HENRY

John Hawks has a good mini-review on the origin of dingos . It has apparently been suggested that Dingos were a Lapita introduction, but recent mtDNA studies show that they most likely source was Island South East Asia approximately 5000 years ago. From Savolainen et al 2004 :

We found that all mtDNA sequences among dingoes were either identical to or differing by a single substitution from a single mtDNA type, A29. This mtDNA type, which was present in >50% of the dingoes, was found also among domestic dogs, but only in dogs from East Asia and Arctic America, whereas 18 of the 19 other types were unique to dingoes. The mean genetic distance to A29 among the dingo mtDNA sequences indicates an origin {approx}5,000 years ago. From these results a detailed scenario of the origin and history of the dingo can be derived: dingoes have an origin from domesticated dogs coming from East Asia, possibly in connection with the Austronesian expansion into Island Southeast Asia. They were introduced from a small population of dogs, possibly at a single occasion, and have since lived isolated from other dog populations.

There are also remains of dingo-type dogs found in Polynesia , which seem to be evidence of later contact between Eastern Austronesians and the Australian continent.

Posted on March 7th, 2007 by Simon Greenhill