Overview
Haplogroup R-Z2106 is one of the two major internal branches descending from R-Z2103, the eastern branch of R-M269 that became central to the genetic and cultural expansions of the Yamnaya and early steppe societies. Z2106 likely formed during the Early Bronze Age within populations occupying the Pontic Caspian steppe and adjacent regions of the northern Caucasus. Its age aligns with the period in which mobile pastoralist groups were undergoing significant demographic growth, leading to widespread migrations into southeastern Europe, the Balkans and Anatolia. Z2106 played a major role in shaping the populations associated with the Catacomb culture, the early Proto Indo European expansions and the Bronze Age societies of the southern steppe. It appears frequently in ancient DNA samples linked to pastoralist migrations into the Balkans and the Aegean, where it contributed to the paternal ancestry of Bronze Age Mycenaeans and related groups. Archaeogenetic studies recognize Z2106 as a key lineage that traces the movement of steppe derived ancestry southward into Europe's earliest complex societies. Its internal phylogeny is diverse, with several downstream branches present across the Caucasus, the Balkans, Anatolia and southeastern Europe. Many of these lineages persisted into historical periods, forming part of the paternal landscape of classical, Hellenistic, medieval Balkan and Anatolian populations.