Overview
Haplogroup R-Y44 is an early diverging lineage within the broader R-M73 framework and represents one of the regional Holocene expansions that took place among forest-steppe forager groups inhabiting the southern Siberian corridor. Its origins correspond to a period of postglacial ecological stabilization, when freshwater systems, upland meadows and wooded transition zones supported highly mobile yet regionally structured communities. Groups carrying Y44 likely followed seasonal patterns based on river migration cycles, hunting routes and periodic aggregation at lakeside resource hubs. The archaeological context that matches this lineage includes microlithic blade industries, polished bone points and complex fishing apparatus that appear across the Ob-Irtysh system during the early to middle Holocene. These assemblages point to a demographic scenario in which Y44 groups remained culturally interconnected while sustaining modest population sizes. The phylogenetic structure of this lineage shows medium depth, suggesting periodic fragmentation and reunification of forager bands in response to environmental variation. Today, R-Y44 is extremely rare, persisting only in fragments within populations of southwestern Siberia, the forest-steppe interface and occasional individuals from eastern Kazakhstan. Its survival indicates deep continuity within ecological refugia that escaped full replacement during the Bronze Age expansions of pastoralist groups who transformed much of the wider Eurasian landscape.