Researchers are saying they have found a bone fragment from what they are calling the earliest confirmed domesticated dog in the Americas.
Researcher Samuel Belknap III poses with a skull of a domestic dog, on Jan. 14, at the University of Maine in Orono. Belknap found a bone fragment of what he says is the oldest-known domesticated dog in North America, while examining a waste matter recovered from Hinds Cave, a major archeological site in southwest Texas near the Mexico border.
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0119/9-400-year-old-dog-found-earliest-found-in-Americas
Nearly 10,000 years ago, man's best friend provided protection and companionship — and an occasional meal.
That's what researchers are saying after finding a bone fragment from what they are calling the earliest confirmed domesticated dog in the Americas.
University of Maine graduate student Samuel Belknap III came across the fragment while analyzing a dried-out sample of human waste unearthed in southwest Texas in the 1970s. A carbon-dating test put the age of the bone at 9,400 years, and a DNA analysis confirmed it came from a dog — not a wolf, coyote or fox, Belknap said.
Read full story in this link http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0119/9-400-year-old-dog-found-earliest-found-in-Americas
