A new genomic study of 17 ancient dogs across Eurasia, published Nov. 13 in Science, shows dogs often traveled with human groups over the last 10,000 years and sometimes persisted in regions after human populations shifted. Before the Bronze Age, eastern and western dog populations were distinct; Botai dogs carried Arctic-linked ancestry. Bronze Age migrations replaced some human and dog ancestries at Botai, but in East Asia locals adopted the newcomers' dogs and bronze technology without large genetic turnover. Researchers plan to trace dog dispersal into Southeast Asia and Australia.
Ancient DNA Shows Dogs Traveled with Humans Across Eurasia — and Sometimes Outlived Them
A new genomic study of 17 ancient dogs across Eurasia, published Nov. 13 in Science, shows dogs often traveled with human groups over the last 10,000 years and sometimes persisted in regions after human populations shifted. Before the Bronze Age, eastern and western dog populations were distinct; Botai dogs carried Arctic-linked ancestry. Bronze Age migrations replaced some human and dog ancestries at Botai, but in East Asia locals adopted the newcomers' dogs and bronze technology without large genetic turnover. Researchers plan to trace dog dispersal into Southeast Asia and Australia.
07:58 PM, 11/14/2025Science
DNA reveals how dogs accompanied human migrations across millennia
More than 3,000 years ago in what is now Kazakhstan, six dogs were laid carefully in the ground. Whether they were beloved pets or part of a ritual is unknown, but such carefully prepared burials give scientists rare access to ancient canine DNA and the chance to trace how dogs moved with people across continents.
In a study published Nov. 13 in the journal Science, researchers sequenced previously unanalyzed genomes from 17 dogs that lived across Eurasia during the last 10,000 years, including one individual from the Kazakh burial. The genetic record reveals that dogs often traveled with human groups — and in some regions their lineages persisted even after human populations changed or were replaced.
Distinct eastern and western dog populations before the Bronze Age
Before the spread of Bronze Age cultures, western and eastern Eurasian dogs formed largely separate genetic populations. At the Eneolithic Botai site in Kazakhstan, some dogs showed ancestry linked to Arctic lineages, perhaps reflecting local environmental adaptations or the needs of the people who kept them.
Bronze Age migrations altered human and dog ancestries — but not always the same way
When Bronze Age-associated groups expanded eastward (roughly 5,000–4,000 years ago), the study finds that the original Botai people were largely subsumed by newcomers and much of their genetic signature vanished. Botai dogs showed a similar loss of ancestry. Yet in East Asia the pattern diverged: local human populations adopted bronze technology and the newcomers' dogs without experiencing comparable large-scale genetic replacement. "What's really interesting with the dogs," says Laurent Frantz, a coauthor and professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, "is they seem to flow more like the technology than the people."
"They are a technology," says Audrey Lin, a paleogeneticist at the American Museum of Natural History, summarizing how useful dogs were as portable, functional companions.
DNA alone cannot tell us every role dogs played, but archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggests they were used for hunting, herding, protection and other practical tasks — roles that would have made them useful items of exchange or adoption alongside new technologies.
Next steps
Frantz and colleagues plan to follow dog dispersal further into Southeast Asia and Australia and to investigate how dogs adapted biologically and behaviorally to life alongside humans. Dogs moved with hunter-gatherers, were selectively bred by later societies such as the Romans, and survived in remote islands of Siberia long before modern transport enabled rapid exchange.
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