Overview
J1-ZS4585 is a downstream element of the J1-L147.1 Arabian-centered expansion and is associated with pastoralist populations inhabiting northern Arabia, the Jordanian desert and the southern Syrian steppe. Its formation corresponds to the development of mature Holocene desert herding systems in which camel husbandry, small ruminant herding and long-distance tribal mobility structured social and economic life across the Syro-Arabian desert corridor. Bronze Age and Iron Age populations linked to this lineage were active in tribal confederations that mediated caravan traffic, livestock exchange and desert–oasis connectivity between Arabia, the Levant and Mesopotamia. Downstream microstructure suggests localized founder effects in desert basins, basalt uplands and steppe-margin oases. Classical and early medieval populations from northern Arabia and southern Syria retain J1 lineages that align with the expected geographic and historical footprint of ZS4585, reflecting deep continuity in desert pastoralist demographic systems.