Pre-Neolithic Evidence for Dog-Assisted Hunting Strategies in Arabia

Pre-Neolithic Evidence for Dog-Assisted Hunting Strategies in Arabia
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Pre-Neolithic Evidence for Dog-Assisted Hunting Strategies in Arabia
Introduction
There is no clear historical evidence to ascertain the use of hunting dogs. It is not clear when dogs were first domesticated and their early uses. The lack of sufficient information about the early uses of dogs opens up the little data for interpretations, most of which rely heavily on ethnographic data, making them controversial (Guagnin et al., 2016, p1823). The article on Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia documents the earliest evidence for dogs from the art at the sites of Jubbah and Shuwaymis, Saudi Arabia (Guagnin et al., 2018, p225). The rock art suggests the use of dogs in hunting strategies thought to be from the 7th and 8th millennium BC, demonstrating the pastoralism. Although the dogs resemble the modern day Canaan dog, it cannot be determined how they ended up in the Arabian Peninsula, whether from the Levant or domestication from the ancestor of Arabian wolves. There are 147 hunting scenes in the article that show dogs participating in various hunting strategies, most notably the leashes on some of them; which show control over the hunting dogs and the use of dogs in various hunting tasks.
Regional Background
There lacks a sufficient historical information on the occupation of the Arabian Peninsula. The region has been sparsely occupied, an interpretation from the scarcity of archaeological sites and the phase of hyper-aridity. The only evidence of occupation is in the possibly favorable zones in the eastern and southern Arabia. The earliest Holocene sites in the interior date back to mid-ninth and eighth millennium BC (Guagnin et al., 2018, p226).
A recent excavation in the western Nefud desert and Jubbah oasis revealed remains of domestic cattle dating back to 5200 BC, but no faunal remains (Guagnin et al., 2018, p226). Early Holocene sites in the Arabian Peninsula have not produced any dog remains, and the earliest remains come from the Neolithic site (Bánffy, E., 2005).
Shuwaymis and Jubbah sites are located in north-western Saudi Arabia; Jubbah is an Oasis in the Nefud desert with a history of occupation in the Holocene and Late Pleistocene (Guagnin et al., 2018, p226). The Shuwaymis landscape is composed of wadi courses that diverted from the main valley, sandwiched by sand escarpments. The wadis in the wetter periods and would support thick vegetation along the watercourses
Rock Art and Dog Depictions at Shuwaymis and Jubbah
Shuwaymis and Jubbah rock art sites are rich in early Holocene imagery. The rock art of Pre-Netholic hunters is distinguished from that of Neolithic cattle herders by distinct differences in stratigraphy and content. The elaborate herding scenes, mostly overlapped the earlier hunting scenes, with earlier images edited and incorporated into the new scene. The combined scenes suggest cultural continuity, indigenous hunters adopting herding. The Pre-Neolithic imagery at Shuwaymis contains many depictions of domestic dogs. There are representations of dogs in all Holocene rock art, but the article concentrated on the Pre-Neolithic and early Neolithic depictions of domestic dogs at Shuwaymis and Jubbah (Guagnin et al., 2018, p227).
Images of dogs are on 52 of 273 recorded rock art panels at Shuwaymis and 127 of 1131 at Jubbah (Guagnin et al., 2018, p227). Stratigraphy, content and weathering attribute 156 dogs in Shuwaymis and 193 dogs in Jubbah to the early Holocene. Morphology and cultural context depict domesticated dogs and not jackals or wolves. All dogs appeared to be of the same “type” characterized by a curled tail, deep angled chests, short snouts, and pricked ears that resemble the modern Canaan dog. Some dogs have spots or “ticks” on the coat, others a coloration called Irish spotting and others no distinct marking, but all have the same morphological features (Guagnin et al., 2018, p227).
Target Prey and Landscape Tailored Strategies
The dogs in the panel mirrors pursed the same prey that Arabian wolves target. The modern Arabian wolves target vulnerable oryx, ibex and gazelle and particularly single males when they are weak during the post-rut period; that is reflected in the targeting of males in the rock art. The range of species depicted in Shuwaymis rock art is small (oryx, gazelle, equid and ibex) while that of Jubbah has three more species (wild camel, aurochs, and kudu) (Guagnin et al., 2018, p229). The sp...