Origin of the domestic dog Neolithic dog specimens with sequences from over 5,000 dogs and wolves. These Neolithic dog specimens included a dog sample from the Early Neolithic site in Herxheim, Germany dated 7,000 YBP, one from the Late Neolithic site of Kirschbaum (Cherry Tree) Cave near Forchheim, Germany dated 4,700 YBP, and one found in the Late Neolithic passage grave at Newgrange, Ireland dated 4,800 YBP. The study calculated a mutation rate for the 7,000 YBP Neolithic dog and found that it matched the mutation rate of the Taimyr-1 specimen, and noted that this also matched the mutation rate for the Newgrange dog that
Origin of the domestic dog had been calculated in an earlier study. Using the 7,000 YBP specimen and this mutation rate, the dog-wolf divergence time is estimated to have occurred 36,900-41,500 YBP and this is consistent with the timing found with the Taimyr-1 specimen in an earlier study. In 2018, a study looked at the y-chromosome male lineage of canines, including the ancient fossils of the Herxheim, Kirschbaum, and Newgrange dogs. The study identified six major dog yDNA haplogroups, of which two of these include the majority of modern dogs. The Newgrange dog fell into the most commonly occurring of these haplogroups. The two ancient