The remains were discovered in the Altai Mountains in Siberia by a team led by Nikolai Ovodov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences. By comparing features such as tooth-size and snout-width with measurements taken from prehistoric and modern dogs and wolves, researchers established that the skull probably came from a canine in the very early stages of domestication. Susan Crockford, evolutionary biologist at the University of Victoria and co-author of the study, said: ‘It was not a dog yet, but may have been eventually if conditions had continued.’
This article is an extract from the full article published in World Archaeology Issue 52. Click here to subscribe