1. Specialized sledge dogs accompanied Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic
- Author
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Catherine F. West, James Haile, Åslaug Midtdal, Ramona Harrison, Anders J. Hansen, Martin Appelt, Ophélie Lebrasseur, Benjamin N. Sacks, James Woollett, Audrey T. Lin, Olga I. Goriunova, John Darwent, Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding, Lutz Bachmann, Morten Meldgaard, Rick Knecht, Matthew W. Betts, Kate Britton, Robert J. Losey, Rune Dietz, Laurent A. F. Frantz, Mitya Vasyukov, Ardern Hulme-Beaman, Love Dalén, Keith Dobney, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Tatiana R. Feuerborn, Iurii G. Nikitin, Zachary T. Lounsberry, Scott Shirar, Mikhail Sablin, Christian Sonne, Konrad Smiarowski, Øystein Wiig, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Mary C. Stiner, Edouard Masson-MacLean, Sarah K. Brown, Jón Hallsteinn Hallsson, Thomas H. McGovern, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Christyann M. Darwent, Merete Fredholm, Madonna L. Moss, Carly Ameen, Anna Linderholm, Sanne Eline Wennerberg, Bjarne Grønnow, Ellen McManus-Fry, Gro Birgit Ween, Anne Lisbeth Schmidt, Joshua D. Reuther, Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir, Greger Larson, Tatiana Nomokonova, Allowen Evin, Angela R. Perri, Aleksandr N. Popov, Lisa Rankin, Texas A&M University [College Station], University of Oxford, Section for GeoGenetics, Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), Department of Arctic Environment [Rockilde], Aarhus University [Aarhus]-National Environmental Research Institute [Danmark] (NERI), IT University of Copenhagen (ITU), Irkutsk State University (ISU), Agricultural University of Iceland, University of Aberdeen, University of Alberta, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Leipzig], Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow] (RAS), Natural History Museum [Oslo], University of Oslo (UiO), Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Oxford [Oxford], University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), IT University of Copenhagen, École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226
- Subjects
Sledge dogs ,Canis lupus familiaris ,osteology ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,Greenland ,migration ,Medical and Health Sciences ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences ,Naturvetenskap ,0601 history and archaeology ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,General Environmental Science ,0303 health sciences ,education.field_of_study ,Genome ,palaeontology archaeology ,060102 archaeology ,Human migration ,Arctic Regions ,06 humanities and the arts ,General Medicine ,circumpolar ,Biological Sciences ,Mitochondrial ,Geography ,Phenotype ,Humanities and the Arts ,Humaniora och konst ,Palaeobiology ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Natural Sciences ,geographic locations ,Research Article ,aDNA ,Canada ,Human Migration ,Population ,Zoology ,DNA, Mitochondrial ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Ancient ,03 medical and health sciences ,Dogs ,evolution ,Genetics ,genomics ,Animals ,DNA, Ancient ,Domestication ,education ,geometric morphometrics ,ancient DNA ,030304 developmental biology ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Osteology ,Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences ,business.industry ,archaeology ,Circumpolar star ,DNA ,[SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society ,Ancient DNA ,Arctic ,Genome, Mitochondrial ,Biological dispersal ,business ,Animal Distribution ,Alaska - Abstract
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. 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.
- Published
- 2019
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