Overview
J1-ZS2441 is a downstream subclade of the Arabian centered J1-L147.1 umbrella and seems to have formed among pastoral groups occupying the northern Arabian desert and the Hejaz margin during the early Bronze Age. These populations followed mobility circuits around deep wells, small oases and intermittent wadis, giving rise to stable demographic nuclei that later underpinned early Semitic speaking tribal structures. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, ZS2441 bearing lineages expanded across the Hejaz, Najd and into the western Mesopotamian periphery. The phylogeny shows several distinct founder events that correspond to clan based segmentary organization characteristic of North Arabian tribal systems. In the early Islamic period, downstream branches of ZS2441 diffused into Iraq, Kuwait and the Gulf coast, where they further differentiated under conditions of oasis agriculture, caravan trade and urbanization.