Khazar-khum Wrote:
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> The Basenji breeders certainly believe their dog
> is an ancient one. Greyhound fanciers will proudly
> tell you their dogs originated in AE. Greyhounds
> figure prominently in Medieval texts & in the
> surviving art. Most dog fanciers believe that the
> Greyhound is the oldest 'pure bred', with a few
> championing the Saluki. Certainly the evidence
> from AE bears this out. I don't think it's a
> coincidence that the oldest known breeds come from
> the ANE, nor that they are the swift sighthounds.
>
>
Genetics place the domestication of wolves into dogs in East Asia. Salukis, Basenjis are classified as ancient dogs in these papers. The relevant question is: did the Basenji originate in Egypt or did it originate further south (Welmers suggests southern Sudan-Northern Uganda) and taken both to Egypt and eventually to Liberia?
Bernard