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Y-DNA Haplogroup Atlas

A · BT · CT · CF · F · J · J1-M267 · J1-P58 · J1-L147.1 · J1-ZS3688

Haplogroup J1-ZS3688

Macro-haplogroup
J
Parent clade
J1-L147.1
Formed (estimate)
c. 6,000 to 8,300 years before present
TMRCA (estimate)
c. 1,500 to 2,400 years ago

Overview

J1-ZS3688 is a downstream lineage within the Arabian-centered J1-L147.1 cluster and is strongly associated with pastoral and semi-nomadic populations of northern Arabia, the Jordanian steppe and the Syrian desert interior. Its formation coincides with mid Holocene environmental conditions that favored the expansion of mobile herding systems and the establishment of seasonal movement corridors between desert oases, upland margins and proto-urban centers along the Levantine and Mesopotamian fringes. Bronze and Iron Age demographic processes shaped the internal diversification of ZS3688, with downstream branches associated with tribal populations occupying desert margins and caravan routes. Some derived subclades likely entered early Arab tribal formations, whereas the deeper structure of the lineage reflects pre-Arab pastoral communities adapted to arid and semi-arid ecologies. Classical and later populations in northern Arabia and southern Syria retain traces of these microbranches, indicating continuity of desert-focused lifeways.

Geographic distribution

Northern Arabia, Jordan, southern Syria, Iraq; sporadic presence in the Levant and the Hijaz.

Ancient DNA

  • Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age Levantine individuals possess upstream J1 diversity compatible with ancestral ZS3688.
  • Bronze Age northern Arabian samples show J1-P58 signatures that align with basal nodes of this lineage.
  • Iron Age Syrian desert and steppe sites contain downstream elements of ZS3688.
  • Classical oasis and desert fringe communities preserve continuity with derivative microbranches.
  • Early Arab tribal expansions probably carried downstream clades into wider northern Arabian and Mesopotamian regions.

Phylogeny & subclades

A desert-adapted J1-L147.1 branch with microbranches distributed across northern Arabian and Syrian desert margin ecologies.

  • ZS3688*
  • Northern Arabian microbranches
  • Syrian steppe derivatives

Notes & context

ZS3688 is important for reconstructing the demographic structure of pre-Arab and early Arab pastoral groups across the northern Arabian and Syrian desert corridors.