Date BCE | Region | Site | Reference | Form |
4,700 | Egypt | Nabta Playa | Gautier | Fossil |
4,500 | Egypt | Merimde | Boesneck | Fossil |
4,000 | Egypt | Maadi | Boesneck | Fossil |
3,700 | Egypt | Hierakonpolis | Hendrickx | Ceramics |
3,500 | Algeria | Magreb | Roubet-Carter | Rock Art |
3,500 | Niger | Tassili-Hoggar | Brentjes | Rock Art |
3,300 | Sudan | Kadera | Gautier | Fossil |
1,750 | Sudan | Kerma | Chaix | Fossil |
1,500 | Kenia | Central Rift | Gifford/Gonzalez | |
1,400 | Niger | In Gall | Paris | Fossil |
250 | Niger | Jenne-Jeno | McIntosch | Fossil |
Date CE [5] | ||||
350 | Senegal | Tulel-Fobo | Van Neer | Fossil |
400 | Mali | Akumbu | MacDonald | Fossil |
Two slender gaze hounds wearing collars (top right) are pursuing a hare and an antelope. This is detail from decorated pottery found near Hierakonpolis (Egypt) and dated 3,700 BCE. (Hendrickx [7], 1992)
Hilzheimer (1926) describes and shows details from pottery associated with the Naqada 1 culture (dated ca. 3,500 BCE) and found near Hierakonpolis.
Tesem hunting antelope. Tomb Udumu, 1st Dynasty. (Boessneck,1988).
Engravings on an ivory sceptre head found in Hierakonpolis, showing a row of lions and broad-skulled dogs (Quibell [8], 1900, cited in Osborn and Osbernová, 1998)
Cave rock art:
Hunting scene with dogs. Found in Hill station at Sefar, Tassili-n-Ajjer , Algeria. Dated c. 3,700 BCE. (Méry [9], 1968).
A sight hound (Tesem) with hanging ears followed by an achondroplastic bitch with pricked ears. Tomb of Sarenput 1., early 12. dynasty (Boessneck, 1988)
Hunting scene in the desert. Tomb Antefoker, 12. dyn. (Boessneck, J., 1988).
Servants at work in the company of Tesem. Mus. Kairo Nr 1562, 5. dynasty (Boessneck, 1988)
Common village dog. Gise, tomb, 2184, 5/6 dyn. (Boessneck,1988)
Tomb Achethotep 5 dyn. (Boessneck,1988)
The hieroglyphic sign for the dog. (Siber [10], 1893 cited in Tschudy, 1923)
Common village dogs as well as selectively bred dogs of the aristocracy flourished throughout Neolithic days and the Bronze- and Iron Ages in Ancient Egypt.
The event of the Iron Age in association with political pressure in the North due to Roman occupation, might have urged some Bantu people to look for greener pastures to the South.
The movement started 2,000 years ago from the savanna bordering Cameroon and Nigeria . (Huffman [11], 1997).
The Early Iron Age Bantu migration along the Great Rift Valley:
in search of grazing in the southern savanna, and to save their cattle from trypanosoma infection caused by the tsetse fly, they followed tsetse-free corridors.
The sub-equatorial Iron Age is divided into: Early (200 – 1,000 CE) and Late (1,000 – 1,800 CE) Iron Age.
The Early Iron Age introduced the use of iron implements, agriculture, cattle herding and the dog to southern Africa.
Early Iron Age sites recorded the presence of the dog:
During the Stone Age, Khoikhoi herders reached the most southern tip of Africa by the beginning of the CE. However, only remains of sheep dating that far back have been found at these sites. Remains of the dog only date back from 800 CE onward, once the Bantu people arrived.
A Khoikhoi family preparing for travel. Painting Daniell Khoikhoi (1804). (Transvaal Museum Library)
Portuguese explorers cast anchor at St. Helena Bay in late 1497. Vasco da Gama’s diary refers to the Khoikhoi and domestic dogs in southern Africa: "They have many dogs like those of Portugal which bark as do these."
Theal writing on conditions in Southern Africa before 1505, describing the cattle, sheep and dogs of the Khoisan people:
"The only other domestic animal was the dog. He was an ugly creature, his body being shaped like that of a jackal, and the hair on his spine being turned forward; but he was a faithful, serviceable animal of his kind"
(Khoikhoi family in the early 1700’s Artist unknown. S.A. Library.)
Kollb in 1713 describes the Khoisan dogs:
"They have a small head and a very sharp muzzle. The coat is mouse-grey. They are seldom higher than one el and barely one third longer. The ears are erect and sharp."
(A mouse-grey, ridged and prick-eared dog in KwaZulu-Natal. Photo Johan Gallant (1995))
Bushmen hunted for ages without dogs. The practice was introduced with the arrival of the Early Iron Age.
Baboon hunting scene
Rock art San hunt P. Vinicombe
Hunters carrying bows, arrows, quivers and a brush or fly-switch, accompanied by dogs.
Possible foreign impact by:
Blood samples from desert bred Saluqis in the Middle East and Native African Dogs in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) indicate an ancient genetic relationship between these dogs. (Greyling [14], 2004).
For more information on the genetic diversity and structure in indigenous AfriCanis dogs from southern Africa, click here.
(Africanis from Northern KwaZulu-Natal)
(Desert bred Saluqi by Dr.Gail Goodman)
Before Common Era. Back
Savolainen, P., Zhang Y., Luo J., Lundeberg J. and Leitner T. (2002) Genetic Evidence for an East Asian Origin of Domestic Dogs. Science 298:1610-1613. Back
“AfriCanis” combines Africa (the continent) and the genus Canis (the Latin name for dog). As such it is the umbrella name for ALL sub-equatorial African Aboriginal Dogs.
Genus Canis: Class – Mammalia, Order – Carnivora, Family – Canidae
In total there are 38 species classified in the family of Canidae. Next to the genus Canis there are other genera including all the foxes, the Dhole of East- and Central Asia , the various Zorros of South America and other wild canidae found in various parts of the world. The following are the 8 species constituting the genus Canis. They all have the same number of chromosomes (2-n = 78) and hybridisation resulting in fertile offspring has been recorded.
(Lycaon pictus – the Cape hunting dog – belongs to the family of Canidae but NOT to the genus Canis).
Canis familiaris – The domestic dog
We don’t know where and when precisely the transition from wild to domestic canis took place.. Most authors agree that the wolf is the closest wild relative. Recent publications point at the Far East as region of origin for the dog. A date of approximately 14,000 years BCE is suggested with real house bonding to be associated with the earliest Mesolithic villages roughly 10,000 years ago. From its cradle of origin the domestic dog spread all over the world in the company of nomadic or migrating Homo sapiens (modern man). In this process and in respect of natural selection and ecological adaptation humankind evolved into a variety of geographical races. The same applied to its dogs. Back
Davis, S. & Valla, F. (1978) Evidence for domestication of the dog 12.000 years ago in the Natufian of Israel. Nature 276, 5688:608-610. Back
Common Era. Back
Boessneck, J. (1988) Die Tierwelt des Alten Ägypten. Verlag C.H. Beck, München. Back
Hendrickx, S. (1992) Une scène de chasse dans le désert sur le vase prédynastique Bruxelles, Chronique d’Egypte, Bruxelles. Fasc.133: 5-27. Back
Quibell, J.E. (1900) Hierakonpolis 1. London. Back
Méry, F. (1968) The Life History and Magic of the Dog. Madison Square Press, New York. Back
Siber, M. (1893) Die Afrikanische Hunde. Centralblatt für Jagd- und Hundeliebhaber. Back
Huffman, T.N. (1997) The Iron Age. Unpubl. National Cultural History Museum. Back
Plug, I. (2000) Overview of Iron Age fauna from the Limpopo Valley. South African Archaeological Society. Goodwin Series No.8: 117-126. Back
Van Schalkwyk, L. (1994) Mamba confluence: a preliminary report on an Early Iron Age industrial centre in the lower Thukela Basin, Natal. Natal Mus. J. Humanities, Pietermaritzburg. Vol.6: 119-152. Back
Greyling, L., Grobler, P., Van der Bank, H. and Kotze, A. (2004) Genetic characterisation of a domestic dog Canis familiaris breed endemic to South African rural areas. ActaTheriologica 49 (3): 369-382. Back
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