Working dogs we now call shepherd dogs and sighthounds have
existed in the Middle East for over 10,000 years. MtDNA studies show that not
only the modern sighthound, the Saluki, but also the Turkish guarding breed the
Akbash and the indigenous Israeli ‘pariah’ dog, the modern Canaan Dog, all
share their mtDNA with a large group of dogs from China and Indonesia. By
biblical times shepherd, guarding and feral dogs were sufficiently numerous
throughout the region to be mentioned, often with distain, in the Old
Testament.
Dogs migrated slowly throughout Africa??There is
considerable evidence that dogs arrived from Asia into Africa via Egypt. The
modern Basenji, although it eventually became isolated in the Congo,
doubtlessly traveled to that region of Africa from Egypt. Archaeological and
pictographic evidence shows that dogs similar to these have been resident in
Egypt for almost 7,000 years. During the dynasties of the pharoahs, dogs were
selectively bred for speed. These have the form of the modern Pharoah hound.
Through trade, migration and conquest these sleek hounds were taken throughout
the regions north of the Sahara Desert. While the sighthound of northwest
Africa, the present day Moroccan Sloughi, is genetically partly related to the
Saluki, it curiously shares more of its mtDNA with the Basenji. The Moroccan
livestock guarding breed the Aidi, shares little mtDNA with Spanish or
Portuguese breeds, suggesting that it evolved long ago in the Atlas Mountains
from Asian and African dogs rather than being the descendant, as has been
suggested, of a more recent import of guarding breeds from Europe.?Archaeological
records show that dogs spread rapidly along the Nile into the Sudan and
eventually beyond into ‘black Africa’. The Sahara however was an overwhelming obstacle
for them. Not until 3,000 years after they arrived in Egypt did they make their
way across it.?Dogs arrived in Southern Africa with the migration there of the
Early Iron Age Bantu speaking people. Dogs of Egyptian origin joined human
migrations, traveling along Africa’s Great Central Rift, following corridors
through Zambia and Zimbabwe to reach Botswana and finally South Africa. The
earliest evidence for the presence of a domestic dog in South Africa is
relatively recent and comes from remains dated 570 CE found near the Botswana
border. By 650 CE the house dog was established in the Lower Thukela valley and
by 800 CE it was part of a Khoisan settlement in Cape St. Francis. Throughout
South Africa, modern European dogs have now replaced indigenous African dogs,
but descendants of the original dogs are still found in tribal areas where
people maintain their traditional lifestyle.