Ancient dog mitogenomes support the dual dispersal of dogs and agriculture into South America

Hunter-gatherer groups spread quickly toward the south of the continent, but it is unclear when dogs reached Central and South America. To address this issue, we generated and analysed 70 complete mitochondrial genomes from archaeological and modern dogs ranging from Central Mexico to Central Chile and Argentina, revealing the dynamics of dog populations.

Our results demonstrate that that pre-contact Central and South American dogs are all assigned to a specific clade that diverged after dogs entered North America. Specifically, the divergence time between North, Central, and South American dog clades is consistent with the spread of agriculture and the adoption of maize in South America between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. An isolation-by-distance best characterizes how dogs expanded into South America.