The origins of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is the subject of ongoing genetic and archaeological study. Recent evidence based on nuclear DNA points to a single domestication 11 to 16 thousand years ago that predates the rise of agriculture and implies that the earliest dogs arose along with hunter-gatherers and not agriculturists.[1] Mitochondrial DNA evidence further indicates that all modern dogs are most closely related to the ancient European wolves,[2][3] compared to earlier hypotheses which proposed origins in Eurasia as well as Eastern Asia.[4][5][6]