Paganism: spread of Haplogroup J and its Seeming connection of Bull Worship

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Paganism? Siberian Shamanism migrated to Turkey and then emerged as Paganism because of Agriculture.

Haplogroup J-M304

“Haplogroup J-M304, also known as J, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is believed to have evolved in Western Asia. The clade spread from there during the Neolithic, primarily into North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Socotra, the Caucasus, Europe, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Haplogroup J-M304 is divided into two main subclades (branches), J-M267 and J-M172.” ref

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Haplogroup J-M267 or “J1”

“Y DNA haplogroup J-M267, also commonly known as haplogroup J1, is a subclade (branch) of Y-DNA haplogroup J-P209 (commonly known as haplogroup J) along with its sibling clade Y DNA haplogroup J-M172 (commonly known as haplogroup J2). Men from this lineage share a common paternal ancestor, which is demonstrated and defined by the presence of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation referred to as M267, which was announced in (Cinnioğlu 2004).” ref

“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’s found at very high frequencies in Sudan. It’s also found at a very high but lesser extent in parts of the Caucasus, Ethiopia, and parts of North Africa and amongst most Levant peoples, incl. 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 and the Indian Subcontinent.” ref

Frequency-distribution-maps-for-the-haplogroup-J-Legend-a-J1-M267-b-J2-M172-c

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Haplogroup J-M172 or “J2”

“Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup which is a subclade (branch) of haplogroup J-M304.[Phylogenetics 2] Haplogroup J-M172 is common in modern populations in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Europe, Northwestern Iran, and North Africa. It is thought that J-M172 may have originated between the Caucasus Mountains, Mesopotamia, and the Levant. It is further divided into two complementary clades, J-M410 and J-M12 (M12, M102, M221, M314).” ref

Haplogroup J History

“The first J1 men lived in the Late Upper Paleolithic, shortly before the end of the last Ice Age. The oldest identified J1 sample to date comes from Satsurblia cave (c. 13,200 BCE) in Georgia (Jones et al. (2015)), placing the origins of haplogroup J1 in all likelihood in the region around the Caucasus, Zagros, Taurus, and eastern Anatolia during the Upper Paleolithic.” ref

“Like many other successful lineages from the Middle East, J1 is thought to have undergone a major population expansion during the Neolithic period. Chiaroni et al. (2010) found that the greatest genetic diversity of J1 haplotypes was found in eastern Anatolia, near Lake Van in central Kurdistan. Eastern Anatolia and the Zagros mountains are the regions where goats and sheep were first domesticated, some 11,000 years ago. Chiaroni et al. estimated that J1-P58 started expanding 9,000 to 10,000 years ago as pastoralists from the Fertile Crescent. Although they did not analyze the other branches, it is likely that all surviving J1a1b (L136) lineages share the same origin as goat and sheepherders from the Taurus and Zagros mountains.” ref

“The mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, Anatolia, and modern Iran, which wasn’t suitable for early cereal farming, was an ideal ground for goat and sheep herding and catalyzed the propagation of J1 pastoralists. Having colonized most of Anatolia, J1 herders would have settled the mountainous regions of Europe, including the southern Balkans, the Carpathians, central and southern Italy (Apennines, Sicily, Sardinia), southern France (especially Auvergne), and most of the Iberian peninsula. Hotspots of J1 in northern Spain (Cantabria, Asturias) appear to be essentially lineages descended from these Southwest Asian Neolithic herders.” ref

“Most J1 Europeans belong to the J1-Z1828 branch, which is also found in Anatolia and the Caucasus, but not in Arabic countries. The Z1842 subclade of Z1828 is the most common variety of J1 in Armenia and Georgia. There are also two other minor European branches: J1-Z2223, which has been found in Anatolia and Western Europe, and J1-M365.1, also found a bit everywhere across Western Europe. Their very upstream position in the phylogenetic tree and their scarcity in the Middle East suggests that these were among the earliest J1 lineages to leave the Middle East, perhaps as Late Paleolithic or Mesolithic hunter-gatherers that wandered outside Anatolia and, pushed by successive waves of migrations from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, ended up in Western Europe.” ref

“Within the Middle East, SNP analysis shows that the J1-L136 branch migrated south from eastern Anatolia and split in four directions: Anatolia/Europe (PF7263), the Levant, the southern Zagros (and southern Mesopotamia ?), and the mountainous southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula (mostly in Yemen), bypassing the Arabian Desert. That latter group, consisting essentially of J1-P56 lineages, crossed the Red Sea to settle Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, and northern Somalia. The climate would have been considerably less arid than today during the Neolithic period, allowing for a relatively easy transmigration across the Middle East with herds of goats.” ref

“Neolithic J1 goat herders were almost certainly not homogenous tribes consisting exclusively of J1 lineages, but in all likelihood a blend of J1 and T1 lineages. So much is evident from the presence of both J1 and T1 in north-east Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, but also in the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, and the mountainous parts of southern Europe.” ref

“Maternal lineages also correlate. Wherever J1 and T1 are found in high frequency, mtDNA haplogroups HV, N1, and U3 are also present, as well as J, K, and T to a lower extent (=>see Correlating the mtDNA haplogroups of the original Y-haplogroup J1 and T1 herders). It is unclear whether goats were domesticated by a tribe that already comprised both J1 and T1 lineages, or if the merger between the two groups happened during the Neolithic expansion, when two separate tribes would have bumped into each others, intermixed, and thereafter propagated together.” ref

Bronze Age expansion of J1-P58

“Kitchen et al. (2009) estimated through a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis that Semitic languages originated in the Levant around 3,750 BCE or 5,770 years ago, during the Early Bronze Age. It evolved into three groups: East Semitic (an extinct branch that comprised Akkadian), Central Semitic (which gave rise to Aramaic, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, and Arabic), and South Semitic (South Arabian and Ethiopian).” ref

“J1-P58, the Central Semitic branch of J1, appears to have expanded from the southern Levant (Israel, Palestine, Jordan) across the Arabian peninsula during the Bronze Age, from approximately 3,500 to 2,500 BCE or 5,520-4,520 years ago. Camels were domesticated in Somalia and southern Arabia c. 3,000 BCE or 5,020 years ago, but did not become widely used in the southern Levant before approximately 1,100 BCE or 3,120 years ago. Camels played an important role in the further diffusion of J1-P58 lineages, notably with the Bedouins in the desertic parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Bedouins now make up a substantial percentage of the population of Sudan (33%), Libya (15%), the United Arab Emirates (8%), and Saudi Arabia (5%).” ref

“The two most common Jewish subclades of J1 downstream of P58 are Z18297 and ZS227. The latter includes the Cohanim haplotype. Most of the other branches under P58 could be described as Semitic, although only FGC12 seems to be genuinely linked to the medieval Arabic expansion from Saudi Arabia.” ref

“Based on very limited data, the main Lebanese subclades of J1 appear to be J1-Z640 and J1-YSC76. Both subclades have also been found in Sicily, Andalusia, and Portugal, which suggests that they were already found among the Phoenicians. However, since the Arabs conquered the same regions as those colonized by the Phoenicians, it is too early to reach such a conclusion. Subclades found in Sardinia are very useful as practically all J1-P58 on the island were supposedly brought by the Phoenicians. They include Z18297 (could also be Jewish), Z2324>YP4763, YSC76>FGC15940>ZS1690, and YSC76>FGC8223>FGC8216>FGC8196.” ref

“Frequencies of haplogroup J1 in Europe and West Asia tend to vary considerably from one regional community to the next. The highest local percentages in Europe are found in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal and hardly ever exceed 5% of the population. However, Italy, France, and Spain also have areas where J1 appears completely absent. Even in northern Europe, where the nation-wide frequencies are below 0.5%, very localized pockets of J1 have been observed in Scotland, England, Belgium, Germany, and Poland. Larger sample sizes are needed to get a clearer picture of the distribution of J1 in Europe.” ref

“Surprisingly, even in the Caucasus and in Anatolia, the region where this haplogroup is thought to have originated, there are wide discrepancies between regions. For example, the Kubachi and Dargins from Dagestan in the Northeast Caucasus have over 80% of J1 lineages, while in their Ingush neighbors, 200 km to the north, it barely reaches 3%. East Anatolia around Lake Van sees over 30% of J1, whereas south-west Anatolia has only 2%. Even within Kurdistan frequencies vary greatly. The small sample sizes for each region is surely to blame.” ref

“In Arabic countries, J1 climaxes among the Marsh Arabs of South Iraq (81%), the Sudanese Arabs (73%), the Yemeni (72%), the Bedouins (63%), the Qatari (58%), the Saudi (40%), the Omani (38%) and the Palestinian Arabs (38%). High percentages are also observed in the United Arab Emirates (35%), coastal Algeria (35%), Jordan (31%), Syria (30%), Tunisia (30%), Egypt (21%), and Lebanon (20%). Most of the Arabic J1 belongs to the J1-P858 variety.” ref

J1 can be divided into two main groups: the very large J1-P58 subclade, and the other branches of J1.

Southwest Asian J1-P58

“J1-P58 (J1a2b on the ISOGG tree, formerly known as J1e, then as J1c3) is by far the most widespread subclade of J1. It is a typically Semitic haplogroup, making up most of the population of the Arabian peninsula, where it accounts for approximately 40% to 75% of male lineages. J1-P58 is thought to have expanded from eastern Anatolia and the southern Caucasus to the Taurus and Zagros mountains, then Mesopotamia, and eventually the Arabian peninsula at the end of the last Ice Age (12,000 years ago) with the seasonal migrations of goat and sheep pastoralists. It is during the Neolithic that subclades like L860 and L93 would have reached the mountainous parts of the southern Arabian peninsula (Yemen, Oman), whereas L816 and L862 remained in the Fertile Crescent.” ref

“Arabic speakers recolonized the Arabian peninsula in the Bronze Age from the north-west of the peninsula, close to present-day Jordan. The rise of Islam in the 7th century CE played a major part in the re-expansion of J1 from Arabia throughout the Middle East, as well as to North Africa, and to a lower extent to Sicily, Spain, and Portugal. The numerous subclades downstream of L858 represent the expansion of Semitic languages, such as Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Hebrew. Only the FGC12 subclade is linked to the propagation of Islam and the Arabic language from Saudi Arabia from the 7th century CE. Yet even this subclade is shared by the Bedouins and a minority of Jews.” ref

“About 20% of Jewish people belong to haplogroup J1-P58, most of whom are also positive either for ZS227, L858 (Z642, YSC76, and FGC12) or Z18297. L816 represents a minority of Jewish J1. ZS227 comprises the Cohen Modal Haplotype. In the Hebrew Bible, the common ancestor of all Cohens is identified as Aaron, the brother of Moses. Roughly half of all Cohanim belong to J1-ZS227. The Cohanim haplotype (YCAII=22-22) of ZS227 matches the Z18271 deep clade.” ref

“J1-YSC234 (aka Z2313 or Z2329) was found in a pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy dating from c. 660 BCE (Schuenemann et al. (2017)). This clade developed about 5,800 years old, which is about the same age as the first Semitic languages. The mummy is much more recent though, but it proves that J1-YSC234 was present in Egypt long before the Arabic expansion, and therefore that this lineage can be seen as more widely Semitic.” ref

“All three branches of J1-L858 (S640, YSC76, and FGC11) are found in Europe, principally in Spain, Italy, central and eastern Europe. Their relatively recent time of divergence with their Middle Eastern cousins (Late Bronze Age to Iron Age) suggests that they would have arrived with the Phoenicians (Sicily, Sardinia, Spain), and later in greater numbers with the Jewish diaspora. Spain and Portugal have the highest percentage of FGC12 in Europe, but this amounts to about 12% of J1 lineages, i.e. less than 0.5% of the population, suggesting that the Arabs had a much smaller genetic impact on the Iberian population than the Jews and the Phoenicians.” ref

“Erythrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese people possess various subclades of J1, but especially J1-P56, which probably arrived during the Neolithic, and the Arabic J1-FGC12, which brought Islam to the region.” ref

STR haplotypes within J1-P58

“For men who tested their Y-DNA with companies such as Family Tree DNA, iGenea, or Genebase, certain subclades can be easily identified by specific STR markers.

J1-L93 (aka L92.1) and J1-L386 are both defined by DYS446=13. L93 has a DYS641 value smaller or equal to 10. L386 can be identified by YCAIIa=17. L93 is restricted to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman, while L386 was found chiefly in the United Arab Emirates.
J1-Z640 (aka Z641 or Z644) is particularly common in Syria and Lebanon, but also has been found also in Turkey, Israel, and in the Arabian peninsula, as well as well as in many European countries, particularly Spain. It was very probably found among the ancient Phoenicians. Z640+ members typically have DYS561=14. Its subclade L174.1 can be identified by the STR value DYS594=11.
J1-L817 is a major Jewish cluster, also defined by L818 and DYS392=13. It has been found a far as China. Most Jewish members belong to its subclade L816.
J1-L823 (under FGC15940) corresponds to DYS452=30. It is a Jewish cluster found mostly in central and eastern Europe, but also in Spain.
J1-L1253 corresponds to DYS557>18. It appears to be limited to Britain and Ireland.
J1-L1279 corresponds to DYS497=16. A rare subclade identified in the United Arab Emirates.
J1-L444 is a small Arabic subclade defined by DYS531=12.
Both L615 (found in the United Arab Emirates) and L859 (found in Iraq and Saudi Arabia) share an STR value for DYS485 around 14.” ref

“Looking at the map of J1-P58, it is easy to assume that P58 is a marker of Arabic ancestry because it reaches its maximum frequency in and around the Arabian peninsula. That would be an oversimplification. It is important to make a clear distinction between people who speak Arabic and those who are genetically Arabic. These are two completely different things. For comparison, people who speak languages descended from Latin (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian) are not necessarily descended from the ancient Romans of the Latium. Even those who do may not have more than a tiny fraction of their genome which was inherited from actual Roman ancestors. This is why most Romance-language speakers today cannot be considered as genetically Roman.” ref

“Most present-day Arabic speakers outside the Arabian Peninsula are likewise only very partially or not all Arabic genetically. In the northern half of the Middle East, most of the people who call themselves Arabs of today are in fact mainly descendants of other historic peoples, such as the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, or even the Hurrians. Most of these peoples are predominantly J2, with many minority haplogroups (E1b1b, G, J1, L, Q, R1a, R1b, T).” ref

“The confusion comes from the fact that the Arabic language, which appeared a little more than 1,500 years ago, is much more recent than the haplogroup J1 (31,000 years old) or even the P58 subclade (14,000 years old). Even the J1-L858 subclade (5,000 years old), associated with Southwest Asian people, very clearly predates the Arabic language. The common ancestor of the J1-L858 men alive today dates back to approximately 4500 years ago, a time that corresponds to the development of the oldest Semitic languages, like Akkadian and Amorite. In fact, L858 is not specific to the Arabian peninsula, but is also found among the Jews (especially Z640 subclade), Lebanese, Syrians, and Iraqi, among others. In other words, L858 cover all the region where ancient Semitic languages were spoken, well before Arabic even existed. That is why L858 should be seen as more widely Semitic and not just Arabic, even if the many Levantines and Mesopotamians were later Arabicised. The Jews are of these Semitic people who were not Arabicised, and hardly anyone would argue that Jews are Arabs genetically, or vice versa.” ref

“The true lineage of the historic Arab people (so mainly from Jordan and Saudi Arabia) is J1-FGC12 (aka S21237). This subclade started expanding in the Arabian peninsula a bit over 3,000 years ago and did experience a tremendous expansion in the last 1,300 years, as can be seen in the completely phylogenetic tree on Yfull.com. Nowadays these more genuinely Arabic J1-FGC12 lineages are found throughout the Arabic-speaking world, but they only represent a small minority of lineages in any region but the Arabian peninsula.” ref

“The other subclades of J1 cannot be considered to be the paternal descendants of first speakers of Arabic. These other J1 lineages were Arabicized alongside other haplogroups (J2, Q1b, etc.) during the Islamic expansion from the 7th century onward. More importantly, J1-FGC12 is not the only haplogroup that spread with the Arabic expansion linked to the diffusion of Islam. Nowadays only 40% of Saudis and 30% of Jordanians belong to J1 (most but not all to FGC12).” ref

“E1b1b-M34 is another important Arabic lineage, being found in 25% of Jordanians and 10% of Saudis. Like J1-P58, E-M34 it is also shared with their Semitic cousins, the Jews. Haplogroup E1b1b is considered the prime candidate for the origin and dispersal of Afro-Asiatic languages across northern and eastern Africa and south-west Asia. The Semitic languages appear to have originated within a subclade of the M34 branch of E1b1b. One specific deeper subclade is surely associated with the development of Arabic language and with J1-FGC12, but it hasn’t been identified yet. Note that E-M34 itself is many thousands of years old and is also found in non-Semitic countries, including Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain.” ref

Other subclades

“Most of the J1 in the Caucasus, Anatolia, and Europe is of the non-J1-P58 variety. These branches diverged from one another during the Ice Age and have nothing to do with Semitic people. In fact, the origins of J1 lie around the Caucasus, which explains that all branches other than P58 are most common in that region, as well as in Anatolia and Europe.” ref

“J1a1 (M365.1) has been only found in very low frequencies in Western Europe (Western Iberia, French Pyrenees, Belgium, and England), in northern Iran and Qatar. It may have come to Europe during the Mesolithic period, or as a very minor Neolithic lineage.” ref

“J1a1b1 (P56) is a minor Arabic cluster found on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Ethiopia. It can be identified by the STR value DYS641=11.” ref

“J1a2a (Z1828) is defined by the STR values DYS436=11 and DYS388<15. It is the second most common top-level subclade after J1-P58. It is particularly frequent around the Taurus and Zagros mountains and all over the Caucasus region, but has also been found at low frequencies in western Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, South Italy, Central Europe, France, and the British Isles. The L1189 subclade seems to be mostly northern European (+ a few samples in Greece and the Arabian peninsula). Under Z1842, the CTS1460 subclade is geographically restricted to the Caucasus, Zagros, and Taurus, while ZS3089 is found mainly around Armenia and Azerbaijan.” ref

“L1189 and Z1842 could have been minor lineages accompanying the main Neolithic haplogroup G2a. That would explain their very wide geographic distribution and low frequency outside their region of origin. Like haplogroup G2a, J1 might have been of the principal lineages to bring domesticated animals to Europe. Both G2a and J1 reach their maximal frequencies in the Caucasus, some ethnic groups being almost exclusively J1 (Kubachis, Kaitaks, Dargins, Avars), while others have extremely high levels of G2a (Shapsugs, North Ossetians). Most of the ethnic groups in the North Caucasus have between 20 and 40% of each haplogroup, which are by far their two dominant haplogroups. In the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), haplogroup J2 comes into the admixture and is in fact slightly higher than either J1 or G2a. Armenia stands out of the lot by having a substantial J1-L147.1 (L862) minority (at least one-third of all J1, i.e. roughly 4% of the population).” ref

“J1b (F1614, Z2223) arose soon after the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 26,500 to 19,000 years before present). It is likely to have spread from the Caucasus to Europe and Anatolia during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. J1-Z2223 matches the STR value DYS446=12. It has been found in Egypt, Anatolia, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and in the British Isles. J1b members negative for Z2223 were found in Finland, Oman, and India.” ref

Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA)

“Haplogroup J2 is thought to have appeared somewhere in the Middle East towards the end of the last glaciation, between 15,000 and 22,000 years ago. The oldest known J2a samples at present were identified in remains from the Hotu Cave in northern Iran, dating from 9100-8600 BCE (Lazaridis et al. 2016), and from Kotias Klde in Georgia, dating from 7940-7600 BCE (Jones et al. (2015)). This confirms that haplogroup J2 was already found around the Caucasus and the southern Caspian region during the Mesolithic period. The first appearance of J2 during the Neolithic came in the form of a 10,000 year-old J2b sample from Tepe Abdul Hosein in north-western Iran in what was then the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (Broushaki et al. 2016).” ref

“Notwithstanding its strong presence in West Asia today, haplogroup J2 does not seem to have been one of the principal lineages associated with the rise and diffusion of cereal farming from the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia to Europe. It is likely that J2 men had settled over most of Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and Iran by the end of the Last Glaciation 12,000 years ago. It is possible that J2 hunter-gatherers then goat/sheepherders also lived in the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period, although the development of early cereal agriculture is thought to have been conducted by men belonging primarily to haplogroups G2a (northern branch, from Anatolia to Europe), as well as E1b1b and T1a (southern branch, from the Levant to the Arabian peninsula and North Africa).” ref

“Mathieson et al. (2015) tested the Y-DNA of 13 Early Neolithic farmers from the Barcın site (6500-6200 BCE) in north-western Anatolia, and only one of them belonged to haplogroup J2a. Lazaridis et al. (2016) tested 44 ancient Near Eastern samples, including Neolithic farmers from Jordan and western Iran, but only the above-mentioned sample from Mesolithic Iran belonged to J2. Likewise, over 100 Y-DNA samples have been tested from Neolithic Europe, covering most of the important cultures, and only two J2 samples was found, in the Sopot and Proto-Lengyel cultures in Hungary, dating from 7,000 years ago. J2 was also absent from all Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Indo-European cultures, apart from one J2a1b sample in Hungary dating from the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1150 BCE, see Gamba et al. 2014), in the minor Kyjatice culture, an offshoot of the Urnfield culture, which differs from typical Indo-European cultures by its use of cremation instead of single-grave burials.” ref

“No Neolithic sample from Central or South Asia has been tested to date, but the present geographic distribution of haplogroup J2 suggests that it could initially have dispersed during the Neolithic from the Zagros mountains and northern Mesopotamia across the Iranian plateau to South Asia and Central Asia, and across the Caucasus to Russia (Volga-Ural). The first expansion probably correlated with the diffusion of domesticated of cattle and goats (starting c. 8000-9000 BCE), rather than with the development of cereal agriculture in the Levant.” ref

“A second expansion would have occurred with the advent of metallurgy. J2 could have been the main paternal lineage of the Kura-Araxes culture (Late Copper to Early Bronze Age), which expanded from the southern Caucasus toward northern Mesopotamia and the Levant. After that J2 could have propagated through Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean with the rise of early civilizations during the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.” ref

“Quite a few ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations flourished in territories where J2 lineages were preponderant. This is the case of the Hattians, the Hurrians, the Etruscans, the Minoans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians (and their Carthaginian offshoot), the Israelites, and to a lower extent also the Romans, the Assyrians, and the Persians. All the great seafaring civilizations from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age were dominated by J2 men.” ref

“There is a distinct association of ancient J2 civilizations with bull worship. The oldest evidence of a cult of the bull can be traced back to Neolithic central Anatolia, notably at the sites of Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük. Bull depictions are omnipresent in Minoan frescos and ceramics in Crete. Bull-masked terracotta figurines and bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus (dating back as far as the Neolithic, the first presumed expansion of J2 from West Asia). The Hattians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Canaanites, and Carthaginians all had bull deities (in contrast with Indo-European or East Asian religions). The sacred bull of Hinduism, Nandi, present in all temples dedicated to Shiva or Parvati, does not have an Indo-European origin, but can be traced back to Indus Valley civilization. Minoan Crete, Hittite Anatolia, the Levant, Bactria, and the Indus Valley also shared a tradition of bull leaping, the ritual of dodging the charge of a bull. It survives today in the traditional bullfighting of Andalusia in Spain and Provence in France, two regions with a high percentage of J2 lineages.” ref

“The world’s highest frequency of J2 is found among the Ingush (88% of the male lineages) and Chechen (56%) people in the Northeast Caucasus. Both belong to the Nakh ethnic group, who have inhabited that territory since at least 3000 BCE. Their language is distantly related to Dagestanian languages, but not to any other linguistic group. However, Dagestani peoples (Dargins, Lezgins, Avars) belong predominantly to haplogroup J1 (84% among the Dargins) and almost completely lack J2 lineages. Other high incidences of haplogroup J2 are found in many other Caucasian populations, including the Azeri (30%), the Georgians (27%), the Kumyks (25%), and the Armenians (22%). Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that haplogroups J2 originated in the Caucasus because of the low genetic diversity in the region. Most Caucasian people belong to the same CTS6804 subclade and share a common patrilineal ancestor who lived some 7,500 years ago, at the time of the Neolithic expansion to the Caucasus.” ref

“The Chechens and Ingushs belong almost exclusively to the Y7800 clade, which formed only 2,000 years ago and has a TMRCA of approximately 1,500 years. The high local frequencies observed would rather be the result of founder effects, for instance, the proliferation of chieftains and kings’ lineages through a long tradition of polygamy, a practice that the Russians have tried to suppress since their conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century.” ref

“Outside the Caucasus, the highest frequencies of J2 are observed in Cyprus (37%), Crete (34%), northern Iraq (28%), Lebanon (26%), Turkey (24%, with peaks of 30% in the Marmara region and in central Anatolia), Greece (23%), Central Italy (23%), Sicily (23%), South Italy (21.5%), and Albania (19.5%), as well as among Jewish people (19 to 25%).” ref

“One-fourth of the Vlach people (isolated communities of Romance language speakers in the Balkans) belongs to J2, considerably more than the average of Macedonia and northern Greece where they live. This, combined to the fact that they speak a language descended from Latin, suggests that they could have a greater part of Roman (or at least Italian) ancestry than other ethnic groups in the Balkans.” ref

“Two main subclades divide haplogroup J2: J2a (M410, L152, L212/PF4988, L559/PF4986) and J2b (M12, M102, M221, M314).

J2a1-M47 is found at low frequency (1-5%) in Anatolia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, and Gulf states.
J2a1-M67 is the most common subclade in the Caucasus (Vainakhs, Ingushs, Chechens, Georgians, Ossetians, Balkars) and in the Levant (Lebanese, Jews). It is also common in western India, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia (esp. north-west), Greece (esp. Crete), Italy (esp. Marche and Abruzzo) and Iberia. M67 was probably a major Bronze Age lineage expanding from the Caucasus to Greece to the west and the Indus valley to the east.
J2a1-M68 is a minor subclade found in Iraq and India.
J2a1-M319 has been found chiefly in Greece (esp. in Crete) and Italy, and at low frequencies around Western Europe (perhaps diffused by the Romans).
J2a1-M339 is a very minor Anatolian subclade.
J2a1-M419 is a minor subclade detected in northern Iran.
J2a1-P81 is a very minor Anatolian subclade.
J2a1-L24 is the most widespread subclade of J2a, with a distribution ranging from the Middle East to Europe, North Africa, and South Asia.
- J2a1-M158 has been found in Anatolia, Iberia, Pakistan, and India.
- J2a1-L84 is a minor subclade detected in the Balkans.
- J2a1-L25 is the main branch of L24 and is subdivided in many subclades.
  - J2a1-F3133 is found in Anatolia, Syria, Iran, Central Asia, and Saudi Arabia.
    - J2a1-F761 is the Western European subclade of F3133, found in Italy, France, the Benelux, and England.
    - J2a1-L192.2 is found in Anatolia, Iran, and Kerala (India). It has also been found in Tunisia (M’saken).
  - J2a1-PF4888 is found in the Middle East and among Ashkenazi Jews (F659 subclade: Katz and Cohen).
  - J2a1-Z387 and its main subclade L70 (DYS445≤7) are found throughout continental Europe as well as in the Middle East at a lower frequency.
J2a1-PF5169 is a rare subclade that has been found in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, southern Germany, and England.
J2a2-PF7381 is found at low frequency in southern and Eastern Europe and in the Caucasus.
J2b1-M205 is found especially in the western Balkans, Cyprus, the Levant, the South Caucasus, and Iran.
J2b2-M241 is found mostly in south-east, central and Eastern Europe and in India.” ref

Middle-Eastern and European J2a: from Kura-Araxes to the Greeks and Romans

“It is very likely that J2a, J1-Z1828, L1b, T1a-P77, and G2a-L293 were the dominant male lineages in the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture (3,400-2,000 BCE), which expanded from the South Caucasus to eastern Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, and western Iran. From then on, J2 men would have definitely have represented a sizeable portion of the population of Bronze and Iron Age civilizations such as the Hurrians, the Assyrians, or the Hittites. It is very possible that bronze technology spread from the South Caucasus across the Iranian plateau until the Indus Valley, giving rise to the Harappan Civilisation (see below).” ref

“The Minoan civilisation emerged from 2,700 BCE and could have been founded by colonists from the Kura-Araxes culture who would have brought bronze working with them. Modern Cretans have the highest percentage of G2a (11%), J1 (8.5%), J2a (32%), and L + T (2.5% together) in Greece (and the highest percentage of J1 and J2a in all Europe for that matter), the three haplogroups associated with the Kura-Araxes culture. Although little data is available at present about deep clades in Crete or Aegean Greece, the parts of Italy that were colonized by Ionic and Doric Greeks, notably Sicily, Calabria, and Basilicata, possess substantial percentages of typically Caucasian haplogroups, such as G2a-L297, J1-Z1828, and J2a-L581, as well as considerable levels of Middle Eastern and Caucasian autosomal admixture by European standards. In fact, it seems that many branches of J2a (e.g. M319, Z7671, F3133, Z6046, L581) may have expanded from the South Caucasus from the Chalcolithic onwards. The presence of these haplogroups and admixtures in southern Italy almost certainly represent Kura-Araxes ancestry inherited from Minoan Greeks from the Aegean islands. The DNA of two male Minoan indivuals was tested in 2020 and they belonged to G2a-P303 and J2a1a-L26 > Z6055 > Y7010 > Y13128 > Z36834 (a branch found in Portugal today).” ref

“The Phoenicians, Jews, Greeks, and Romans all contributed to the presence of J2a in Iberia. The particularly strong frequency of J2a and other Near Eastern haplogroups (J1, E1b1b, T) in the south of the Iberian peninsula, suggests that the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians played a more decisive role than other peoples. This makes sense considering that they were the first to arrive, founded the greatest number of cities (including Gadir/Cadiz, Iberia’s oldest city), and their settlements match almost exactly the zone where J2 is found at a higher frequency in southern Andalusia.” ref

“The high incidence of J2a in Italy is owed in great part to the migration of the Etruscans from western Anatolia to central and northern Italy, and to the Greek colonization of southern Italy. However, both the Etruscans and Greeks would have carried many other Y-DNA lineages, including G2a, J1, R1b-Z2103, T1a, and probably also E-M34. J2a levels would have been higher among the Greeks than the Etruscans, and particularly among the insular Greeks that colonized Magna Graecia. Immigration from the eastern Mediterranean to Rome during the Roman Empire, then from Anatolia, Thrace, and Greece during the Byzantine period (particularly in north-eastern Italy) further increased the incidence of J2 in the peninsula.” ref

“Several common Italian J2a subclades are found mainly in the south of Italy (M319, M92, Z467, Z7671, all under L558) and are likely to be of Greek origin. The highest concentrations of J2a in Europe are found in Crete (32% of the population) and Calabria (26%). M319, one of the principal J2a1 subclades in Greece, Italy, and Western Europe, reaches its maximum frequency in Crete (6-9%).” ref

Roman J2a1-Z435

“The Romans probably helped spread haplogroup J2 within their borders, judging from the distribution of J2 within Europe (frequency over 5%), which bears an uncanny resemblance to the borders of the Roman Empire (once concessions are made for the Germanic invasions that appear to have lowered the frequency of J2 between Belgium and Switzerland). There is a high diversity of J2a in Italy, but the most common branch found all over the peninsula and therefore most likely linked with a Roman diffusion is L70, and particularly its subclade Z435. All L70 carriers today descend from a single patrilineal ancestor who lived about 5,000 years ago. This corresponds to the time when the Proto-Indo-Europeans started invading Central Europe from the Pontic Steppe. It is not yet clear where J2-L70 was located at the time. It could have been present in the Steppe and tagged along the predominantly R1b branch of the Proto-Indo-Europeans that moved to the Balkans and Central Europe. Or it could have been one of the lineages of Chalcolithic Southeast and Central Europe. A third alternative is that L70 originated in Anatolia or Greece and moved to Italy with the migration that gave rise to the Etruscan civilization.” ref

“Z435 was formed about 3,600 years ago and has a TMRCA of only 3,100 years (± 300 years). The latter corresponds roughly to the timing of the invasion of the Italian peninsula by Italic tribes from the Alps. Z435 has numerous subclades of its own, and most have been identified in central Italy. This could either mean that Z435 was one of the founding Italic lineages, or that it was already in Italy and was assimilated by the Italic tribes. The PF5456 subclade is barely 2500 years old, and would have emerged and propagated after the founding of Rome. Outside Italy, it is now found in such varied places as Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, Belgium, southern Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Tunisia, or Lebanon, all regions colonized by the Romans. Z2177, another subclade of Z435, is a bit under 3,000 years old. It has various subclades of its own which are scattered today around Italy (northern Italy, Tuscany, Latium, Sicily, Sardinia) and in places like Switzerland, south-west Germany, Britain, Spain, Romania, Greece, Turkey, and Syria – also all these regions were part of the Roman Empire. Italy has by far the highest concentration of Z2177 of any country.” ref

J2a in Central & South Asia: the Harappan and Oxus Civilizations

“Within the Indian subcontinent, J2a peaks at frequencies of 15-25% around the Indo-Pakistani border, from Punjab to Gujarat and Sindh. This region matches exactly the confines of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilisation, that existed from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE and which practiced bull worship like other J2a civilizations. Bronze started being used by the Harappan Civilization circa 3000 BCE, a few centuries after its earliest known regular use around the Caucasus by the Maykop culture (from 3700 BCE) and the Kura–Araxes culture (from 3500 BCE). While the Maykop culture was closely linked to the Yamnaya culture in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and is thought to be associated with Proto-Indo-European speakers and Y-haplogroups R1a and R1b, the Kura-Araxes culture would have allowed the diffusion of Y-haplogroup J1 and J2a around the Middle East, taking over the Neolithic societies primarily associated with Y-haplogroup G2a and G2b.” ref

“Archeological evidence of a massive migration from the southern Caucasus to the Indus Valley is elusive at present, but it cannot be excluded as it has been proven now that large-scale Indo-European migrations took place during the same period from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe to Europe and Central Asia. There is no reason to believe that J2a people from the Kura-Araxes culture couldn’t have expanded in the same way westward toward Anatolia, Greece, and Italy and eastward to Iran, southern central Asia, Pakistan, India.” ref

“There is another cluster of J2a with a frequency approximating 15% in Bactria, in southern-central Asia, in what is now northern Afghanistan, eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan, and western Tajikistan. This region corresponds to the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilization, which flourished between 2300 and 1700 BCE. Oxen were used to draw wheeled carts and camels were domesticated in this region c. 2500 BCE, just before the start of this civilization. The BMAC was eventually overrun by the Indo-Iranian migrations from the Andronovo culture and the Sintashta culture further north, and became Indo-Europeanized. The Indo-Aryans pursued their southward expansion, invading northern Pakistan and northwest India from 1800 BCE to 1500 BCE, and eventually bringing about the demise of the Indus Valley Civilisation around 1300 BCE.” ref

“There is a wide variety of J2a branches found in South Asia. Some are over 10,000 years old (CTS6002, F3133, M68, M319, PF5174, Z6065) could have migrated from West to South Asia during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age. Based on their phylogeographies, F3133 and M319 could be associated with the Kura-Araxes expansion. Y21500 has a TMRCA of 3700 years and is also found in Russia, which suggests an Indo-Aryan origin – perhaps one of the J2a1 subclades assimilated by R1a invaders in Central Asia before conquering the Indian subcontinent. A few much younger clades are also found in western India and Pakistan, such as L534 (TMRCA 2,800 years ago) and YSC246 (TMRCA 1,750 years aho) and would have come to India in historical times, for example with the Mughals.” ref

J2b1: West Asian Copper & Bronze Age

“Today J2b1 is most common in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia) and Cyprus. It is also found in above 1% of the population in parts of southern Italy (Calabria, Apulia), the Peloponnese in Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, eastern Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. The oldest samples recovered so far were from Early Bronze Age Jordan (c. 2400 BCE, Lazaridis et al. (2016)) and Late Bronze Age Lebanon (Canaanite burial from Sidon, Haber et al. (2017)). It was also found in an Egyptian mummy (c. 660 BCE, Schuenemann et al. (2017)).” ref

“J2b1’s origins remain unclear, but it probably originated in the South Caucasus and/or Iran and might have spread to the Levant, Cyprus, and Greece with the Kura-Araxes culture during the Bronze Age. The branch found in the western Balkans (Y22069) is distinct from the East Mediterranean and Caucasian branches. It seems to have formed 6,000 years ago, but its TMRCA is very young at 900 years ago, suggesting a medieval founder effect.” ref

J2b2-L283: from Neolithic Iran to the Indo-Europeans

“J2b has a quite different distribution from J2a. At first sight, the modern distribution of J2b seems to have a stronger association with the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures of Southeast Europe. Yet, at present, J2b has never been found in Neolithic, Chalcolithic, nor even Bronze Age Europe, nor in the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic or Chalcolithic. J2b is also absent from western and central Anatolia/Turkey, but is present in eastern Anatolia and western Iran, as well as in the Volga-Ural region, notably among the Mordvins, Chuvashs, and Tatars. The oldest known J2b sample comes from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Tepe Abdul Hosein in western Iran, dating from approximately 10,000 years ago. This is the strongest evidence that J2b actually originated in the mountains of the Zagros or the Caucasus, rather than in the plains of the Fertile Crescent.” ref

“The vast majority of J2b lineages belong to J2b2 and its subclades. While J2b* and J2b1 lineages are mostly restricted to the Caucasus, eastern Anatolia, and the Balkans, J2b2 is found throughout Europe, in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, in Central Asia, and in South Asia, particularly in India. Although J2b2 itself was formed 14,000 years ago, almost all European J2b2 members belong to the L283 branch and share a common patrilineal ancestor who lived 6,000 years ago. What’s more, 99% of them fall under the Z628 (aka Z597) clade, with a shared common ancestor who lived only 4,500 years ago. This Z628 clade is also found in India, Armenia, and the Levant, among others.” ref

“The most likely hypothesis is that J2b2a1 (L283) penetrated into the Pontic Steppe region during the Neolithic or Chalcolithic period, by crossing the Caucasus from western Iran, then migrated to the Volga-Ural region, where it was absorbed by the R1a-Z93 tribes in the Early Bronze Age. As a minor lineage within the R1a-Z93 dominant populations, it would have expanded from the Volga-Ural region to Central and South Asia with the Indo-Aryan invasions approximately from 4,300 to 3,500 years ago. Other J2b lineages could have ended up in the Balkans during a number of Steppe invasions from the Bronze Age until the Middle Ages.” ref

“Another conceivable possibility is that a minority of J2b2-L283 accompanied R1b-M269 from the Caucasus region and migrated to the Volga-Ural region in the early Bronze Age, propagating with them the Proto-Indo-European language and bronze technology to the Caspian steppe before the expansion of this new culture to Central and South Asia. The drawback of this hypothesis is that it doesn’t explain why R1b lineages strongly outnumber J2b2 in Europe but not in South Asia.” ref

“The oldest J2b2-L283 sample recovered among ancient DNA samples is a Late Bronze Age (1700-1500 BCE) individual from southern Croatia (Mathieson et al. 2017). His genome possessed about 30% of Steppe admixture and 15% of Eastern Hunter-Gatherer, which suggests a recent arrival from the Steppe. He was accompanied by a woman with similar admixtures, and both possessed typical Pontic-Caspian Steppe mtDNA (I1a1 and W3a). The timing, location, and admixtures of these samples fit with the Illyrian colonization of the Dinaric Alps, which is thought to have taken place between 1600 and 1100 BCE. The Illyrians may have been late Steppe migrants from the Volga region that were forced out of the Steppe by the invasion of the northern R1a tribes who established the Srubna culture (from 2000 BCE). Through a founding effect, J2b2-L283 lineages might have considerably increased their original frequency after reaching Illyria.” ref

“Both J2b1 and J2b2-L283 are also found at high frequency in Greece and in regions that used to be part of the ancient Greek world (Ionia, Magna Graecia). However, they are almost absent from Crete (where J2a1 lineages are dominant). J2b was also not found among Neolithic Anatolian or European farmers, and is absent from central Anatolia. This suggests that J2b was not associated with the Neolithic Greeks nor with the Minoan civilization, but may well have come to Greece with the Mycenaeans, who also appear to have been pushed out of the Steppe by the advance of the Srubna culture. As a result, both the Illyrians and the Mycenaeans (and possibly the Albanians) would be descended from Middle to Late Bronze Age Steppe migrants to the Southeast Europe, in a migration that was particularly rich in J2b lineages from the Middle Volga region. That would explain why it has been so hard to identify R1a or R1b lineages that could be of Illyrian or Mycenaean origin. The only variety of R1b that is found at reasonably high frequencies in Southeast Europe, and particularly in Greece, is R1b-Z2103, the branch found in the eastern Yamna culture, including the Volga-Ural region.” ref

J2b2-Z2432: West Asian Neolithic expansion to South Asia

“The other main J2b2 subclade is Z2432, which split from L283 some 10,000 years ago, during the Early Neolithic. This branch is found almost exclusively in South Asia today, apart from a few reported samples from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Arabian peninsula, Egypt). In all likelihood it represents the descendants of Iranian Neolithic farmers toward the Indian subcontinent, although it can’t be ruled out at present that some clades migrated later from Iran, during the Chalcolithic period or the Bronze Age.” ref

Ubaid period (Mesopotamia)

“The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3800 BCE or 8,520-5,820 years ago) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-‘Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley. In South Mesopotamia, the period is the earliest known period on the alluvial plain although it is likely earlier periods exist obscured under the alluvium. In the south, it has a very long duration between about 6500-3800 BCE or 8,520-5,820 years ago when it is replaced by the Uruk period. In Northern Mesopotamia the period runs only between about 5300 and 4300 BCE or 8,320-6,820 years ago. It is preceded by the Halaf period and the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period and succeeded by the Late Chalcolithic period.” ref

The Ubaid period is divided into four principal phases:

“Ubaid 0, sometimes called Oueili, (6500–5400 BCE or 8,520-7,420 years ago), an early Ubaid phase first excavated at Tell el-‘Oueili
Ubaid 1, sometimes called Eridu corresponding to the city Eridu, (5400–4700 BCE or 7,420-6,720 years ago), a phase limited to the extreme south of Iraq, on what was then the shores of the Persian Gulf. This phase, showing a clear connection to the Samarra culture to the north, saw the establishment of the first permanent settlement south of the 5-inch rainfall isohyet. These people pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity, thanks to the high water tables of Southern Iraq.
Ubaid 2 (4800–4500 BCE or 6,820-6,520 years ago). At that time, Hadji Muhammed-style ceramics were produced. This period also saw the development of extensive canal networks near major settlements. Irrigation agriculture, which seems to have developed first at Choga Mami (4700–4600 BCE or 6,720-6,620 years ago) and rapidly spread elsewhere, form the first required collective effort and centralized coordination of labor in Mesopotamia.
Ubaid 3: Tell al-Ubaid-style ceramics. Traditionally, this ceramic period was dated c. 5300–4700 BCE or 7,320-6,720 years ago. The appearance of these ceramics received different dates depending on the particular sites, which have a wide geographical distribution. In recent studies, there’s a tendency to narrow this period somewhat.
Ubaid 4: Late Ubaid style ceramics, c.4700–4200 BCE or 6,720-6,220 years ago.), an early Ubaid phase first excavated at Tell el-‘Oueili” ref

Halaf culture (Mesopotamia)

“The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100-5100 BCE. The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in the fertile valley of the Khabur River (Nahr al-Khabur), of south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater Mesopotamia. While the period is named after the site of Tell Halaf in north Syria, the earliest Halaf period material was excavated at the site of Sakce Gözü, now part of Turkey. Small amounts of Halaf material were also excavated at Carchemish, on the Turkish/Syrian border. However, the most important site for the Halaf tradition was the site of Tell Arpachiyah, now located in the suburbs of Mosul, Iraq. The Halaf period was succeeded by the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period which comprised the late Halaf (c. 5400–5000 BCE), and then by the Ubaid period.” ref

“Previously, the Syrian plains were not considered as the homeland of Halaf culture, and the Halafians were seen either as hill people who descended from the nearby mountains of southeastern Anatolia, or herdsmen from northern Iraq. However, those views changed with the recent archaeology conducted since 1986 by Peter Akkermans, which have produced new insights and perspectives about the rise of Halaf culture. A formerly unknown transitional culture between the pre-Halaf Neolithic era and Halaf’s era was uncovered in the Balikh valley, at Tell Sabi Abyad (the Mound of the White Boy).” ref

“Currently, eleven occupational layers have been unearthed in Sabi Abyad. Levels from 11 to 7 are considered pre-Halaf; from 6 to 4, transitional; and from 3 to 1, early Halaf. No hiatus in occupation is observed except between levels 11 and 10. The new archaeology demonstrated that Halaf culture was not sudden and was not the result of foreign people, but rather a continuous process of indigenous cultural changes in northern Syria, that spread to the other regions.” ref

Hassuna culture (Mesopotamia)

Pre-Proto-Hassuna refers to the Late Neolithic period in Upper Mesopotamia when the ceramic containers were just being introduced. The pottery vessels were still very few in number in these early settlements. At that time, the main emphasis was on the pottery with a mineral temper, as opposed to the plant-tempered pottery which came to predominate later.” ref

“The time frame for this initial Late Neolithic ceramic period was about 7000-6700 BCE, and at this time stone vessels and White Ware were still being used in addition to pottery. Because of the narrow local emphasis in many pottery studies as of now, these earliest pottery traditions may be known in the literature as,

Pre-Proto-Hassuna (in Khabur, and northern Iraq)
Initial Pottery Neolithic (in Balikh River area, for example, Tell Sabi Abyad)
Transitional (in Turkish Euphrates area; main sites are Mezraa Teleilat and Akarcay Tepe, with pottery dated to c. 6800 BCE)
Halula I (in Syrian Euphrates area; the main site is Tell Halula)
Rouj 2a (in Northern Levant); several archaeological sites are located in the Rouj basin, Idlib, Syria).

Nevertheless, all of these nomenclatures may refer to quite similar types of pottery, depending on some specific geographic region of Upper Mesopotamia.” ref

“Proto-Hassuna, like the site of Umm Dabaghiyah (de:Umm Dabaghiyah-Sotto-Kultur), in the same area of Iraq, is believed to have the earliest pottery in this region, and is sometimes described as a ‘Proto-Hassuna culture’ site. Other related sites in the area are Sotto, and Kul Tepe (Iraq). Another pre-Hassuna or proto-Hassuna site in Iraq is Tell Maghzaliyah. More recently, the concept of a very early ‘Pre-Proto-Hassuna’ pottery tradition has been introduced by some scholars. This has been prompted by more recent discoveries of still earlier pottery traditions.” ref

“The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BCE. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Shemshara. By around 6000 BCE people had moved into the foothills (piedmont) of northernmost Mesopotamia where there was enough rainfall to allow for “dry” agriculture in some places. These were the first farmers in northernmost Mesopotamia. They made Hassuna-style pottery (cream slip with reddish paint in linear designs). Hassuna people lived in small villages or hamlets ranging from 2–8 acres (0.81–3.24 ha).” ref

“At Tell Hassuna, adobe dwellings built around open central courts with fine painted pottery replace earlier levels with crude pottery. Hand axes, sickles, grinding stones, bins, baking ovens, and numerous bones of domesticated animals reflect settled agricultural life. Female figurines have been related to worship and jar burials within which food was placed related to belief in an afterlife. The relationship of Hassuna pottery to that of Jericho suggests that village culture was becoming widespread.” ref

Samarra culture (Mesopotamia)

“The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during excavations by German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld at the site of Samarra. Other sites where Samarran material has been found include Tell Shemshara, Tell es-Sawwan, and Yarim Tepe.” ref

“At Tell es-Sawwan, evidence of irrigation—including flax—establishes the presence of a prosperous settled culture with a highly organized social structure. The culture is primarily known for its finely made pottery decorated with stylized animals, including birds, and geometric designs on dark backgrounds. This widely exported type of pottery, one of the first widespread, relatively uniform pottery styles in the Ancient Near East, was first recognized at Samarra.” ref

The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period. At Tell Sabi Abyad and other Late Neolithic sites in Syria, scholars adopt increasingly vague terms such as Samarra “influenced”, Samarra-“related” or even Samarra “impulses”, largely because we do not understand the relationships with the traditional Samarra heartlands. The term may be extended to include sites in Syria such as Tell Chagar Bazar, Tell Boueid II, Tell Sabi Abyad, or Tell Halula, where similar pottery is currently being excavated in Pre-Halaf to Early Halaf Transitional contexts.” ref

Uruk period (Mesopotamia)

“Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates 30 km (19 mi) east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq. Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BCE. By the final phase of the Uruk period around 3100 BCE, the city may have had 40,000 residents, with 80,000-90,000 people living in its environs, making it the largest urban area in the world at the time. The legendary king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian King List (henceforth SKL), ruled Uruk in the 27th century BCE. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BCE in the context of the struggle of Babylonia against Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid (312–63 BCE) and Parthian (227 BCE to 224 CE) periods until it was finally abandoned shortly before or after the Islamic conquest of 633–638.” ref

“In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization and state formation during the Uruk period, or ‘Uruk expansion’ (4000–3200 BCE). This period of 800 years saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk, they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. Ultimately, Uruk could not maintain long-distance control over colonies such as Tell Brak by military force.” ref

“Geographic factors underpin Uruk’s unprecedented growth. The city was located in the southern part of Mesopotamia, an ancient site of civilization, on the Euphrates river. Through the gradual and eventual domestication of native grains from the Zagros foothills and extensive irrigation techniques, the area supported a vast variety of edible vegetation. This domestication of grain and its proximity to rivers enabled Uruk’s growth into the largest Sumerian settlement, in both population and area, with relative ease.” ref

“Uruk’s agricultural surplus and large population base facilitated processes such as trade, specialization of crafts, and the evolution of writing; writing may have originated in Uruk around 3300 BCE. Evidence from excavations such as extensive pottery and the earliest known tablets of writing support these events. Excavation of Uruk is highly complex because older buildings were recycled into newer ones, thus blurring the layers of different historic periods. The topmost layer most likely originated in the Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BCE) and is built on structures from earlier periods dating back to the Ubaid period.” ref

Paganism: spread of Haplogroup J and its Seeming connection of Bull Worship

Haplogroup J-M304

Haplogroup J-M267 or “J1”

Haplogroup J-M172 or “J2”

Haplogroup J History

Bronze Age expansion of J1-P58

Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA)

J2b2-L283: from Neolithic Iran to the Indo-Europeans

Ubaid period (Mesopotamia)

Halaf culture (Mesopotamia)

Hassuna culture (Mesopotamia)

Samarra culture (Mesopotamia)

Uruk period (Mesopotamia)

The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

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