Around the time dogs began to separate themselves from wolves is widely believed to be the point at which humans domesticated them and that point in time is now believed to have occurred earlier.
According to BBC News, researchers from Sweden uncovered DNA evidence that puts the earliest dog domestication at 27,000 years ago, about 12,000 years earlier than previous studies have suggested. The researchers detailed their findings in the journal Current Biology.
"Dogs may have been domesticated much earlier than is generally believed," study lead author Love Dalén, of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, said in a press release. "The only other explanation is that there was a major divergence between two wolf populations at that time, and one of these populations subsequently gave rise to all modern wolves."
Peter Smith, chief executive of the Wildwood Trust in Kent, told BBC News the point in time in which dogs diverged from wolves was probably the point where their bond with humans began.
"(The study) is showing that the deep, deep connection has existed between man and wolves - now our dogs - for many tens of thousands of years and that is why we love dogs so much," the one-time conservation biologist said. "They are part of our own evolution into a modern society."
The researchers had two potential situations for how dogs came to be domesticated.
"One scenario is that wolves started following humans around and domesticated themselves," Dalén told BBC News. "Another is that early humans simply caught wolf cubs and kept them as pets and this gradually led to these wild wolves being domesticated. If this model is correct then dogs were domesticated by hunter gatherers that led a fairly nomadic lifestyle."
