Overview
J2a-Y19057 is a downstream highland-centered branch within J2a-M67, with a demographic footprint concentrated in the Upper Tigris basin, the Armenian highlands and the eastern Anatolian interior. Its early formation aligns with the consolidation of middle Holocene agro pastoral communities that settled along the upland river valleys and developed early fortified settlements, localized metallurgical practices and exchange networks tied to obsidian circulation routes.
Bronze Age demographic signals associated with Y19057 correspond to the expansion of highland cultural complexes, including Kura Araxes related networks and subsequent Middle Bronze Age political formations. The clade’s downstream structure indicates founder effects in upland microregions and long-term continuity into the Iron Age, classical antiquity and regional medieval communities.
Geographic distribution
Most frequent in Armenia, eastern Turkey and northwest Iran; moderate in northern Iraq and Georgia; low in Levantine and central Anatolian populations.
Ancient DNA
- Bronze Age Armenian plateau individuals show signatures compatible with upstream Y19057.
- Chalcolithic Upper Tigris remains include J2a forms linked to early Y19057 derivation.
- Eastern Anatolian Bronze Age samples carry paternal markers aligned with this lineage.
- Iron Age highland sites contain downstream Y19057 variants.
- Classical upland populations preserve continuity with the clade.
Phylogeny & subclades
A highland-oriented J2a-M67 lineage with microclades concentrated in the Upper Tigris and Armenian plateau environments.
- Y19057*
- Armenian plateau microbranches
- Upper Tigris derivatives
Notes & context
A key upland lineage reflecting stable long-term demographic continuity in eastern Anatolia and the Armenian highlands.
References & external links