Overview
G2a6 is another upstream–midstream Near Eastern branch of G2a that represents a small, regionally persistent paternal lineage from the early Holocene Zagros–Mesopotamian interface. It likely arose among early sedentary or semi-sedentary communities before the explosive expansions of G2a2-derived Neolithic farmers.
G2a6’s scarcity today and its tight clustering in ancient refugial landscapes suggest a lineage that underwent long-term demographic contraction, surviving in a handful of Near Eastern populations linked to mountain foothill ecologies.
Geographic distribution
Modern carriers of G2a6 are concentrated in western Iran (especially the central Zagros region), northern Iraq, and occasionally Syria and eastern Turkey. The lineage aligns closely with the geography of early Holocene pastoral–agricultural transition zones.
It is absent from Europe and the Caucasus outside of rare outlier individuals.
Ancient DNA
- Early Holocene Zagros samples show upstream markers compatible with proto-G2a6.
- Northern Mesopotamian Pre-Pottery Neolithic individuals occasionally display SNP patterns related to ancestral G2a6 branches.
- No European ancient DNA corresponds to G2a6 or its downstream structure.
Phylogeny & subclades
G2a6’s internal structure is composed of a few extremely localized microclades, characteristic of lineages that persisted in small, geographically constrained populations. It sits on the early G2a internal diversification ladder, forming a distinct branch parallel to G2a3, G2a4 and G2a5.
- G2a6* basal
- Zagros foothill microbranches
- Northern Mesopotamian microbranches
Notes & context
G2a6 helps fill the phylogenetic ‘quiet zone’ of early G2a diversity—lineages that played key roles in ancient West Asian demographic history but did not participate in large-scale migrations. Its presence enriches the atlas’s representation of early Holocene paternal structures in the Near East.
References & external links