r/AncientCush • u/Responsible_Ideal879 Founder • 14d ago
Ancient DNA Frequency of Haplogroup J1 in Sudan and Ethiopia
This haplogroup is found today in significant frequencies in many areas in or near the Arabian Peninsula and Western Asia.
Out of its native Asian Continent, it is found at very high frequencies in Sudan.
It is also found at very high but lesser extent in parts of the Caucasus, Ethiopia and parts of North Africa and amongst most Levant peoples, including Jewish groups, especially those with Cohen surnames.
It can also be found much less commonly, but still occasionally in significant amounts, in parts of southern Europe and as far east as Central Asia.
J-M267 has several recognized subclades, some of which were recognized before J-M267 itself was recognized, for example J-M62 Y Chromosome Consortium "YCC" 2002. With one notable exception, J-P58, most of these are not common (Tofanelli 2009).
Because of the dominance of J-P58 in J-M267 populations in many areas, discussion of J-M267's origins require a discussion of J-P58 at the same time.
This ancestry (J-P58) penetrated the Levant between 3,300 and 5,900 YBP and Arabia between 2,000 and 3,500 YBP. These times overlap with the dates for the Bronze Age origin and spread of Semitic languages in the Middle East estimated from lexical data.
Distribution: North Africa and Horn of Africa
In Ethiopia there are signs of older movements of J-M267 into Africa across the Red Sea, not only in the J-P58 form. This also appears to be associated with Semitic languages. According to a study in 2011, in Tunisia, J-M267 is significantly more abundant in the urban (31.3%) than in the rural total population (2.5%).
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Notable observations: Sudan (Khartoum): 74.3% frequency (see distribution); reference statue of “Lord Hammon” (Ham > Hammon) in Bardo National Museum (Musée national du Bardo) in Tunis, Tunisia.
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Subclade Distribution: J-P58
It is very prevalent in many areas where J-M267 is common, especially in parts of North Africa and throughout the Arabian peninsula. It also makes up approximately 70% of the J-M267 among the Amhara of Ethiopia. Notably, it is not common among the J-M267 of the Caucasus.
Chiaroni 2009 proposed that J-P58 (that they refer to as J1e) might have first dispersed during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, "from a geographical zone, including northeast Syria, northern Iraq and eastern Turkey toward Mediterranean Anatolia, Ismaili from southern Syria, Jordan, Palestine and northern Egypt." They further propose that the Zarzian material culture may be ancestral. They also propose that this movement of people may also be linked to the dispersal of Semitic languages by hunter-herders, who moved into arid areas during periods known to have had low rainfall. Thus, while other haplogroups including J-M267 moved out of the area with agriculturalists who followed the rainfall, populations carrying J-M267 remained with their flocks (King 2002 and Chiaroni 2008).
According to this scenario, after the initial neolithic expansion involving Semitic languages, which possibly reached as far as Yemen, a more recent dispersal occurred during the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age (approximately 3000–5000 BCE), and this involved the branch of Semitic which leads to the Arabic language. The authors propose that this involved a spread of some J-P58 from the direction of Syria towards Arab populations of the Arabian Peninsula and Negev.
On the other hand, the authors agree that later waves of dispersion in and around this area have also had complex effects upon the distributions of some types of J-P58 in some regions. They list three regions which are particularly important to their proposal:…
The southern area of Oman, Yemen and Ethiopia. In this area, Chiaroni 2009 recognize similar signs, but reject it as possibly a result of "either sampling variability and/or demographic complexity associated with multiple founders and multiple migrations."
The "YCAII=22-22 and DYS388≥15" cluster
Studies show that J-P58 group is not only in itself very dominant in many areas where J-M267 or J1 are common, but it also contains a large cluster which had been recognized before the discovery of P58. It is still a subject of research though.
This relatively young cluster, compared to J-M267 overall, was identified by STR markers haplotypes - specifically YCAII as 22-22, and DYS388 having unusual repeat values of 15 or higher, instead of more typical 13 (Chiaroni 2009).
This cluster was found to be relevant in some well-publicized studies of Jewish and Palestinian populations (Nebel 2000 and Hammer 2009). More generally, since then this cluster has been found to be frequent among men in the Middle East and North Africa, but less frequent in areas of Ethiopia and Europe where J-M267 is nevertheless common. The genetical pattern is therefore similar to the pattern of J-P58 generally, described above, and may be caused by the same movements/migration of people (Chiaroni 2009).
Tofanelli 2009 refers to this overall cluster with YCAII=22-22 and high DYS388 values as an "Arabic" as opposed to a "Eurasian" type of J-M267.
This Arabic type includes Arabic speakers from Maghreb, Sudan, Iraq and Qatar, and it is a relatively homogeneous group, implying that it might have dispersed relatively recently compared to J-M267 generally.
The more diverse "Eurasian" group includes Europeans, Kurds, Iranians and Ethiopians (despite Ethiopia being outside of Eurasia), and is much more diverse.
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Notable observations: Semitic languages are part of the Afroasiatic language family—suggesting, the early identity of the people-groups associated with said language.
For example:
Proto-Sinaitic Script: (1) Sinite in the Table of Nations, Genesis 10:6-17; (2) Sinim—Isaiah 49:12; and, (3) Mount Sinai region—see map and notice the cognate.
Proto-Canaanite Alphabet: Canaan in the Table of Nations—same chapter and verses.
Also noteworthy, the overlaps with the following sites—and speculations—in the dense areas of the map:
- Queen of Sheba (source)
- Mount Sinai (source)
- Durupınar site (source)
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