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Haplogroup I3-Y18670

I3-Y18670 Highland Paleolithic

Macro-haplogroup

Parent clade

Formed (estimate)

c. 24,000–30,000 years before present

TMRCA (estimate)

c. 12,000–15,000 years ago

Y18670
Y18674
BY18590

Overview

I3-Y18670 is a deeply divergent Paleolithic branch of I3 preserved in isolated highland populations across eastern Anatolia and the northern Zagros region. It mirrors the time depth and refugial dynamics seen in its sister branch I3h, indicating long-term survival through the Last Glacial Maximum in mountainous refugia before entering a slow demographic decline.

Geographic distribution

Modern carriers appear at extremely low frequencies across eastern Turkey, Armenia, western Iran and northern Iraq. The clade’s distribution is rugged, patchy and consistent with ancient highland refugial persistence.

Ancient DNA

Upper Paleolithic samples from the Zagros highlands show ancestry patterns consistent with basal I3 diversification.
Neolithic highland communities contain paternal signals similar to Y18670 upstream structure.
Bronze Age individuals from the Armenian Highlands exhibit deeply divergent I-related ancestry compatible with I3-Y18670 roots.

Phylogeny & subclades

SNPs Y18670, Y18674 and BY18590 define the clade. It splits from the same Paleolithic node as I3h, but exhibits minimal downstream branching.

I3-Y18674
I3-BY18590
Basal Y18670*

Notes & context