Overview
G2a2b1a47 is a downstream M406-derived lineage with a demographic core in the western and central Mediterranean. It likely traces its origin to M406-bearing populations in western Anatolia or the Aegean that moved west during the late Bronze Age and classical periods via maritime routes. Over time, this lineage established itself in select coastal and inland communities in Italy, the central Mediterranean islands and parts of the western Balkans.
Unlike early Neolithic G2a2b2a (P303) lineages that reached Europe as part of the first farming wave, G2a2b1a47 belongs to a much later stratum: the era of Greek colonization, Phoenician trade, Roman imperial mobility and subsequent post-Roman continuity. Its presence therefore speaks to Mediterranean connectivity in historic rather than prehistoric time frames.
Geographic distribution
Modern data place G2a2b1a47 in coastal and subcoastal zones of southern Italy (Calabria, Apulia, Sicily), Malta, parts of the Adriatic coast (Dalmatia, Montenegro), and in isolated pockets of Spain and southern France. It is also found at low frequencies in Greece and western Turkey, likely representing either ancestral sources or back-migrations.
Within Italy and the central Mediterranean, G2a2b1a47 often co-occurs with other lineages associated with historical maritime powers (Greek colonists, Roman settlers, later Byzantine and Venetian influences), making it part of a complex, layered paternal landscape.
Ancient DNA
- Classical Greek and Hellenistic colonial sites in southern Italy and Sicily have yielded G2a2b1a-related remains that may sit on the ancestral trunk of G2a2b1a47.
- Roman-period cemeteries across the Italian peninsula and the Adriatic coast contain Y-chromosome profiles compatible with mid-level M406 branches, potentially including early forms of this lineage.
- Genome-wide analyses of ancient central Mediterranean individuals often require eastern Mediterranean components consistent with G2a-bearing paternal ancestries, including M406-derived branches like G2a2b1a47.
- Later medieval and early modern populations in the same regions show continuity signals suggesting that this lineage, once established, persisted across multiple sociopolitical transitions.
Phylogeny & subclades
Defined by FT100234 and associated FT1002xx markers, G2a2b1a47 forms a distinct node within M406’s western diffusion. Its internal structure shows several microbranches associated with different coastal regions, indicating multiple localized founder events rather than a single mass expansion.
Phylogenetically, it occupies a position downstream of the main Anatolian radiation but upstream of numerous very young family-level clusters, making it ideal for modeling historical-era demographic processes in the Mediterranean.
- G2a2b1a47* (basal Mediterranean form)
- G2a2b1a47a (FT100251-linked central Mediterranean branch)
- G2a2b1a47b (Adriatic coast microcluster)
- G2a2b1a47c (Iberian and southern French trace branch)
Notes & context
G2a2b1a47 demonstrates how the M406 ancestry managed to participate in repeated phases of Mediterranean connectivity—from Greek colonization through Roman integration and later medieval trade—without becoming numerically dominant. In personal ancestry reconstruction, this branch is often a sign of historical east–west Mediterranean links rather than early Neolithic farmer ancestry.
For your mega atlas, G2a2b1a47 expands the M406 narrative westward, balancing the Anatolian, Balkan and Levantine branches with a specifically central and western Mediterranean component. This helps users see that M406 is not just an Anatolian or Levantine story, but a genuinely pan-Mediterranean one in the historic era.
References & external links