A · BT · CT · CF · F · J · J1-M267 · J1-P58 · J1-Y5123

Haplogroup J1-Y5123

Macro-haplogroup
J
Parent clade
J1-P58
Formed (estimate)
c. 4,700 to 6,000 years before present
TMRCA (estimate)
c. 1,200 to 1,900 years ago

Overview

J1-Y5123 represents a downstream branch of the widespread Arabian-centered J1-P58 expansion and likely originated during the early Bronze Age within pastoralist societies living across the northern Arabian plateau and southern Levant. These communities relied on flexible mobility strategies structured around seasonal grazing cycles, desert wells and oasis-linked resource networks, contributing to early trade and communication routes that connected the Hejaz, Wadi Sirhan and Transjordan. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, Y5123-bearing populations appeared among emerging North Arabian tribal confederations. Its tree structure shows multiple founder effects tied to historically documented clan formations in the Hejaz and northern Arabia. Later historical movements associated with the early Islamic period carried downstream sublineages east into Iraq and the Gulf region, where some lineages experienced further localized expansion.

Geographic distribution

Common in Saudi Arabia and Jordan; moderate in Iraq and Syria; low in Kuwait and the Levant.

Ancient DNA

  • Bronze Age Levant samples show upstream J1-P58 variants consistent with proto Y5123.
  • Iron Age North Arabian burials exhibit branching patterns compatible with early Y5123 formation.
  • Early Islamic Hejaz cemeteries contain downstream Y5123 microclades.

Phylogeny & subclades

A structured derivative of J1-P58 tied to pastoral mobility, tribal founder effects and northern Arabian demographic growth.

  • Y5123*
  • Hejaz branches
  • Northern Arabian derivatives

Notes & context

A lineage that illuminates the early demographic foundations of North Arabian tribal societies.