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Haplogroup I1-Y7237

I1-Y7237 North Central European branch

Macro-haplogroup
I
Parent clade
I1
Formed (estimate)
c. 3,200–3,800 years before present
TMRCA (estimate)
c. 1,800–2,300 years ago

Overview

I1-Y7237 is a north central European branch of haplogroup I1 that arose among early Iron Age populations situated between the Elbe basin, southern Scandinavia and the southern Baltic hinterland. The clade represents lineages that were embedded in inland networks linking Danish Jutland, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and western Poland, and which later contributed modestly to the demographic background of early West Slavic and Germanic groups in the region.

Geographic distribution

Today, I1-Y7237 is found at low to moderate levels in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark, with smaller frequencies in Sweden and Norway. It also appears in Britain and North America due to migration from German and Baltic source populations during the historical period.

Ancient DNA

  • Iron Age burials in the Elbe and middle Oder regions contain I1 lineages that fall close to the ancestral node of Y7237.
  • Archaeological contexts associated with early Germanic and later West Slavic groups in northern central Europe show Y chromosome profiles compatible with the broader Y7237 cluster.
  • Early medieval individuals from the Polabian and Pomeranian cultural spheres exhibit paternal lineages that likely descend from microbranches within this clade.

Phylogeny & subclades

I1-Y7237 is a downstream element of the continental Z58 framework, forming a small but distinct cluster parallel to better known Y-series microbranches. Defining SNPs include Y7237, Y7240 and BY15210. The internal structure comprises several daughter lineages, most of which are geographically anchored in north central Europe.

  • I1-Y7240
  • I1-BY15210
  • Basal Y7237* lineages

Notes & context

I1-Y7237 refines the picture of paternal diversity in north central Europe by adding resolution to the Z58 continental radiation that underlies both Germanic and early Slavic expansions. It is particularly informative in detailed regional studies of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and western Polish ancestry.