Dogs got domesticated 17,000 yrs ago

A survey of earliest known dog burials has found that humans were able domesticate dogs only as recently as between 13,000 and 17,000 years ago.

A new survey of earliest known dog burials has found that humans were able domesticate dogs only as recently as between 13,000 and 17,000 years ago. The new study by Darcy Morey suggests that the bond between humans and dogs coincides with canine burials, and refutes earlier theories that dogs became man's constant companion as early as 40,000 to 135,000 years ago.

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Researchers found that though earliest known buried dog dates to around 17,000 years ago in central Russia, the practice of burying dogs did not become common between 15,000 and 14,000 years ago.

Christyann Darwent, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California at Davis, agrees with Morey's time window for domestication theory.

“Dogs and humans could have been hanging out together long before 17,000 years ago, but domestication means we were manipulating their breeding, and that probably didn’t happen until more recently,” Discovery News quoted her, as saying.