A 10,200-year-old fragment of dog bone has been identified, from among thousands of ancient bone pieces discovered in a cave on the west coast of Alaska in 1998. Modern DNA analyses have found that the dog the fragment belonged to was closely related to dogs domesticated in Siberia about 23,000 years ago. And the dog was descended from a population that split from its Siberian ancestors about 16,700 years ago.
By tracing this dog’s heritage and movement, we can get hints at the history of the humans dogs (presumably) traveled with. Our current understanding of human history fits well with the new study. Previous studies looking at human DNA suggest that modern Native American populations split from Siberian ancestors around the same time.
Chemical analysis of the dog bone indicates that the creature ate a diet based on marine animals. Potentially the dog lived off scraps of fish, seal, and whale, provided by its human companions traveling by boat around Ice Age glaciers.
