Overview
Haplogroup R-Y46 is a downstream branch of the R-M73 lineage that emerged among Holocene forager groups living in the transitional belt between western Mongolia and the upper Yenisei watershed. Its geographic position reflects a population that occupied ecotonal regions where forest-steppe, river systems and arid uplands formed a highly variable but resource rich landscape. Y46 groups likely practiced flexible mobility strategies, shifting between fishing, hunting and small scale gathering depending on seasonal ecological cycles. The archaeological record of western Mongolia and the Yenisei headwaters supports this model, with microlithic traditions, worked antler tools and semi subterranean seasonal dwellings appearing throughout the mid Holocene. The phylogenetic profile of Y46 contains limited divergence, indicating that its ancestral communities remained cohesive for long periods and avoided major demographic turnover until much later cultural shifts impacted Inner Asia. Today, R-Y46 survives at very low frequencies in populations across western Mongolia and the upper Yenisei region, with occasional detection in southwestern Siberia. Its persistence illustrates the endurance of small forager populations who maintained cultural autonomy even as later waves of steppe pastoralist expansion reshaped the broader genetic landscape of Eurasia.