Overview
J1-Y5238 is a downstream element of the Arabian-centered J1-P58 macroclade and is associated with pastoral communities occupying the northern Arabian plateau and the southern Levant during the early Bronze Age. These populations relied on highly mobile herding systems anchored around wells, wadis and short-range seasonal movement patterns. Their mobility allowed them to occupy strategic corridors between the Hejaz, Wadi Sirhan and the highland fringes of southern Jordan. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, Y5238-bearing groups participated in the formation of North Arabian tribal coalitions and contributed to population expansions across the Hejaz and western Arabia. Downstream branches of the lineage show clear founder effects tied to regionally confined clans. Archaeogenetic evidence indicates continuity with groups active during the early Islamic expansion, some of whom moved eastward into Mesopotamia and the Gulf.