Why are there no dogs pictured in paleolithic cave paintings?

Question

It has been described before that the occurence of reindeers is strangely low, while this was the main food source. But isn't it even stranger for dogs? Recent genetic research suggest that dogs were domesticated a lot earlier than any other animal, which makes sense for hunters. The distinction between dog and wolf may become blurred over long times - and while e.g. chauvet cave pictures a wide variety of wild predators, even owls and hyenas, no wolf is pictured either.

Were dogs/wolves too 'ordinary' to be portrayed here, more so than reindeer?

Answer 1

There are lots of dogs in paleolithic cave paintings. For example:

Dogs can be used for hunting in the woods, like deer, but for hunting large herds in open areas like bison, they are not useful and are more of a nuisance than an aid. (Notice that in the above image the quarry is a deer, not an accident.) A recent journal article on the subject:

New evidence for Upper Palaeolithic small domestic dogs in South-Western Europe

Answer 2

From a technical taxonomical point of view, it is impossible to have domestic dogs depicted in a Paleolithic cave painting, simply because domestication of plants and animals is one of the features of the Neolithic.

So by definition, any art that depicts a canid is either Neolithic, or it is showing a wild relative such as a wolf.

Now this is a bit overly pedantic, as domestication of dogs appears to have begun in the northern parts of Asia well before the dates we associate with the full-blown Neolithic. However, the dates are close enough that it can still be a useful rule-of-thumb (considering the Paleolithic lasted upwards of 2.6 million years, and we are quibbling here over the last 5-20 thousand years of it)

Answer 3

Three years after this question was asked, archeologists documented depictions of dogs on wall paintings and engraving in north-western Arabia, near Shuwaymis and Jubbah.

Hunting scenes depicted in the rock art illustrate dog-assisted hunting strategies from the 7th and possibly the 8th millennium BC, predating the spread of pastoralism.

A substantial dataset of 147 hunting scenes shows dogs partaking in a range of hunting strategies

Image credit: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology/Maria Guagnin/Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Caveat (pun intended): The representation are found on cliffsides of dry valleys, so they are technically not cave paintings, but rather rock art.

Dating rock art is difficult but estimations for this site ranges 8000-9000 YBP, late in the paleolithic era, just before the neolithic revolution reached Arabia. If indeed (as speculated by some newspapers, and claimed by others) they are the earliest known depictions of dogs, then it might stress the scarcity-confining-on-absence of dogs in paleolithic cave paintings.

Answer 4

I believe most answers above are pretty good, so I don't have much more to add.

On the missing part (in above answers) to cave art, from the question: "... paleolithic cave paintings?" and OP's comments asking for images.

This is from Aurignacian period (considered Upper Paleolithic), the specific site is Cave of Pont d’Arc (UNESCO). Wikipedia's entry on this site.

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Description: Decorated cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche

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Some info on the Paleolithic dog.