33,000 YEAR OLD PET DOG SKULL UNEARTHED IN SIBERIA

Ancient Dog Skull Shows Early Pet Domestication

33,000-year-old fossil suggests dogs arose in multiple places, study says.
The skull of a domesticated canine.

It took 33,000 years, but one Russian dog is finally having its day.

The fossilized remains of a canine found in the 1970s in southern Siberia's Altay Mountains (see map) is the earliest well-preserved pet dog, new research shows.

Dogs—the oldest domesticated animals—are common in the fossil record up to 14,000 years ago. But specimens from before about 26,500 years ago are very rare. This is likely due to the onset of the last glacial maximum, when the ice sheets are at their farthest extent during an ice age.

SOME PEOPLE THINK THE DOG DOMESTICATED MAN.