Polish-Zaporozhian Cossack lineage predicted in J-Y167175 rare sibling of J-M241

J-Y167175 is the very rare, relatively recently discovered sibling of J-M241. This lineage is significant to the research into the origins of J-M241, which itself is only vaguely/approximately understood given geographically disparate survivors of long bottlenecks and a lack of ancient samples predating the Middle Bronze Age.

J-Y167175 in the context of sibling J-M241. Note the two lineages labeled "South Asia", J-Z2449 and J-Y28241, also have limited diversity in the Arabian Peninsula that appear to me to have been back migrations.

J-Y167175 is better represented on the YFull YTree, with three samples there vs only two on FTDNA's internal tree. That's one reason why we value the YFull analysis - because our haplogroup has few overall samples it's important for our research that our tree contain all samples from all vendors. Only YFull accepts samples from all vendors to their tree.

YFull's TMRCA estimates are also vital for our migration theories. They are estimates and subject to change but I prefer to use estimates coming from experts rather than do this work myself - I have enough work to do with visualization and phylogeography.

J-Y167175 shown as a sibling of J-M241 under parent J-Z593 in YFull YTree v8.08. With only these two branches living today in Scotland and the South Arabian Peninsula, no clear explanation regarding their ancestors migration presents itself.

STR Match Finder Case Study - Zaporozhian Cossack in Scottish - South-Arabian J-Y167175

I noticed a new sample in a public project on FTDNA. Because the project is public, I was able to view his STRs and query STR Match Finder to look for his closest matches within public projects on YSEQ and FTDNA (you must load any tabular data source STRs yourself, for example from a public FTDNA project or other private project, because it does not store this data).

STR Match Finder

I found that while his closest match (a Pole)'s closest 67 STR match, a Scottish J-Y167175, was a whopping GD 19/67, they shared 11 alleles of varying levels of rarity. He didn't share as many rare alleles with his next closest match and the genetic distance was greater.

This man shares 11 rare alleles with his two closest matches. The matches are ordered based on a weighted log sum of the divergent STRs mutation rates. Yellow highlights added by me in Paint.

The shades of red indicate relative rarity within the specific absolute GD match cutoff. Note three of the eleven rare alleles are the darkest shade of red, representing alleles found in under 4% of the samples. In the next shade of red, are an additional two alleles found in just 4-8% of samples.

STR Match Finder does not circle the best match(es). I highlighted the set of shared rare alleles after the fact. Instead, it is up to the researcher (you) to determine what to make of the output.

Next Steps

I've ordered SNP testing at YSEQ to confirm this prediction.

If the prediction is correct, it may be significant in two ways:

  1. Help better understand the origin of J-Y167175 and in so doing, sibling J-M241
  2. Better understand the possible role of the Pontic-Caspian steppe in understanding migrations of other J-Z593 subclades that diversified at the same time (J-L283, J-Y28235)

I manage a J2b(xL283) Research Fund on Paypal. The funds will be used to buy WGS tests and YFull analysis for J2b(xL283) samples that I believe would signficantly advance our research into our common origins.

Any donations will first be spent to help fund / cofund the WGS + YFull analysis of this man of Zaporozhian Cossack descent who I have predicted to be J-Y167175.

If you value this effort and would like to see additional progress in J2b(xL283) research, you may donate to directly advance the research.

These posts are the opinion of Hunter Provyn, a haplogroup researcher in J-M241 and J-M102.

2 thoughts on “Polish-Zaporozhian Cossack lineage predicted in J-Y167175 rare sibling of J-M241”

    1. Hi Robert,

      The “x” in the name of the fund actually means “not”, so J2b(xL283) just means anyone of any lineage of J2b who is not L283+.
      Flor and I decided on this name when we created a project for these people and it turns out to have caused a bit of confusion.

      As to where they are from, they have very diverse geographic backgrounds reflecting that this casts a wide umbrella among groups descended from a common ancestor who lived 15500 years ago. They range from Middle East / Caucasus / W Iran which is the likely origin to Europe and South Asia.

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