Overview
J1-Y4255 is a downstream Arabian-focused branch of the J1-P58 radiation, emerging during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in populations inhabiting the Syro-Arabian steppe, northern Hejaz and southern Jordan. These communities relied on transhumant herding systems that revolved around desert wells, oases and seasonal migration cycles. Archaeological evidence from the region points to early pastoral encampments, copper-age trade outposts and fortified oasis settlements that played a key role in structuring long-distance mobility. During the Bronze and Iron Age periods, Y4255-bearing groups were incorporated into expanding tribal confederations along the northern Arabian frontier. Their movements intersected with trade routes that linked Arabia with the Levant and Mesopotamia. Downstream phylogenetic structure suggests multiple founder effects tied to regionally rooted clans in the Hejaz, Wadi Sirhan and the southern Levant.