It's no stranger to us the friendship between people and their dogs, and if you don't have your own dog at home, you surely know many people who don't live without their four-legged friends, do you?

A recent analysis of a tomb discovered over 100 years ago revealed that this friendship between people and dogs seems to be evolutionarily older than previously thought.

The tomb in question was discovered by chance in 1914, and in it were buried a man, a woman, and two dogs that died no less than 14, 000 years ago!

An analysis of the remains of the animals revealed that the youngest of the dogs was seven months old when he died, and that his death was possibly caused by a virus that contracted a few months earlier and caused a heart problem. According to the researchers involved in the analysis, the dog would probably not survive that long if it had not been taken care of by someone.

Long time

The youngest dog's disease was discovered through the animal's teething

Luc Janssens, who spoke to the Mother Nature Network on the subject, said that without care the animal would live for a maximum of three weeks. According to him, the dog only survived for about two more months, because it was kept warm, clean, fed and receiving water.

"This, coupled with the fact that dogs were buried with the people we can assume were their owners, suggests that there was a unique care relationship between humans and dogs 14, 000 years ago, " he concluded.

Because the dog died young and was therefore possibly not trained to hunt, researchers believe he and his owners have developed an emotional bond.

The tomb that was analyzed is the oldest known to house humans and their pet dogs. It therefore serves as one of the earliest evidences of animal domestication.