I honestly just looked up the dates on Wikipedia! I was surprised that the dates of dog domestication and “caveman” actually overlapped but it feels like a technicality to me. The question is definitely subjective. The date range of “caveman” is literally millions of years. Human ancestors 3 million years ago and 11,700 years ago would have huge differences. I’d assume 11,700 years ago the people were more like nomadic tribes and less like “caveman”. I also don’t believe the first dogs were really pets as much as they were just alright with being around humans. Whereas the domestication of cats article talks about finding humans being buried with cats which is more of a direct sign of a pet relationship.
It’s definitely an interesting question that deserves a bit more thought than overlapping dates!
I honestly just looked up the dates on Wikipedia! I was surprised that the dates of dog domestication and “caveman” actually overlapped but it feels like a technicality to me. The question is definitely subjective. The date range of “caveman” is literally millions of years. Human ancestors 3 million years ago and 11,700 years ago would have huge differences. I’d assume 11,700 years ago the people were more like nomadic tribes and less like “caveman”. I also don’t believe the first dogs were really pets as much as they were just alright with being around humans. Whereas the domestication of cats article talks about finding humans being buried with cats which is more of a direct sign of a pet relationship.
It’s definitely an interesting question that deserves a bit more thought than overlapping dates!