March 26, 2026, 12:54 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Hunting companion, alarm system, loyal partner? The history of dogs at our side may have begun much earlier than we long thought. Genetic studies now show: Dogs may have accompanied humans as far back as the last Ice Age—long before agriculture, livestock farming, and settlement began. PETBOOK examines the findings about “man’s best friend.”
Dogs, 5,000 Years Before We Settled?
The domestication of dogs—the evolution from wolf to household pet—is one of the oldest relationships between humans and animals. Yet its exact origin remains unclear to this day. Previous estimates ranged from 135,000 to 15,000 years ago.
A central issue: Bones of early dogs and wolves are often difficult to distinguish. Especially in the initial phases of domestication, clear features were lacking. Earlier finds considered “proto-dogs” often turned out genetically to be extinct wolf lines.
Until now, clear genetic evidence for dogs only existed from the Mesolithic period, about 10,900 years ago. At the same time, archaeological evidence suggested that dogs existed earlier and lived with humans. Settlement and the beginning of agriculture and livestock farming were always seen as anchor points. It’s all the more exciting that two studies now delve deep into this early past–and dogs likely accompanied us even earlier.
How Old Is the Relationship Between Humans and Dogs Really?
Particularly spectacular is a study by an international research team led by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Natural History Museum in London, and the University of Oxford. The researchers succeeded in identifying the oldest genetic evidence for dogs to date. Samples from Gough’s Cave in present-day Britain, about 14,300 years old, and from Pınarbaşı in present-day Turkey, about 15,800 years old, were examined.
This is remarkable because these DNA findings are about 5,000 years older than the previously oldest confirmed genetic evidence for dogs. LMU refers to this as a “decisive breakthrough” in its press release.
The problem in researching early dogs: Their bones often look confusingly similar to those of wolves. Especially in the time before agriculture, both species are often difficult to distinguish based on the skeleton. And bones alone don’t reveal how close an animal was to humans.
“Turning Point in Our Understanding of the Earliest Dogs”
In the study, genetics provided further insight. The researchers analyzed ancient nuclear DNA from the finds and compared it with more than 1,000 genomes of modern and ancient dogs and wolves. They were able to clearly show that the animals from Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı were indeed dogs.
Dr. William Marsh, co-first author of the study, says in the LMU press release: “The genetic identification of two Paleolithic dogs from Gough’s Cave and Pinarbasi represents a turning point in our understanding of the earliest dogs.” He further explains: “These specimens allowed us to identify more ancient dogs at sites in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, clearly showing that dogs were widespread across Europe and Turkey at least 14,000 years ago.”
In other words: Dogs were apparently no longer a regional peculiarity but were already widespread across much of Western Eurasia.
Dogs Likely Accompanied Us Even Before Settlement
That’s what makes these findings so exciting. They suggest that the history of humans and dogs didn’t begin with the first villages, fields, and livestock pens. Instead, it may have started in a time when humans still lived as hunters and gatherers.
Dr. Lachie Scarsbrook from LMU also emphasizes the significance of this discovery. In the press release, he states: “This means that 15,000 years ago, dogs with very different ancestries already existed across Eurasia, from Somerset to Siberia. This raises the possibility that domestication occurred during the last Ice Age—more than 10,000 years before the appearance of other domesticated plants or animals.”
If true, then dogs would not only have been the first domesticated animals but also companions of humans from a time when our ancestors still roamed icy landscapes.
What Role Did These Early Dogs Play?
It is still not clearly determined what dogs were specifically used for in these early communities. However, it seems clear: If humans kept them, it was for a good reason. Resources were scarce, and feeding animals was certainly not a trivial matter.
Professor Laurent Frantz, a paleogeneticist at LMU and one of the study’s leaders, says: “The fact that humans exchanged dogs so early means these animals must have been important.” He adds: “Given limited resources, their keeping implies they served a purpose. One possibility is that they acted as highly efficient alarm systems.” This sounds almost surprisingly modern: The dog not only as a hunting partner or helper, but perhaps also as a kind of early warning system at the campsite? 1
Second Study: Early Dogs Were Already Genetically Diverse
A second study, also published in “Nature,” goes a step further and examines the genetic history of early dogs in Europe on a larger scale. A team led by Anders Bergström analyzed DNA from 216 remains of dog-like animals, including numerous finds from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods in Europe.
The special aspect: The researchers were able to confidently classify 141 samples as either dog or wolf, providing a much clearer picture of how early dog populations developed. The oldest genetically confirmed dog sample from this study comes from the Swiss site Kesslerloch and is about 14,200 years old. This dog already shows a close genetic connection to later and even modern dogs.
This contradicts the previously discussed notion that European dogs might have developed independently from other populations. Instead, much suggests that early dogs already trace back to a common, older source.
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The results of this second study are intriguing in several ways. First, they show that dogs were genetically distinct from wolves very early on. Second, their genetic diversity was already reduced–a typical sign that domestication must have been underway for some time.
Third, it becomes clear that early European dogs were genetically closer to East Eurasian wolves than to European ones. This also supports the assumption that the origins of dogs are not simply local to Europe.
And fourth, the study shows that while the spread of agriculture brought new genetic influences to dogs in Europe, the old lines were not displaced. While human populations in Europe changed significantly due to the migration of early farmers, a large part of the earlier ancestry remained in dogs.
This is a fascinating finding. It suggests that while humans brought new lifestyles, techniques, and genes, they often relied on the already existing local dogs. 2
What Both Studies Together Mean
Taking both studies together, an astonishingly clear picture emerges: Dogs were part of human communities at least 14,000 to 15,000 years ago. They were widespread across regions, genetically diverse, and already deeply integrated into the daily lives of various groups.
While research still cannot precisely pinpoint where dogs were first domesticated, it increasingly shows that this process began much earlier than has been securely documented.
And perhaps that’s the most beautiful insight: The history of dogs is not simply a later byproduct of civilization. It apparently begins much earlier—in a Paleolithic world of ice, migrations, and hunters and gatherers. The dog was possibly not just a companion of settled humans but already a friend of the nomadic ones.