This lecture explores the deep history of the human–dog relationship, from Ice Age burials to global mythologies that place dogs in a category beyond human and animal. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography, David Ian Howe traces how wolves became humanity’s first domesticated companion—tens of thousands of years before sheep, goats, or horses.
The talk highlights major domestication theories, from self-domestication and the “flight distance” hypothesis to artificial selection experiments like Dmitri Belyaev’s fox study. Along the way, it examines archaeological evidence from Paleolithic dog burials, cultural practices across the Iroquois, Maya, Aztec, and Cherokee, and the symbolic role of dogs as spirit guides, guardians of the afterlife, and even gods like Anubis and Xolotl.
By framing dogs as biotechnology—living tools bred for hunting, herding, hauling, and companionship—the lecture reveals how dogs shaped human survival, settlement, and belief systems. From mammoth hunts in Ice Age Europe to Polynesian voyages across the Pacific, dogs have always been there, adapting alongside us. Ultimately, they remain powerful mirrors of our humanity, teaching us about life, death, and the bonds that define us.
