Overview
Haplogroup R-Y29 is a downstream lineage of R-M73 that developed during the early to mid-Holocene as populations across Inner Asia experienced major ecological and demographic transitions. Y29 likely arose among early hunter-gatherer communities inhabiting the Altai region and the surrounding forest-steppe ecotone. The lineage’s age suggests it existed long before the spread of pastoral nomadism and early Bronze Age cultural transformations. R-Y29 shows signs of having undergone slow but persistent regional diffusion rather than rapid expansion. Its downstream branches appear concentrated in populations that traditionally occupied upland and forested zones. The structure of these branches indicates that Y29-bearing groups experienced long-term geographic isolation with limited admixture, consistent with archaeological evidence for semi-sedentary forager or proto-Neolithic populations in the central and eastern Altai. Modern occurrences of Y29 appear at very low frequencies but show a consistent pattern across Mongolia, the Altai Republic, Tuva, and parts of northern Xinjiang. Its distribution highlights a region that historically served as a corridor between the Siberian forest belt and the Central Asian steppe, making Y29 relevant for reconstructing deeply rooted demographic layers predating later Indo-Iranian and Turkic expansions.