Overview
J2b-Z41492 is a downstream lineage of the J2b-M241 expansion and is primarily associated with the demographic dynamics of the southern Balkans, central Greece, western Anatolia and the Aegean basin. Its early formation parallels the diffusion of Neolithic agricultural communities into southeastern Europe and the emergence of maritime networks linking the Aegean and Adriatic seas.
By the Bronze Age, the lineage was entrenched in regions influenced by Mycenaean and western Anatolian cultural spheres. Its downstream clades show strong island-based founder effects, coastal settlement continuity and river-valley microregional diversification. Persistence into the Iron Age and classical eras highlights its long-standing integration into Aegean and southern Balkan population structures.
Geographic distribution
Greece, Albania, western Turkey, Bulgaria; low frequencies in Italy, Cyprus, Montenegro and coastal Macedonia.
Ancient DNA
- Neolithic Balkan samples contain upstream J2b-M241 signals consistent with the base structure of Z41492.
- Aegean Bronze Age individuals show J2b-M241 variation overlapping with this lineage.
- Bronze Age western Anatolia exhibits continuity with ancestral branches.
- Iron Age Aegean coastal communities preserve downstream clades.
- Classical Greek populations retain derivative subbranches.
Phylogeny & subclades
A coastal-Balkan J2b lineage with strong Aegean island and western Anatolian diversification patterns.
- Z41492*
- Aegean microbranches
- Adriatic-Balkan derivatives
Notes & context
Z41492 plays a key role in understanding population interactions between the Aegean, the southern Balkans and western Anatolia.
References & external links