Overview
J2a-Y15942 is a downstream highland oriented lineage of the J2a-M67 radiation with a strong demographic foothold across the mountainous regions of eastern Anatolia, the Armenian plateau and the upper river basins of northern Mesopotamia. Its formation corresponds to the consolidation of Holocene agro-pastoral economies in upland environments where terrace-based agriculture, early copper metallurgy and seasonal pastoralism shaped long term population continuity. The clade displays downstream diversification that aligns with the major Bronze Age cultural sequences of the eastern Anatolian highlands and the Kura–Araxes related interaction spheres. Y15942-bearing groups likely contributed to the formation of regional polities, upland fortified settlements and trans-mountain trade routes that served as intermediaries between the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. By the Iron Age, the lineage continued to be embedded in highland cultural landscapes with limited coastal diffusion.