Overview
J2b-Y32600 is a downstream lineage within the J2b-M241 radiation and displays a demographic focus in the western Balkans, central Greece and the southern Aegean. Its early formation corresponds to the middle Holocene expansions of early agricultural communities moving across the Balkan peninsula and the coastal Aegean arc. Archaeological patterns suggest connections with late Neolithic village networks, early Chalcolithic interaction spheres and the transition to Bronze Age societies that relied on both seaborne and inland mobility. During the Bronze Age, this clade participated in demographic movements that linked the Mycenaean cultural zone, the eastern Adriatic and coastal Anatolia. The downstream phylogeny of Y32600 indicates founder effects within specific Balkan populations, as well as diversification events tied to shifting settlement patterns in the Aegean basin.
Geographic distribution
Highest modern frequencies occur in Albania, Greece, North Macedonia and coastal western Turkey. Medium levels in Cyprus, coastal Syria and southern Italy reflect classical and post Bronze Age movements. Lower frequencies across the Adriatic and central Mediterranean track later expansions.
Ancient DNA
- Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Balkan individuals show J2b variants consistent with ancestral Y32600.
- Aegean Bronze Age samples contain J2b signatures aligned with the upstream portion of this clade.
- Early Anatolian coastal burials present J2b structures matching early diversification within Y32600.
- Levantine Bronze Age and Iron Age individuals show J2b signals that overlap with downstream Y32600 branches.
- Classical era Greek and Aegean populations show continuity with Y32600 derived lineages.
Phylogeny & subclades
Y32600 includes several Balkan centered subbranches and additional lines that extend toward the Aegean and Anatolian coasts. Its structure reflects regional founder effects and demographic pulses characteristic of the Bronze Age Aegean world.
- Y32600* basal Balkan form
- Greek and Aegean microbranches
- Western Anatolian downstream lines
- Levantine derived variants
Notes & context
J2b-Y32600 is a key marker for understanding demographic relations between the Balkans, the Aegean and adjacent eastern Mediterranean regions.
References & external links