Overview
R1a-Z93 is the primary eastern branch of the R1a phylogeny and represents the ancestral paternal lineage of Indo-Iranian and large segments of Central and South Asian populations. Its origins lie in the steppe cultures of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, particularly among groups ancestral to Sintashta and the broader Andronovo horizon. Archaeological and genetic evidence consistently associates Z93 with the emergence of early chariot warfare, advanced metalworking traditions and the mobile pastoralist networks that transformed Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. Z93 expanded rapidly across the Eurasian steppe. It formed the foundational paternal lineage of cultures such as Sintashta, Andronovo, Srubnaya and Fedorovo. These societies inhabited expansive territories spanning the Ural foothills, Kazakhstan, southern Siberia and the forest-steppe belt of Central Asia. Their descendants contributed directly to the ethnogenesis of historical Indo-Iranian groups including Scythians, Sarmatians, Saka and later Medes, Persians and Indo-Aryans. One of the largest demographic events linked to Z93 is the migration into South Asia, which occurred during the late Bronze to early Iron Age. The arrival of Indo-Aryan speaking groups introduced R1a-Z93, particularly its L657 and related branches, which today form major paternal components of northern Indian, Pakistani and Afghan populations. Z93 also became integrated into early Turkic, Uralic and Iranian-speaking societies. The wide geographic range of Z93 today reflects thousands of years of complex expansions, cultural interactions and linguistic diversification across Eurasia.