Overview
J1-FGC8554 is a downstream branch under J1-Z1828 with a demographic focus on the South Caucasus, eastern Anatolia and the northern Zagros ecosystems. Its early formation correlates with the emergence of upland agro-pastoral communities who practiced seasonal transhumance, early metallurgy and established fortified settlements across the highland plateaus during the middle Holocene. These groups were central to the networks that later contributed to the formation of the Kura-Araxes cultural complex. Throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, FGC8554-bearing populations maintained upland demographic continuity, participating in tribal alliances, mountain polity formation and long-distance pastoral circuits. The confined phylogenetic structure of the lineage suggests strong geographic stability within the highlands, with limited diffusion into the adjacent Mesopotamian lowlands.