summarize the results. ••• Dates The oldest Koster dog carbon dates to about 10,130-9,700 calendrical years before the present, and another at 10,110-9,680. While the Sitwell II dog has been dated to about 10,190-9,360 cal BP. These dates fall into the Early Archaic period, making these the oldest dogs in the Western Hemisphere. ••• Diet Isotopic samples taken from the dog’s bone collagen indicate that their diets mainly consisted of riverine fish. ••• Quality of Life Aside from some very uncomfortable gum disease and the heavily-worn molars that afflicted the Sitwell II dog, these dogs lived a relatively healthy and active life - one indicative of their hunter-gatherer human counterparts. Seven of the dog’s vertebrae show deviations on the spinous processes. Some researchers believe this is due to carrying packs. Other studies suggest this is a natural occurrence. ••• Implications Perri suggests these dogs were likely buried based on their status. Perhaps as the best hunting dogs in the deciduous forest environment of the Early Archaic midcontinent. The dates of these dogs are several thousand years younger than the earliest Americans to arrive. Perri suggests these dogs may correlate to a later wave of early migrations into the continent, or that the lack of evidence for dogs in the western US may be a result of rapid movement across the continent. DNA shows that these dogs and Eurasian dogs shared a common ancestor about 15kya. And lastly, admixture with coyotes and American wolves may complicate the identification of other early American dogs. Source: https://www.davidianhowe.com/ Ethnocynology - the ancient relationship between humans and dogs.