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Y-DNA Haplogroup Atlas

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Haplogroup G2a8

G-FGC5801

Macro-haplogroup
G
Parent clade
G2a
Formed (estimate)
c. 10,000–13,000 years before present
TMRCA (estimate)
c. 5,000–7,000 years ago

Overview

G2a8 is a very rare Near Eastern branch of G2a, detected primarily in individuals from western Iran, northern Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia. Its development coincided with the intensification of sedentary lifeways and the emergence of early agricultural communities in the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic. As agriculture spread outward, G2a8 appears to have remained geographically constrained, forming only small-scale regional founder populations rather than taking part in transregional expansions. Its scarcity in both ancient and modern samples underscores the uneven demographic success of early Holocene paternal lineages in West Asia. G2a8 appears to represent one of the many ‘silent’ parallel branches that remained confined to local cultural ecologies.

Geographic distribution

G2a8 is found in limited numbers among populations in western Iran (including Lorestan and Kermanshah), northern Iraq, and areas bordering Lake Van in eastern Turkey. Minor instances appear across Armenia. Its confinement to this geographic triangle suggests localized persistence since early Holocene times.

Ancient DNA

  • Possible ancestral G2a8-related markers occur in a handful of low-coverage prehistoric individuals from the central Zagros.
  • No fully confirmed G2a8 calls have been identified in published ancient DNA, though several candidate upstream samples from northern Mesopotamia align temporally.
  • Its absence in European Neolithic genomes is consistent with its non-participation in continental expansions.

Phylogeny & subclades

G2a8 consists of several shallow branching clusters, indicating repeated localized founder effects rather than widespread population growth. Its position within G2a phylogeny places it among the mid-Holocene West Asian radiations preceding the dominance of G2a2.

  • G2a8* basal
  • Zagros regional microclades
  • Lake Van–Northern Mesopotamia clusters

Notes & context

G2a8 helps map the internal complexity of G2a lineages that never became demographically dominant but nonetheless represent important relics of early Near Eastern paternal structure.