Overview
J1-ZS2920 is a downstream branch of the J1-L147.1 Arabian-rooted expansion. Its formation corresponds to pastoralist population movements across northern Arabia, the Jordanian plateau and the Syrian interior during the mid Holocene. These groups developed seasonal mobility systems and interacted with oasis-based agricultural communities, forming the basis for later Bronze Age demographic layers.
The downstream diversification of ZS2920 aligns with Iron Age tribal expansions and regional population clustering across northern Arabia and southern Syria. Some derived branches likely spread during early Arab tribal movements, although the lineage retains deeper structural signatures tied to pre-Arab pastoral populations inhabiting the wider desert margin corridor.
Geographic distribution
Northern Arabia, Jordan, southern Syria, Iraq; very low presence in the Levant and central Arabia.
Ancient DNA
- Chalcolithic Levantine individuals show J1 diversity compatible with upstream ZS2920.
- Bronze Age northern Arabia samples exhibit patterns linked to ancestral ZS2920.
- Iron Age Levantine burials display downstream markers consistent with the clade.
- Classical desert populations retain partial continuity with derivative branches.
- Early tribal expansions in northern Arabia likely carried downstream segments.
Phylogeny & subclades
A northern Arabian pastoral lineage under J1-L147.1 with subclusters tied to Bronze and Iron Age dynamics.
- ZS2920*
- northern Arabian derivatives
- Syro-desert microbranches
Notes & context
ZS2920 is significant for reconstructing demographic processes across the northern Arabian desert corridor during the Bronze and Iron Ages.
References & external links