Oldest known dog breed reveals hidden human history

The Iditarod is the longest annual sled dog race– covering over 1,500 miles across Alaska. But there’s another impressive, long-distance sled dog journey worth considering: their slow motion race through time. A close look into canine genetics reveals sled dogs have been around and on the move for thousands of years. Specifically, the Greenland sled dog–called Qimmeq (singular), or Qimmit (plural) in Greenlandic–has a history traceable all the way back 9,500 years to Zhokhov Island in Eastern Siberia. And they’ve been a distinct, isolated group for about 1,000 years of that time. They are among the oldest (and possibly the oldest) dog breed on Earth. 

In a new study published July 10 in the journal Science, paleogeneticists mapped the path of these culturally important canines from their ancient origin up to the present day. The findings reveal new insights into Greenland sled dogs’ spread and movement over millennia and also the accompanying human history. The research could prove critical to preserving healthy sled dog populations far into the future. 

1,000 years of partnership 

Throughout their long history, Qimmit have remained working dogs–still almost exclusively bred by mushers to pull sleds for transportation and to assist in hunts, Tatiana Feuerborn, lead study author and a paleogeneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes for Health, tells Popular Science. 

“They’re a working dog that has been performing the same task with the same people for 1,000 years or more. That’s what sets them apart from other Arctic and sled dog breeds,” Feuerborn adds. 

Alaskan huskies and malamutes, by comparison, are more intermixed with other types of dogs. And, now that these once-Arctic dogs are frequently bred as companion animals, rather than sled pullers, they’re the byproducts of a different type of selection. 

Feuerborn and her co-authors dug into that distinctive history and sequenced 92 whole dog genomes, spanning from ancient times to the present day. Older samples came from museums, from bones collected at archaeological sites or fur preserved in traditional Inuit clothing. The 63 contemporary Qimmit genomes were provided by Greenlandic mushers who took cheek swaps and saliva from their own pups. 

The research team separated the DNA into three major groupings: pre-contact between the Inuit and Europeans, post-contact until 1998, and then post-1998 to present-day samples. Next,  they compared the genome groupings to each other. They also contrasted their dataset with three other major sources: previously analyzed DNA from ancient samples like the Siberian Zhokhov dog and a 3,700-year-old dog from Teshepuk Lake in Alaska, other modern dogs from around the world, and outgroups like wolves and black-backed jackals. 

Modern dogs, ancient genes

They found that Qimmeq genetics have remained remarkably consistent over time, going back to the earliest known sled dogs. From their Siberian origin point nearly 10,000 years ago, the scientists were able to trace Qimmeq movement with people across the Arctic ice into Alaska, then across the Canadian Arctic to the northwest of Greenland. Because of how similar Qimmit genomes are to Alaskan and Canadian dogs from thousands of years prior, the researchers infer that Inuit spread across the North American Arctic unfolded rapidly–in as little as one to two centuries–before the Greenland sled dogs became relatively isolated. 

Based on sled dog genetic markers, Feuerborn and her colleagues suggest the Inuit arrived in Greenland between 800 and 1,200 years ago. These dates are a few centuries earlier than most estimates, suggesting the Inuit got to Greenland sooner than previously thought, she says. 

“We’re not the first people to say this… but this is some of the first quantifiable evidence that really lends credence to it,” she notes. 

[ Related: Walrus DNA suggests meetings between Vikings and Indigenous Inuit. ]

In the scope of archaeological time, a century or two may not seem like much, but it could shift the narrative around whether the Inuit or the Norse Vikings made their way to the land mass first, she notes. “There’s been this debate back and forth…so now this might push a little more towards the earlier arrival of the Inuit into the North,” she says

The researchers then looked at various populations of Qimmit living in Greenland. They found the oldest dog genomes split cleanly into four groups: northern, western, eastern, and northeastern populations. The finding mirrors human DNA results and supports the idea that, since the peopling of Greenland, different Inuit groups had limited amounts of mixing, instead staying largely in their distinct regions and settlements. 

The direction of human development in Greenland has long been a question, with competing counterclockwise and clockwise theories. Tracing Qimmeq genetics indicates that both sides of the discussion have credence. Inuit movement in Greenland seems to have branched in both directions from the initial, northern settlement point, in two waves, per the study. 

The northeastern findings are especially notable because they confirm the existence of a pre-European-contact human community in that region. Previously, this group was only indicated by scant archaeological findings and they died out without leaving a clear historical record. The level of canine inbreeding, drops in genetic diversity, and estimated dog population size over time there, indicates that people in the area likely struggled with famine and couldn’t maintain robust sled dog numbers, according to  Feuerborn. Elsewhere, known historical events like well-documented famines, a canine distemper outbreak, and a rabies outbreak are also clearly reflected in the dog DNA. 

[ Related: Meet the former musher investigating sled dog genetics. ]

Mixing with wolves?

One surprise came in the analyses of wolf gene markers within Qimmit. Surprisingly, despite many historical records of Greenlanders purposefully outbreeding their sled dogs with local wolves to boost pack health, there was little evidence that Qimmit are more closely linked to wolves than any other sled dog groups.

 “We know in the recent era that these hybridization events have occurred,” Feuerborn says, so “we were shocked” by the results. 

It’s possible that, despite these purposeful outbreeding events, wolf genes don’t persist in the sled dog population because they’re not all that beneficial after all. Qimmit are under very strong selection to be good team players, willing to work with humans, strong endurance athletes, cold-tolerant, and to be able to subsist off a very specific all-meat and blubber diet. If they fail on any one count, they won’t survive over the long term, she explains. “If a wolf-dog hybrid can’t perform well, they’re not going to be maintained in the population.” 

But another possibility is that they just didn’t have enough samples to parse out wolf influence in the sled dogs’ genes. In any paleogenetic research, there’s always the chance of inadvertent bias or missed connections because the sample pool is necessarily small. “More samples from the regions of interest would potentially give us a different or a more nuanced answer,” notes Feuerborn. 

Snowmobiles can’t smell polar bears

In total though, the research is an illuminating glimpse into Qimmeq history and important information for the dogs’ future conservation. Modern technologies, lifestyle changes, and climate change have led to Qimmit population declines. In 2002, there were about 25,000 in Greenland. As of 2020, there were around 13,000. However, sled dogs retain an important cultural place in Greenlandic society, as living markers of heritage and history– as well as a critical practical role. 

Greenland’s geology means that settlements around the landmass are still separated by vast, roadless expanses of land. In most cases, snowmobile or dog sled are the only means of overland travel between the various coastal enclaves. “Unlike a snowmobile, sled dogs aren’t going to break down and they’re not going to run out of gas,” Feuerborn says. “They definitely are the optimum resource,” for transportation and for hunting, she notes. After all, snowmobiles can’t smell seals or polar bears, nor travel quietly enough to avoid scaring off potential prey.  

Preserving a healthy Qimmeq population requires an understanding of their current status, how much inbreeding is occurring, and what the minimum necessary numbers are for avoiding the spread of deleterious mutations. And so, despite declines, all signs seem positive. “They’re actually really healthy dogs,” says Feuerborn. She hopes her work helps them stay that way. 

“Of course, conservation normally focuses on wild species,” she notes. “But dogs have been so intrinsically tied to human history as the first domesticated animal. They have been at the formation of every human society. In Greenland in particular, these dogs have been there all along. Being able to preserve that cultural history alongside the genetic history is important. It has immense cultural value.”

 

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