Overview
J2a-PF5160 is one of the primary basal trunks within the upper structure of J2a-L26 and forms a crucial component of the early diversification of J2a across the northern Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the Iranian Plateau. Its position on the phylogenetic tree indicates that it diverged during the terminal Pleistocene or earliest Holocene, a period in which the ancestral J2a population was transitioning from mobile foragers to increasingly sedentary communities in the Zagros–Upper Mesopotamian–Eastern Anatolian highlands. PF5160 is sister to several other major early subclades (such as PF5197, PF5008, and PF5121), and together these form the foundational radiation of J2a prior to the formation of later Neolithic cultural systems.
Geographic distribution
Modern PF5160-derived lineages occur primarily across the Armenian Highlands, eastern and southeastern Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, the Zagros arc of western Iran, and the South Caucasus. Smaller frequencies are found in the Levant, Cyprus, Greece, and parts of the Balkans—regions that historically received multiple waves of J2a-mediated Neolithic and Bronze Age gene flow. PF5160 appears at lower levels in the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia, usually as part of broader J2a diversity introduced through secondary expansions or historic-era population movements. These distributions are consistent with an ancestral zone spanning the northern Fertile Crescent, possibly with a demographic core around the Tigris headwaters and the Armenian–Zagros interface.
Ancient DNA
- Early Holocene forager–horticulturalist communities of the Zagros and Armenian highlands carried upstream J2a lineages that phylogenetically fall near PF5160, indicating the clade's presence before the spread of agriculture.
- Neolithic Iran and northern Mesopotamia show individuals belonging to lineages basal to or branching from PF5160, linking the clade to early sedentary village formation.
- Chalcolithic and Bronze Age populations associated with the Halaf, Hassuna, and northern Ubaid cultural zones display J2a chromosomes that frequently map near PF5160 in modern reconstructions.
- Bronze Age highland societies including early Kura–Araxes expansions show evidence of PF5160-related ancestry moving toward the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia.
Phylogeny & subclades
PF5160 forms one of the deep internal branches of the J2a-L26 framework and is a sister to PF5197 and PF5121. Its basal position indicates that it represents an early population split just after the formation of the J2a-M410/L26 main trunk. Downstream diversity within PF5160 is substantial though still under-sampled, with multiple microclades dispersed across the Armenian Highlands, northern Iraq, western Iran, and the Aegean. The presence of PF5160 in both highland and coastal early Neolithic environments demonstrates that its descendants participated in multiple demographic processes, including the spread of early agriculture, the expansion of Chalcolithic metallurgical systems, and interregional exchange networks across Anatolia and the Near East.
- PF5160* early basal highland lineages
- PF5160 > regional Armenian–Zagros clusters
- PF5160 > Aegean and eastern Mediterranean microclades
- PF5160 > northern Mesopotamian downstream branches
Notes & context
PF5160 is among the least publicly described major J2a trunks despite its importance. Its full structure is emerging only with the increase of high-coverage sequencing. The clade appears to have acted as a demographic backbone for early highland populations involved in the transition from foraging to mixed agro-pastoral economies. In atlas-level treatments, PF5160 should be viewed as one of the primary lineages responsible for the genetic and cultural shaping of early West Asian highland populations.
References & external links