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Domestication of the dog
by c. 15,000 years ago, perhaps much earlier· Event· Life & early humans
DebatedHistorians or scientists disagree about what happened, when, or why.
Hunter-gatherers turned gray wolves into dogs, the first domesticated animal, at least 15,000 years ago and perhaps far earlier.
See it on the History map →What happened
Dogs descend from an Ice Age wolf population that is now extinct. Wolves that scavenged near human camps and tolerated people may have partly tamed themselves, with humans then favoring useful traits. A dog buried with two people at Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany, about 14,200 years ago had been nursed through a serious illness as a puppy. Dogs helped hunt, guard and haul, and spread with humans around the world.
Why it matters
Dogs showed humans could reshape another species thousands of years before crops and livestock, beginning a partnership that still runs through daily life.
How we know
Ancient burials and bones, plus DNA from ancient and modern dogs and wolves; genetic estimates put the split from wolves between about 40,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Still debated
Where it happened, Siberia, East Asia, Europe or several places, and whether people adopted wolf pups or wolves tamed themselves, are unresolved.
Connections (2)
▸Homo sapiens: modern humans began Domestication of the dogMostly agreed
The connection
Modern human hunter-gatherers living alongside Ice Age wolves set off the process that turned some wolves into dogs. One theory holds that people shared surplus lean meat in hard winters; tamer wolves that stayed close bred, and over generations became dogs that hunted, guarded and traveled with people.
When and how
Somewhere in Eurasia, perhaps Siberia, between about 40,000 and 15,000 years ago.
How sure are we?
Ancient dog burials with people, such as Bonn-Oberkassel 14,200 years ago, and genomes linking all dogs to an extinct Ice Age wolf population.
Debates and open questions
Whether dogs were domesticated once or twice, and whether humans or wolves drove the early stages, are unresolved.
▸Domestication of the dog came thousands of years before the Agricultural (Neolithic) RevolutionMostly agreed
The connection
Dogs were domesticated by hunter-gatherers, not farmers, thousands of years before any crop or herd animal. It was the first case of humans reshaping a species by influencing which animals survived and bred, the process later applied to sheep, goats, wheat and barley. Dogs then joined farmers as herders and guards.
When and how
Dogs by at least 15,000 years ago in Eurasia; the first farm animals, sheep and goats, about 11,000–10,500 years ago in the Fertile Crescent.
How sure are we?
Dog remains at hunter-gatherer sites far older than any domesticated plant or livestock remains.
Debates and open questions
Whether experience with dogs made later animal domestication easier, or the two were unrelated, is speculative.