PaleoDog

I am an archaeologist specializing in faunal analysis. I am analyzing prehistoric dogs for archaeological sites in the Four Corners area, with interesting findings from a project near Durango, and came across this thread in doing my research. It is disheartening for me to see the vast amount of misinformation being spread on the web regarding "Indian Dogs." I won't go on a rant about how researchers have known for over a hundred years that, not only were there many different types of dogs in different places in N. America with multiple and different uses, or that the promiscuity of canids precludes any "pure" breeds, but will refer the readers to references that I find invaluable. Start with: [B]Dogs of the American Aborigines[/B] by Glover M. Allen 1920 [B]The Aboriginal Southwestern Indian Dog[/B] Harold S. Colton [I]American Antiquity[/I], Vol. 35, No. 2 (Apr., 1970), pp. 153-159 [B]Origins of the Domestic Dog: The Fossil Record[/B] by S. J. Olsen Review author[s]: Marc Bekoff [I]Journal of Mammalogy[/I], Vol. 67, No. 1 (Feb., 1986), pp. 218-219 [FONT=Times New Roman][LEFT]Olsen, S. J. 1985. [B]Origins of the domestic dog: the fossil record[/B]. Univ. of Arizona Press,Tucson, USA.[/LEFT] [/FONT] and see the excelent references section in: [URL]http://www.canineworld.com/ngsdcs/Origin.of.the.Dog.pdf[/URL] Starting with these publications, it is obvious that nobody agrees on the exact origin of the domestic dog in North America, let alone the bizarre idea that any pure breeds still exist. Especially since there is no evidence that any "breeds" ever persisted. However, it is well known that there were two to three prehistoric dog morphotypes in southwest N. America that many have called breeds, and I will probably continue this tradition for sake of simplicity. My research will hopefully flesh out this debate, but will be very limited geographically and temporally. Hope this helps. Josh Edwards