Dogs domesticated before farming

New ancient‑DNA analysis of 216 archaeological canid remains, including a sample from Kesslerloch cave dated to ~14,200 years ago, shows dogs in Europe were already genetically differentiated from wolves long before Neolithic farming spread. Modern European dogs trace roughly half their ancestry to these pre‑farming hunter‑gatherer dogs, implying long and regionally complex dog–human relationships spanning the Late Pleistocene. — This shifts when and how we should place dog domestication in human history, affecting archaeology, theories of human social life, and discussions about co‑evolutionary relationships between humans and companion animals.