Overview
J2a-Y18492 is a downstream lineage of the J2a-M67 radiation with roots in the highland regions of eastern Anatolia and the Armenian plateau. Its early formation coincides with the stabilization of upland agricultural systems in the early Holocene, where terraced farming, obsidian exchange networks and the first durable highland settlements emerged. Archaeological contexts associated with this period indicate increased regional connectivity between the Upper Tigris basin, the Lake Van region and the northern Zagros foothills. By the Bronze Age, populations bearing Y18492 were part of highland socio-political structures characterized by fortified hilltop settlements, early metallurgical zones and mountain corridor trade. The lineage diversified into several microregional subclades tied to upland valleys and plateau-edge communities. Iron Age and classical samples from northern Mesopotamia and the Armenian highlands show signals consistent with the persistence of Y18492-derived subbranches.