Overview
J1-FGC9793 is a downstream branch of the highland-oriented J1-Z1828 lineage and formed among agro-pastoral communities inhabiting the Armenian Highlands, eastern Anatolia and the northern Zagros. These groups operated seasonal transhumance systems between high-altitude pastures and valley settlements, employed early metallurgical technologies and maintained inter-valley cultural and economic networks characteristic of the Kura-Araxes cultural horizon. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, FGC9793-bearing populations remained concentrated in highland zones where geographic barriers limited gene flow and fostered highly localized microclade formation. Archaeogenetic evidence indicates continuity between ancestral FGC9793 groups and later Iron Age and medieval populations of the Armenian plateau. The lineage’s structure reflects stable demographic patterns typical of isolated upland pastoral communities.