14,400-Year-Old Paw Prints Are World's Oldest Evidence Of Humans Living Alongside Domesticated Dogs

Exploring new caves during the Upper Palaeolithic was fraught with danger, which is why one group of ancient humans in Italy made sure to take their trusted four-legged companion with them when they stepped into the darkness. Analyzing the fossilized foot and paw prints left behind during this subterranean excursion, researchers say that these 14,400-year-old tracks represent the world’s oldest direct evidence of humans living alongside a domesticated dog.

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A total of 25 preserved canid prints were discovered in various chambers of the Grotta della Bàsura in northwest Italy. In some cases, the paw marks overlay human foot impressions, while in other instances the reverse is observed, indicating that the dog explored the cave at the same time as the humans.

“The reciprocal superimpositions between human and canid tracks provide unequivocal proof of their contemporaneity and therefore of their close relationship,” explained study author Marco Romano, Professor of Palaeontology at the Department of Earth Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome, in a statement sent to IFLScience. “For the first time, we can observe not merely the dog’s presence beside humans, but a precise moment of their close interaction, crystallised in the footprints.”

To learn more about the prehistoric pooch, the researchers studied the prints using a series of techniques, including photogrammetry, advanced morphometrics, neoichnology, and Principal Component Analysis, as well as comparing them to almost a thousand paw prints made by modern domestic dogs and wolves. “Our analyses show that all the prints belong to a single individual – a large adult dog of about 40 kilograms (88 lbs) and nearly 70 centimeters (27 inches) at the shoulder – moving closely alongside the human group,” says Romano.

The canid also measured 108 centimeters (42.5 inches) in length, and while the authors can’t confirm whether the animal was closer to a wolf or a modern breed of dog, its intimate association with a human group makes it the earliest confirmed domesticated canine. Previously, the oldest solid evidence for dog domestication had come from Bonn-Oberkassel, where canid bones were found buried alongside two people who died around 14,200 years ago.

And while genetic evidence suggests that the domestication process may have begun as early as 40,000 years ago, the prints at Grotta della Bàsura represent the earliest physical traces of this epic interspecies friendship.

“The canid accompanied the group throughout their journey into the Grotta della Bàsura, even into its deepest areas,” write the study authors, before adding that the dog would have made “a ‘perfect ally’ for exploring dark and unknown hypogean environments.” Indeed, fossil evidence suggests that bears occupied the cave at around the time of this excursion, and a large dog may therefore have provided these intrepid humans with a level of protection as they ventured into the void.

This need for a watchdog is highlighted by the fact that some of the human footprints belong to children, who would have been particularly vulnerable without the guardianship of a fearless, furry escort. Based on all of these findings, study author Federico De Sario says that “as early as the Late Pleistocene, dogs were reliable companions, useful for exploring dangerous environments and probably for protection against large carnivores inhabiting the cave.”

The study has been published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.