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Trevor Faulkner of the BCRA has forwarded a request to the Cave Archaeology Group, from Ardern Hulme-Beaman, Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen.
Ardern is particularly interested in cranial fragments, mandibles and teeth of wolves and dogs which have been found in caves and that might be >100 years old. He says that locating and identifying pleistocene material is particularly difficult, so it would be really great if any members of the caving / archaeology community would be willing to let his team look at any such material they have found which they think might be early. They would only need to photograph (and possibly take DNA samples from) the material and are not asking that anyone donate or give up the material t
o them.
Identifying the difference between wolves and large dogs can be extremely (and surprisingly!) difficult and it is possible some people might have in their personal collections the remains of wolves that they have hitherto identified as large dog.
Thanks go to Tom Lord, our zooarchaeologist / palaeontologist friend in the Yorkshire Dales, who pointed Ardern and a colleague towards making further enquiries within the BCRA / CAG.
Furthermore….Trevor Faulkner went on to say:
Does anyone know if any such Lateglacial or Holocene (dog/wolf) bones have been reported from Gough’s Cave etc. on Mendip?
Also…. "I think you may all have an interest in this. The subject of dog domestication from wolf is a present ‘hot topic’. See various articles in Science 348 (6232), 274-281, 17 April 2015. There is the possibility that such domestication by Homo sapiens may have been a key advantage over the Neanderthals, in addition to the ability to cross seaways.”
If anyone can help, please send Ardern an email at beaman@abdn.ac.uk but I am sure that members of CAG would be interested to hear of any interesting specimens you may have in your collections.
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Thanks, John Howard.