Sino-Japanese Collaborative Research on Ancient Domestic Dogs

Purpose of the Collaboration
Based on the present data, the origin of Chinese domestic dogs can be traced back to 9000 Bp, which is the earliest in eastern Asia. A large number of dog bones from archaeological sites in China indicate that there was a close relationship between human beings and domestic dogs in the whole pre-historical and historical periods. The study of domestic dogs is one of the most heated topics in Chinese zooarchaeology. Searching for the origins and evolution of domestic dogs is the important issue in the world zooarchaeology.
Japanese scholars put forward a proposal about a collaborative study of ancient domestic dogs in 2001. They argue that the origin of Japanese domestic dogs is directly related to the diffusion of Chinese domestic dogs. Therefore, understanding physical and genic characteristics of Chinese ancient domestic dogs is significant in understanding the origin and evolution of Japanese domestic dogs. They hope both sides to comparatively research on physical and genic characteristics of ancient domestic dogs from China and Japan.
The Chinese side think that the study of the origin and evolution of Japanese domestic dogs influenced by China is one of the research contents of the developmental process of Chinese ancient domestic dogs. Recently, there have been successful experiences in genes analysis of ancient domestic dogs in Japan, while such kind of research has not been done in China. Thus, it is necessary to borrow these experiences. The supply of research fund, experience, and data from Japanese scholars is helpful to deepen the study of Chinese ancient domestic dogs.
 
Collaborative Contents
Duration: from October of 2001 to October of 2003.

Participating institutions:
Yuan Jing, Professor, head of the Center of Technological Archaeology, IACASS, China.
Naotaka Ishiguro, Associate professor，Obihiro university of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine，Japan.
Hitomi Hongo, Lecturer, Primate Institute of Kyoto university，Japan.
Chinese scholars have provided 3 samples of domestic dog mandibles from the Maqiao site in Shanghai and 10 samples including 7 specimens of domestic dog mandibles and atlases from the Dadianzi site in Aohan, Inner Mongolia for measuring and genes analysis. Six specimens of domestic dog mandibles and atlases from the Huayuanzhuang site in Anyang, Henan were also sampled in June of 2002.

Research Results
According studies of foreign scholars, the genes sequence of domestic dogs from eastern Asia can be systematically classified as 28 types, which mainly come from Japan and also from other countries. Through the comparison between the sequence of 13 samples from Dadianzi and Huayuanzhuang and the 28 types from eastern Asia, we find that the samples of Numbers 17 and 18 from Dadianzi are homology to Type 5 of eastern Asia, those of Number 16 from Dadianzi and Number 22 from Huayuanzhuang to Type 10, those of Numbers 23 and 24 from huayuanzhuang to Type 11, and those of Number 14 from Dadianzi to Type 20. Although the samples of Numbers 13, 15 and 19 are close in some degree to Type 5, they can not be fallen into Type 5. They should be taken as a new type which has not been found so far.
Analytical results undertaken by foreign scholars indicate that Types 5, 10 and 11 were mainly obtained from Japanese domestic dogs. Type 5 distributes in northern Japan and belongs to the genes sequence of domestic dogs from the Okhotsk culture. This genes sequence is rare in modern domestic dogs. Type 10 can also be found in domestic dogs from the Okhotsk culture, while Type 11 can be found from domestic dogs in middle ages in Japan. It is interesting that Type 20 can not be found among Japanese ancient domestic dogs, but it can be found from modern Ryukyu domestic dogs in Okinawa, Japan. Because the samples from China were all recovered from the sites earlier than 3000 years, and are earlier than Japanese sites dating to the Okhotsk culture and the middle ages, the result demonstrates, in temporal sequence, that the ancestors of some Japanese dogs were in China. Our research result was published on December 16, 2002 in China Cultural Relics News.

Significance  
Analytical results indicate that the application of genes technology on the study of ancient faunal remains is promising. This technology can shed light on the pedigrees of various animals, and help to deepen studies of cultural communication and migration.
The introduction of genes technology into Chinese zooarchaeology is helpful for both sides to investigate faunal remains from Chinese archaeological sites. Through this collaboration, Chinese scholars have successfully obtained genes from ancient animal bones and found a reliable clue that Chinese ancient domestic dogs had ever diffused to Japan. By using Chinese data, Japanese scholars have gained the scientific evidence about the origin of Japanese domestic dogs.
This collaborative research has successfully completed. Both sides are discussing a new collaborative plan. There are a large number of archaeological sites in China which cover a long period from Neolithic to Han-Tang. We think, collaborative studies of faunal remains from different sites are helpful to establish the genes sequence of Chinese ancient domestic dogs.
In recent years, we hope to widen our academic views, improve genes research levels, and develop our research potentials through collaborative research with Japanese scholars.