It is not so easy to determine when men began to cooperate with wolves. Anyway, there was a time when they were hunters and gatherers. They lived together in groups and moved from place to place. They probably had already discovered fire. People did not use fire only for preparing their food and protecting themselves from the cold, but also for keeping the wolf pack away. On the other hand, their way of life was probably not so different from that of wolves. This is probably what led single wolves joining people. The common hunt may well have brought benefits to both parties. The wolves living with people changed over the generations and eventually turned into dogs.
All the information we have about this period was collected from archaeological excavations. Tools made of bones and stones were kept in favorable conditions for thousands of years. People did not build houses back then, so most references are to graves. No speculations can be made on the significance of the skeletons and objects that were found.
The dog grave in Oberkassel, Bonn, Germany
Such a grave was accidentally discovered in a quarry near Bonn in 1914. In addition to two human skeletons, it also contained several items and animal bones. For example, a jaw bone was found. It is not known whether the dog was buried with humans, or whether the bone was a grave good, but it is certain that it belonged to a dog and not to a wolf.
The finds were dated 1994. Therefore, they are approximately 12,000 to 14,000 years old. This was the oldest pet-related finding ever made for a long time. Several such finds were made in various parts of the world in the meantime. It was believed that the domestication of the dog took place about 14,000-18,000 years ago. The distances between the sites pointed towards several independent domestication cases.
There is now an information board at the archaeological site in Oberkassel, Bonn, Germany, so tourists can visit this site whenever they want.
Genetic studies
Genetic analysis is possible today. The comparison of the genetic material of wolves with that of today's dogs points to the separation of the two, i.e. the domestication of the dog, some 135,000 years ago. However, it was confirmed that several independent domestications must have taken place. This finding has led to a dispute between researchers because there were no people in the regions of the world where wolves were indigenous 135,000 years ago. This last sentence holds true only for Homo sapiens because Neanderthals were already there. Did they really tame the wolves? Perhaps the wolves tamed themselves inspired by the people around them. There is no clear answer to this question because there are no archaeological findings from the period of domestication of dogs. However, researchers are still looking into this evolutionary stage and hope to have answers at some point, so research has not made any progress in this direction for quite some time.
