G E N O G R A P H I C
GENETIC HISTORY: LAWRENCE FIRRANTELLO
HAPLOGROUP J2 (M172)
Your Y chromosome results identify you as a member of haplogroup J2, a
lineage defined by a genetic marker called M172. This haplogroup is the
final destination of a genetic journey that began some 60,000 years ago
with an ancient Y chromosome marker called M168.
The very widely dispersed M168 marker can be traced to a single
individual - "Eurasian Adam." This African man, who lived some 31,000
to 79,000 years ago, is the common ancestor of every non-African person
living today. His descendants migrated out of Africa and became the
only lineage to survive away from humanity's home continent.
Population growth during the Upper Paleolithic era may have spurred the
M168 lineage to seek new hunting grounds for the plains animals crucial
to their survival. A period of moist and favorable climate had expanded
the ranges of such animals at this time, so these nomadic peoples may
have simply followed their food source.
Improved tools and rudimentary art appeared during this same epoch,
suggesting significant mental and behavioral changes. These shifts may
have been spurred by a genetic mutation that gave "Eurasian Adam's"
descendants a cognitive advantage over other contemporary, but now
extinct, human lineages.
Some 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans are descendants of the second
great human migration out of Africa, which is defined by the marker M89.
M89 first appeared 45,000 years ago in Northern Africa or the Middle
East. It arose on the original lineage (M168) of "Eurasian Adam," and
defines a large inland migration of hunters who followed expanding
grasslands and plentiful game to the Middle East.
Many people of this lineage remained in the Middle East, but others
continued their movement and followed the grasslands through Iran to
the vast steppes of Central Asia. Herds of buffalo, antelope, woolly
mammoths, and other game probably enticed them to explore new
grasslands.
With much of Earth's water frozen in massive ice sheets, the era's vast
steppes stretched from eastern France to Korea. The grassland hunters
of the M89 lineage traveled both east and west along this steppe
"superhighway" and eventually peopled much of the continent.
A group of M89 descendants moved north from the Middle East to Anatolia
and the Balkans, trading familiar grasslands for forests and high
country. Though their numbers were likely small, genetic traces of
their journey are still found today.
Haplogroup J2, defined by marker M172 originated in the Fertile
Crescent and marks a major milestone of the human journey. Some 10,000
to 15,000 years ago the members of this group became the first farmers
during a period known as the Neolithic Revolution. With the success of
agriculture, they later pioneered the rise of modern, sedentary
communities and cities.
M172 defines a major subset of this haplogroup which arose from the M89
lineage. It is found today in North Africa, the Middle East, and
southern Europe. In southern Italy it occurs at frequencies of 20
percent, and in southern Spain ten percent of the population carries
this marker.
This lineage's early farming successes spawned population booms and
encouraged migration throughout much of the Mediterranean world. Later
migrations carried M172 through the river valleys of Central Asia and
into northern India.
Descendants of Ml 72 have left a physical footprint that matches their
genetic journey. Sites such as Jericho (Tell el-Sultan) are among the
world's oldest settled communities, and allow archaeologists to trace
many millennia of growth and development.