Dawn-of-the-Dog

NEWS | FEATURESPHOTO: © THE UPPER GALILEE MUSEUM OF PREHISTORYthe tooth back into its mandibleand slots the root intoa tiny Ziploc bag, where itwill be shipped to the UnitedKingdom for genetic analysis.“That’s about as good asit can go,” he exhales.The postdoc has made11 trips as one of the dogcollaboration’s two mainsample hunters, travelingfrom his home base at theUniversity of Aberdeen toother universities, museums,and even private collections.“I’m on a plane ortrain every 2 to 3 weeks,”he says. He’s probed wolfskulls in Serbia, cradleddog bones in Sweden, andscoured the archives of theSmithsonian Institution inWashington, D.C. Most ofthe destinations come fromscanning the scientific literature,talking to experts,and putting up posters atprofessional and amateurarchaeology conferences.“There’s a huge amountthat’s hidden in desk drawers,”he says.Hulme-Beaman is at OhioState because of a callLarson received from PaulSciulli, a retired physicalanthropologist who heardabout the collaboration. Hetold Larson he had accessto a bunch of ancient NativeAmerican dogs, some ofwhich he had dug up himselfin unexpected places. “There are siteswhere you find nothing,” says Sciulli, whohas swung by to check on Hulme-Beaman’sprogress. “No houses, no signs of villagelife. Just graves. And it’s just people anddogs.” Most of the dogs were about the sizeof beagles, and some were buried with theirowners, one under a person’s arm. “Theseweren’t wild animals,” he says. “They werepart of the family.”Sciulli watches as Hulme-Beaman moveson to another specimen, gingerly removinga yellow-brown cranium the size of a pineapplefrom a plastic bag. He places the sampleon a record-size disk, beneath a cameraattached to a jointed mechanical arm. Thenhe slowly rotates the disk, snapping a pictureevery 2 seconds as the images appearon a nearby laptop. “We’re tricking thecomputer into thinking that we’re walkingaround the object,” he explains. By the timethe disk has done a 360, he has taken moreThe skeletons of a human and dog (upper left) discovered underneath a 12,000-year-oldhome in northern Israel are early evidence of the human-canine bond.than 200 shots, and a three-dimensionalrendering of the skull pops up on the screen,rotating to expose every nook and cranny—a carbon copy cranium Hulme-Beaman canbring anywhere.The computer can now do somethingno archaeologist can: perform geometricmorphometric analysis of the skull. Thethousands of measurements it will takewill go far beyond mere length and widthto determine actual shapes: the precise circletsof eye sockets, the jut and jag of everytooth. Ancient DNA, Hulme-Beaman says,can tell you where an animal came from,but only such morphometric data can showyou domestication in progress—the sharperangling of the snout, for example, that tookplace as wolves morphed into dogs.“For the first time, we’re going to be ableto look at some of these strange skulls likethe Goyet skull and figure out how strangethey really are,” he says. “Are they wolvesbecoming dogs, or are theyjust unusual wolves?” Combiningthe two approaches,he says, should allow thecollaboration to home in onjust where dogs came from—and when this happened.“Archaeology is storytelling,”Hulme-Beaman says.“I think we’re going to beable to tell a great story.”AT THE END OF THE DAY,Hulme-Beaman packs up hislaptop and samples and preparesfor his next trip, likelyto Istanbul. Sciulli suggestsa detour, mentioning a museumin Cleveland that has“hundreds of bones” from alocal site; he says he can putthe curator in touch. Hulme-Beaman looks tired, but hesmiles. “Sure,” he says, “giveme his number.”A continent away, Larsonand Dobney have continuedto make phone calls.Their collaboration hasnow swelled to 50 scientistsfrom around the world—experts on dogs, domestication,zooarchaeology, andgenetics. Larson estimatesthat the team has analyzedmore than 3000 wolf, dog,and mystery specimensso far, and he expects thegroup to submit its first paperthis summer. “I’ve beenreally encouraged by howeveryone has been gettingalong,” he says. “We have a lot more in commonthan we thought.”Larson feels confident that the work willsolve the mystery of dog domesticationonce and for all, though some experts aren’tso sure. Just throwing a lot of data at anenigma won’t necessarily unravel it, warnsRichard Meadow, the director of the zooarchaeologylaboratory at Harvard University’sPeabody Museum. “The more samplesyou get, the more complicated things get.”And Hulme-Beaman points out that even ifthere is an answer, it’s likely to disgruntlesome of the collaborators.Still, the formerly warring camps seemsanguine. “I’m willing to accept a differentresult,” Savolainen says. “If I’m wrong, it willbe a bit embarrassing,” he laughs, “but scienceis about trying to find the truth.” Wayneagrees. “Even if what we find contradicts myhypothesis, I’d be very happy,” he says. “I justwant an answer.” ■SCIENCE sciencemag.org17 APRIL 2015 • VOL 348 ISSUE 6232 279Published by AAAS