Alright so I read two studies on the origin(s) of dogs.
One study, from 1997, concludes that dogs "originated more than 100,000 years before the present" and that the results also indicate "episodes of admixture between wolves and dogs". This converges with archaeological evidence suggesting that wolves associated with humans at least as far back as 100,000 years ago.
http://web.archive.org/web/200709262...dog/wayne1.htm
The second study, from 2002, concludes that dogs "evolved from just a handful of wolves tamed by humans living in or near China less than 15,000 years ago". This handful of wolves including "three original founding females" which the mitochondrial DNA is from.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2498669.stm
What I want to understand is why do these two studies differ in their dates? Was it their sample sizes, a priori assumptions, experimental errors, or some problem with the molecular clock that I'm not aware of or don't understand.