Mitochondrial DNA studies show that all modern dogs arise from about five female wolves. Because the greatest variation is seen in East Asia, that's the most probable location for the domestication. The most probable time is about 15,000 years ago, making dogs by far the first domesticated species.
There are no maternal lines limited to North America, meaning that aboriginal Americans and Europeans brought dogs to America; no one domesticated the wolves living here.
Given that humans arrived in Australia c. 30000 BP, the dingo must have been part of a later migration.
I would have thought many more domestication events, given that wolves and wolf- hybrids are so nearly domesticable. This result is surprising. Perhaps it shouldn't be. Evidence suggests that invent-once-and-distribute is a lot more common in our history than independent-invention. The alphabet, for example, appears to have been invented just once; all other alphabets are direct descendents or created by guys (like Sequoia and St. Cyril) who knew about the alphabet. Agriculture (in the form of domesticated grains and vegetables) was probably invented in Anatolia and spread out.
Domestication is a bit different, though. Agriculture and the alphabet are ideas that can be transmitted just by cultural contact. Agriculture, for example, seems to have spread faster than migration. Domestic animals, however, being tangible, must have spread more slowly. They still probably spread faster than migration via trade, but would have spread more slowly than inventions.
(This rumination brought to you by the Committee to Make Elizabeth Want a Dog for Her New House.)
Posted by Greg at November 22, 2002 10:55 AM