Overview
J1-FGC8401 is a downstream lineage within the highland-focused J1-Z1828 radiation. Its earliest formation aligns with the middle Holocene upland agro-pastoral systems occupying the Armenian Highlands, eastern Anatolia and the foothills of the northern Zagros. These populations were part of early metalworking traditions, obsidian networks and fortified village systems that came to characterize the region's archaeological record. Throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, FGC8401-bearing communities were embedded within mountain-based socio-political structures that emphasized seasonal mobility, transhumance and local tribal alliances. The restricted but distinct phylogenetic pattern of FGC8401 indicates long-term continuity within clustered upland populations, accompanied by limited diffusion into the adjacent Mesopotamian lowlands.