Overview
G2a2b1a40 represents a lineage that emerged in western Anatolia and underwent its principal demographic reshaping during the classical, Roman and early Byzantine eras. Its prehistory is grounded in early Chalcolithic communities that occupied coastal plains, river estuaries and inland foothill basins linking Lydia, Ionia and Mysia. These populations were among the earliest in the Aegean sphere to adopt new agropastoral forms, ceramic innovations and metallurgical techniques. The lineage’s tmrca corresponds with the late classical age, when mobility across the Aegean intensified through military supply routes, merchant leagues and administrative reforms. G2a2b1a40’s structure reflects repeated coastal founder events, small lineage expansions within port communities and integrations through maritime trade rather than large scale population upheaval.
Geographic distribution
Today the lineage appears primarily in western Turkey, the Aegean islands, mainland Greece and the western Balkans. There are also moderate frequencies in Italy, especially in areas influenced by Greek colonization and late Roman naval movement. Rare but notable occurrences in Cyprus and coastal Levant reflect ancestral ties rather than expansion centers.
Ancient DNA
- Aegean Bronze Age samples from the western Anatolian coast show upstream M406 configurations compatible with lineages leading toward FT91052.
- Hellenistic and Roman period burials in western Anatolia and Greece exhibit derived G lineages indicating movement of Anatolian paternal ancestry into coastal classical populations.
- Byzantine era remains from the northern Aegean include STR patterns aligned with downstream nodes related to this branch.
Phylogeny & subclades
FT91052 splits into a western Anatolian coastal core and an Aegean–Balkan derivative. An additional Italian microbranch represents later classical movement. The phylogeny exhibits moderate internal diversity, reflecting multiple localized founder events across maritime nodes. Divergence times mirror late classical to early medieval demographic shifts across the Aegean world.
- G-FT91052* western Anatolian core lineage
- G-FT91052a Aegean and Greek mainland derivative
- G-FT91052b Balkan northern Aegean microbranch
- G-FT91052c Italian coastal microcluster
Notes & context
This lineage enhances atlas resolution for classical and Byzantine era Aegean coastal movements of G rooted paternal ancestry.
References & external links