Overview
J1-FGC9861 is a downstream branch of the highland-rooted J1-Z1828 lineage and formed among populations inhabiting the Armenian Highlands, eastern Anatolia and parts of the northern Zagros. These ancestral groups practiced high-altitude pastoralism, early metallurgy and maintained valley-based agricultural settlements, contributing significantly to the cultural networks that later characterized the Kura-Araxes expansion. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, FGC9861-bearing populations maintained strong geographic and ecological continuity within mountainous upland zones. The lineage’s downstream microclade structure reflects long-term demographic stability and isolation. From the Iron Age through the medieval period, the lineage experienced limited but detectable local diversification, suggesting small but continuous population sizes.