An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s4: 1.4 Canidae
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s4
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1.4 Canidae
v1.c6.s4.1
Only a few prehistoric sites have yielded skeletal remains of the domestic dog (*Canis familiaris*). In India the earliest indisputable evidence comes from the Mesolithic levels of ADAMGARH. Clutton-Brock, 1965, identified the canid remains from LANGHNAJ as probably those of the Indian wolf—*Canis* cf. *lupus pallipes* on the grounds that the small teeth fall within the sizerange of the dingo (i.e. the cross between the wolf and pariah dog) and that the teeth are uncompacted (Degerbol, 1961). Dogs with skulls very similar to the Indian wolf have also been reported from Harappa (Prashad, 1936).
v1.c6.s4.2
The following wild species of Canidae present in the subcontinent are immigrants from the n.: *Canis lupus*, the wolf; *Canis aureus*, the jackal; *Vulpes bengalensis*, the fox; and *Cuon alpinus*, the Indian wild dog. Reed, 1959, and Zeuner, 1963, hold that the Indian wolf is the probable ancestor of the domesticated dog because of the close morphological similarity, notably the dentition and complete interfertility between these species. Jackals also interbreed and have affinities with dogs; Prater, 1972, derives the ancestry of some dogs from jackals, but they differ significantly with respect to certain dental characters and chromosome numbers (Matthey, 1954).