Friend or foe? Large canid remains from Pavlovian sites and their archaeozoological context

Jarosław Wilczyński,Gary Haynes,Łukasz Sobczyk,Jiří Svoboda,Martina Roblíčková,Piotr Wojtal

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101197

Abstract

In this paper we discuss recent claims that dogs were first domesticated from wild wolves in the Middle Upper Paleolithic (MUP), about 27 ka BP. According to our data, we think the presence of large canids at the Pavlovian/MUP sites is a result of hunting specialization and not a sign of an early process of dog domestication. Our interpretation is supported by the following observations, whose implications we discuss: (1) Pavlovian faunal assemblages from seven sites in Moravia contain relatively high numbers of large canids; (2) gnaw-marking by large canids occurs with low frequency on the animal bones in these assemblages; (3) the bones of Pavlovian large canids in the sites often have cut marks from skinning, dismembering, and filleting. Whatever the reasons MUP people had for killing wolves, such as for food or for the skins, the effect would have reduced competition for prey between humans and wolves. The relatively high frequency of wolves at Pavlovian sites may have been a side effect of settlement aggregation and long-term occupations of sites, which could have attracted wolves to the settlements, and thus increased the need for humans to reduce their numbers.

Highlights

The question of the earliest domestication of dogs is an important one in current debates about the evolution of human societies, because the dog was the first domesticated animal species, and because of this species’ strong relation with humans and its adaptability that enabled rapid spread over most of the world (Vilà et al, 1997; Clutton-Brock, 1995; Wang and Tedford, 2008; Crockford, 2000; Olsen, 1985)
Publications have since appeared which attempt to explain the relationships between humans and large canids during the Gravettian and Epigravettian Upper Paleolithic period, and new announcements have been made of Paleolithic dogs, often from archeological sites in the Russian Plain (Sablin and Khlopachev, 2002; Ovodov et al, 2011; Shipman, 2015a,b; Bocherens et al, 2015; Nikolskiy and Sotnikova, 2018)
We think the abundance of large canids at the Pavlovian/Middle Upper Paleolithic (MUP) sites is a result of hunting specialization and is not evidence for an early process of dog domestication

Summary

Introduction

The question of the earliest domestication of dogs is an important one in current debates about the evolution of human societies, because the dog was the first domesticated animal species, and because of this species’ strong relation with humans and its adaptability that enabled rapid spread over most of the world (Vilà et al, 1997; Clutton-Brock, 1995; Wang and Tedford, 2008; Crockford, 2000; Olsen, 1985). The possibility of even earlier domestication has gained pace from new interpretations of the Middle Upper Paleolithic (MUP) faunal record (Germonpré et al, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018). This proposal mainly arose from a suggestion that large canid remains excavated at the Pavlovian site Předmostí are from domesticated dog (Germonpré et al, 2012). Publications have since appeared which attempt to explain the relationships between humans and large canids during the Gravettian and Epigravettian Upper Paleolithic period, and new announcements have been made of Paleolithic dogs, often from archeological sites in the Russian Plain (Sablin and Khlopachev, 2002; Ovodov et al, 2011; Shipman, 2015a,b; Bocherens et al, 2015; Nikolskiy and Sotnikova, 2018)

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