Overview
J2b-Z42075 is a downstream lineage of the J2b-M241 radiation with a demographic axis extending across the southern Balkans, the Aegean region and western Anatolia. Its earliest formation overlaps with later Neolithic and Chalcolithic phases in southeastern Europe, when farming communities consolidated in river valleys and along the coastal plains of the Adriatic and Aegean basins.
During the Bronze Age, Z42075-bearing groups were involved in demographic networks connected to Mycenaean cultural centers, coastal Balkan settlements and western Anatolian proto-urban communities. The downstream structure of the clade reveals several localized founder effects in Aegean island populations, coastal trade hubs and interior Balkan valleys. Iron Age and classical era evidence suggests continued presence of Z42075 derivatives in Greek, Adriatic and Anatolian coastal populations, mirroring the persistence of Aegean-centered trade and cultural links.
Geographic distribution
Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, western Turkey; minor frequencies in coastal Italy, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Cyprus.
Ancient DNA
- Neolithic and Chalcolithic Balkan individuals carry J2b-M241 signals that align with the basal structure of Z42075.
- Aegean Bronze Age samples show J2b components consistent with ancestry within this lineage.
- Western Anatolian Bronze Age burials preserve upstream variants of the clade.
- Iron Age Aegean and southern Balkan coastal populations exhibit downstream Z42075 branches.
- Classical Greek communities maintain derivative microbranches, particularly in coastal and island settings.
Phylogeny & subclades
A coastal and river-valley focused branch within J2b-M241, with substructure linking Aegean islands, southern Balkan coasts and western Anatolia.
- Z42075*
- Aegean island microclades
- Southern Balkan derivatives
Notes & context
Z42075 is particularly useful for tracing Bronze and Iron Age demographic links between the Aegean, southern Balkans and western Anatolia.
References & external links