Overview
G-Y202312 formed during the early to mid Bronze Age and appears strongly tied to the demographic transitions in regions that connect central Anatolia, the northern Levant and the southern Caucasus. These zones experienced frequent population movements driven by trade, crafts specialization, the rise of fortified towns and the development of metal industries. The archaeological and cultural context of Y202312 suggests settlement continuity among groups that interacted with both the highland and lowland spheres.
The lineage preserves a genetic profile characteristic of communities living along the transitional corridor from Cappadocia to the upper Euphrates basin. Its subclades remained small, indicating limited outward migration compared to more expansive G2a2b1a branches. G-Y202312 therefore serves as a valuable illustration of how paternal lines with moderate antiquity can survive in geographically and culturally stable regions without undergoing substantial demographic amplification.
Geographic distribution
Modern carriers of G-Y202312 occur primarily in eastern Turkey, Armenia, northern Iraq and areas stretching toward northwest Iran. Smaller but meaningful signals appear in Cyprus, Crete and coastal southern Turkey, reflecting maritime links to the eastern Mediterranean. The lineage is rare in Europe but appears sporadically in Italy and the Balkans, likely through ancient or medieval diffusion linked to eastern Mediterranean mobility.
Ancient DNA
- Early Iron Age individuals from the upper Euphrates region show basal marker configurations compatible with proto Y202312 ancestry.
- Middle and Late Bronze Age populations in eastern Anatolia and the Armenian Highlands present upstream SNP combinations that align closely with Y202312’s deeper structure.
- Archaic period Levantine individuals show partial SNP overlap with ancestral subclades but do not fall within Y202312 directly, highlighting its regional specificity.
Phylogeny & subclades
G-Y202312 forms a modest set of internal branches within G2a2b1a. Its topology is characterized by a small early split dividing a northern Armenian/upper Euphrates cluster and a southwest Anatolian/Levantine oriented cluster. These structures correlate with Bronze Age cultural boundaries and early Iron Age settlement reorganizations. The internal branches are shallow and correspond to founder lines that stabilized between 1500 and 800 BCE.
- G-Y202312* basal Caucasus–Anatolia foothill clade
- G-Y202312a Armenian and upper Euphrates branch
- G-Y202312b southwest Anatolia and eastern Mediterranean microbranch
- small derived clusters found in Cypriot and Aegean island lineages
Notes & context
G-Y202312 highlights the importance of transitional landscapes, where populations at the interface of mountains and river basins maintain unique paternal signals. Its inclusion in the atlas adds nuance to the demographic history of the eastern Mediterranean and highland Anatolia.
References & external links