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For at least 9000 years dogs have been pulling sleds across the Arctic, facilitating subsistence strategies and migrations. Despite the enduring presence of dogs in the Arctic there is an absence of comprehensive studies of the material culture associate with dog sledding, including the diverse technical elements needed for the activity. This study proposes a framework for the recognition of reliable archaeological indicators of dog sledding. The outcome is based on comparisons between ethnographic information of the dog traction technology and archaeological sites from the Arctic regions of Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland using multivariate analysis. These sites were selected as case studies to encompass the breadth of geographical and Inuit cultural diversity where dog sledding traditionally has been practiced. We argue, that by using this framework it is possible to study dog sledding in the Arctic prior to the Thule Inuit period and gain more knowledge about the origin of the practice. By combining sources from ethnography, history and archaeology, our framework identified items involved in dog sledding that were universal to the practice as well as items that were regionally specific. However, the most reliable evidence for dog sledding is the presence of both sled parts, dog bones and equipment for harnessing the dogs. [Display omitted] • Ethnographic framework reveals reliable indicators for identifying dog sledding on archaeological sites through material evidence. • Determining universal and regionally specific indicators of dog sledding on prehistoric archaeological sites. • Providing a method for reexamining early archaeological sites to identify previously overlooked evidence for dog traction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Genetic and stable isotope analyses of fur clothing from the Arctic. • Excellent preservation of endogenous mitochondrial DNA. • Genetic and macroscopic species identifications were inconsistent in a third of the sampled garments. • Stable isotope analysis revealed diversity of dog diets across the Arctic. Among Indigenous populations of the Arctic, domestic dogs (Canislupus familiaris) were social actors aiding in traction and subsistence activities. Less commonly, dogs fulfilled a fur-bearing role in both the North American and Siberian Arctic. Examples of garments featuring dog skins were collected during the 19th-20th centuries and are now curated by the National Museum of Denmark. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of macroscopically identified dog skin garments. We conducted stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis of the dog furs and of fur samples from contemporaneous pelts of Arctic (C. lupus arctos) and grey (C. lupus) wolves. Despite the presence of biocides used to protect the fur clothing during storage, we extracted well-preserved DNA using a minimally-invasive sampling protocol. Unexpectedly, the mtDNA genomes of one-third of the samples were consistent with wild taxa, rather than domestic dogs. The strong marine component in the diets of North American dogs distinguished them from Greenland and Canadian wolves, but Siberian dogs consumed diets that were isotopically similar to wild species. We found that dog provisioning practices were variable across the Siberian and North American Arctic, but in all cases, involved considerable human labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sled dogs are one of the most specialized groups of dogs, their origin and evolution has received much less attention than many other dog groups. We applied a genomic approach to investigate their spatiotemporal emergence by sequencing the genomes of 10 modern Greenland sled dogs, an ~9500-year-old Siberian dog associated with archaeological evidence for sled technology, and an ~33,000-year-old Siberian wolf. We found noteworthy genetic similarity between the ancient dog and modern sled dogs. We detected gene flow from Pleistocene Siberian wolves, but not modern American wolves, to present-day sled dogs. The results indicate that the major ancestry of modern sled dogs traces back to Siberia, where sled dog-specific haplotypes of genes that potentially relate to Arctic adaptation were established by 9500 years ago., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)

Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP.