Overview
Haplogroup R-Y87624 represents a downstream R2a branch whose development coincided with major demographic realignments across the Iranian–Afghan–South Asian interaction corridor. Its formation overlap with the early Chalcolithic indicates that Y87624 likely arose among semi-sedentary agro-pastoral communities operating along strategic migration and exchange routes. The lineage today appears in modest frequencies in western Pakistan, southern Afghanistan and eastern Iran. This pattern corresponds closely with settlement zones associated with early farming traditions that predate the rise of the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeological regions such as Baluchistan, the Kachi Plain and the Helmand Basin reveal ancient networks of shared cultural traits, which provide an excellent contextual backdrop for the emergence of Y87624. While ancient samples have not been directly attributed to this clade, several R2a-positive remains from Helmand and Iranian Chalcolithic contexts indicate that its ancestors participated in long-lived population systems spanning both sides of the modern Iran–Pakistan border.