An early dog from Southeast Alaska supports a coastal route for the first dog migration into the Americas ...

The oldest confirmed remains of domestic dogs in North America are from mid-continent archeological sites dated ~9,900 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Although this date suggests that dogs may not have arrived alongside the first Native Americans, the timing and routes for the entrance of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Da Silva Coelho, Flavio Augusto, Gill, Stephanie, Tomlin, Crystal, Heaton, Timothy, Lindqvist, Charlotte
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp000
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp000
Description
Summary:The oldest confirmed remains of domestic dogs in North America are from mid-continent archeological sites dated ~9,900 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Although this date suggests that dogs may not have arrived alongside the first Native Americans, the timing and routes for the entrance of New World dogs are unclear. Here, we present a complete mitochondrial genome of a dog from Southeast Alaska, dated to 10,150 ± 260 cal BP. We compared this high-coverage genome with data from modern dog breeds, historical Arctic dogs, and American precontact dogs (PCDs) from before European arrival. Our analyses demonstrate that the ancient dog shared a common ancestor with PCDs that lived ~14,500 years ago and diverged from Siberian dogs around 16,000 years ago, coinciding with the minimum suggested date for the opening of the North Pacific coastal (NPC) route along the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and genetic evidence for the initial peopling of the Americas. This ancient Southeast Alaskan dog occupies an early ...