2026/04/29 by Thomas Cucchi, Lt. Col. Peter L. Hays, Alessio Veneziano +24 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Acheulean #Brain size #Early Pleistocene #Endocast #Human-Animal Interaction Studies #Pleistocene #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Prehistory #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Theria
paper · doi:10.1098/rsos.252453
published in Royal Society Open Science 13(4) (Royal Society)
openalex created_date 2025/12/13 · openalex publication_date 2026/04/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract The timing and causes of brain size reduction in domestic dogs remain uncertain. Using endocast’s volume as a proxy for brain size, this study provides a first insight into long-term brain size evolution in the wolf-dog lineage. We compared endocranial volumes of 185 modern and 22 prehistoric wolves and dogs ranging from Western Europe to Australia, and spanning the Pleniglacial (35 Ky BP) to the Late Neolithic (5 Ky BP). Our results reveal that Pleistocene so called “protodogs” show no brain size reduction compared to coeval Pleistocene wolves. Instead, we observed a slightly larger relative endocranial volume in the 35,000-year-old ‘protodog’ from Goyet, which could suggest increased behavioural flexibility in the presence of humans. This hypothesis needs to be tested further. In contrast, Late Neolithic dogs show a drastic 46% brain size reduction with an endocranial volumes comparable to modern small terrier and toy breeds. The anxious and wary temperaments of these Late Neolithic dogs, induced by the brain tissue reorganization associated with such a size reduction, could have served an alerting purpose, among the many other potential roles dogs could have played within this Late Neolithic socio-ecosystems.