Overview
R-Y26 represents one of the deepest identifiable splits within the R-M73 cluster, reflecting a lineage that survived through the early Holocene in the northern Altai–Sayan transitional belt. Its formation predates major pastoral expansions and aligns with a period when Inner Asian populations were structured into small, regionally adapted forager groups drawing from Upper Paleolithic Siberian ancestry. The Bronze Age saw limited expansions, likely tied to early mobile pastoralist cultures preceding Andronovo, but Y26 avoided the large founder events that characterize many steppe lineages. Today, Y26 shows a fragmented but diagnostically meaningful presence among groups in the western Sayan, eastern Kazakhstan, the Irtysh–Ob interfluve, and rare instances among northern Khakas and Altai Turkic speakers. Its continuity suggests long-term survival of a localized paternal clan structure that remained largely unaffected by larger Bronze and Iron Age demographic turnovers.