7. How the Agricultural Revolution Changed the Role of Dogs
The rise of agriculture about 11,700 years ago in the Fertile Crescent dramatically changed the human-animal dynamic. Domesticated animals became vitally important to us. That meant a shift in dogs’ roles. No longer solely hunting partners, they became herders, guards, and even religious symbols. Unlike earlier ad hoc self-domestication, sheepdogs and cattle dogs emerged through selective breeding by humans, tailored to the needs of agricultural societies.
Deliberate breeding for specific behavioral traits began to intensify. Dogs that excelled at herding, guarding flocks, or living peaceably with other domestic animals, were preferentially chosen. That led to the emergence of proto-breeds. Dogs also began to appear in religious and mythological contexts. In ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and later in Greece and Rome, dogs were associated with protection, the afterlife, and healing. Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology, is one example of the dog’s symbolic significance.
