Occasionally I catch a show on television about the origin of man. I find these programs to be fascinating.But they all seem to leave one element out.
There is never a mention of early humans' interaction with dogs. I find this to be quite disturbing to say the least. Current research suggests that man could not have evolved to where he is today if it not for dogs. Dogs helped our ancestors venture out and explore. Basically we would never have evolved beyond cave dwelllers without canine help.
So, if dogs were critical to human evolution, why do so many shows ignore them?
Because the shows are about the evolution of MAN not dogs. Humans were fully modern long before they created dogs. Only Homo Sapiens Sapiens had the imagination, fully evolved empathy, and forethought to even consider adopting that first wolf cub. So they had no impact on evolution, just our cultural development. It was the first step in the understanding of the concept of domestication. Not only of animals, but of plants as well. And the rest, as you know, is history.
TEXGURL Actually recent evidence is showing dog-human interaction much earlier then previously theorized. If the new archeological evidence holds up, dogs were involved in the earliest civilization of man. In fact, one scientist has a great quote.
"There was civilization before the horse, there was civilization before the wheel, there never was any civilzation before the dog. No dog, no civilization."
Think about how early humans hunted. They hunted in packs with one individual as the leader. Guess how wild dogs hunt. Did we learn this from canines? Wild dogs bring meat home for the young and mothers to feed on. Early humans did the same. Another coincedent? Dog packs have a ranking system. There are the alphas that run the show. Any group dynamic works better when there are leaders and followers. Our civilization is based on this. Do you suppose we learned this from another species?
I do believe that dogs played a vital role in the devolpment of man. More then most people think.
Maybe specifically looking up some programs to watch that deal with man and dog would give you the direction that you want.
Or write the production companies and tell them you as a consumer want more dog.
I really can't tell you why production companies choose to air what they want to... maybe the Nielson poll can answer that for you.
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Originally posted by lizziedog1: Think about how early humans hunted. They hunted in packs with one individual as the leader. Guess how wild dogs hunt. Did we learn this from canines? Wild dogs bring meat home for the young and mothers to feed on. Early humans did the same. Another coincedent? Dog packs have a ranking system. There are the alphas that run the show. Any group dynamic works better when there are leaders and followers. Our civilization is based on this. Do you suppose we learned this from another species?
These are things that scientists can on theorize on, no hard evidence pointing to yes or no will ever be uncovered, and maybe that's why television shows don't want to air it. Too much unknown, and less fact giving lead to an unreputable history show.
The point is that humans were fully modern, and had been for thousands of years, before dogs came about. Shows about evolution are about how we came to be. Dogs aren't the foundation of civilization, crops are. Farming food, and being more sedentary because of farming, are what gave rise to the first cities and the first civilizations.
quote: Originally posted by lizziedog1: Think about how early humans hunted. They hunted in packs with one individual as the leader. Guess how wild dogs hunt. Did we learn this from canines? Wild dogs bring meat home for the young and mothers to feed on. Early humans did the same. Another coincedent? Dog packs have a ranking system. There are the alphas that run the show. Any group dynamic works better when there are leaders and followers. Our civilization is based on this. Do you suppose we learned this from another species?
Humans and wild canines do have similar sociatal similarities. But they are independant of each other. Monkeys live in troops and have social hirearcheys similar to wolves an ours. Do you think monkeys learned how to organize thenselves from wild dogs? No, and neither did people. The fact that wild canines could be domesticated into the dog is because of the similarities in life style, not because they taught us how to live and hunt together. We already knew how to do that.
There are two things I stay out of: religions and origins. For both of them, as many questions you ask you can get as many answers from as many people. And often times things get heated, because, as humans, both of these topics are very personal.
Your best course of action is to do some independent research first. Google is a cool tool if used properly, and also libraries come in handy. (If you have a small library, there is also Inter-Library Loan.) Then ask around the scientific community, a call to the state university would suffice. Most experts are more than happy to tell you everything you want to know and then some.
TIME LINE The start of human agriculture began about 12,000 years ago. They are finding humans buried with dogs dating 15,000 years ago. This suggests that close human-dog interactions predate agriculture.
I realize that human origin documentaries are not about dogs. But I have seen such shows were dogs are not even on film. Human hunters are looking for prey and there are no dog like creatues to be seen anywhere. Even if they should not mention dogs at least they could put some in to show what may have been happening back then.
As far as dog related research goes, I have done plenty of it.
Originally posted by lizziedog1: As far as dog related research goes, I have done plenty of it.
Good for you! I know how overwhelming research can get. I am currently writing a treatise concerning Native American education in contemporary society, and, WOW, is there a lot of information to disinter! Don't become discouraged if it seems like a never ending jumble of facts. It's really awesome that you are interested in anthropology. Did you know that many advertising agencies hire anthropologists to try and predict what will interest people?
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL You are right about how information can become overwhelming.
Another question; how would the earliest shepards have herded and protected their flocks without dogs? Did they use ATV's and rifles? Did the earliest humans to cross Siberia and Northern, North America use snowmobiles to haul stuff?
I think the interesting discussion here is whether dogs affected evolutionary (genetic-based) changes or just cultural changes in our ancestors.
As far as I know, Humans WERE anatomically modern long before the fossil record documents human-dog interactions. Our species shows up something like 160,000 years ago. Obviously, we haven't changed enough to warrant classification as a separate species from these ancestors, but I think 160,000 years is enough for some evolutionary change.
I would also propose that it is possible the domestication of dogs may have slightly influenced which genes were passed in humans if those individuals that were able to domesticate wild canines had greater reproductive success because they were able to use their companions for things like hunting or protection.
Also, populating new habitats places new selective pressures on a species; so, if, as lizziedog1 suggests, domesticated dogs helped enable humans to "venture out and explore", they would have indirectly affected which genes were passed on (the genes that allowed humans to be the most successful in their new environments).
SHAE Maybe my initial replies here were not very clear. I mean that dogs helped humans develop beyond hunters and gatherers. It may have had genetic effects on us, but I am talking about devolping civilization.
In order for early humans to have ventured out into a cold cruel world, what better alarm system could they have had other then dogs. It is easy to imagine some early humans walking away from the safety of thier caves with some sort of canine creatures following them. They were not pets, but they followed because of the possibility of getting some food too. Then somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a large predator decided to make a human lunch.
This predator is stalking ever closer. Then the dogs let out an alarm. This alerts the humans. They gather and take action and thus prevent a loss. After an event like this, the humans might decide to keep these canines around. The best way to this would be to toss them a scrap or two of food. The dogs hang around for food, the humans have a way to be alerted to danger.
Now, humans can venture farther and explore more. Thus humans started to settle all parts of the earth. Then came agriculture and cities and technology. Here we are today.
I know this is all theory. I know no one knows for sure how this all started. But I do know that dogs played an important part in man's quest for civilization.
I know how overwhelming research can get. I am currently writing a treatise concerning Native American education in contemporary society, and, WOW, is there a lot of information to disinter! Don't become discouraged if it seems like a never ending jumble of facts. It's really awesome that you are interested in anthropology. Did you know that many advertising agencies hire anthropologists to try and predict what will interest people?
