Paternal Y-DNA: R-Z2534.

From the root in East Africa (588,000 years ago for Neanderthal; 275,000 years ago for Homo Sapiens) there was a mutation to Haplogroup A0-T (60,000 years ago). A further mutation, Haplogroup F(55,000 years ago), migrated across what is now the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia, where further mutations to K (47,000 years ago) and P (35,000 – 40,000 years ago) continued the migration to the Black Sea. Here mutation R (27,000 years ago) migrated deeper into the Caucasus before heading west as mutation R1b (18,000 years ago) through southern Europe and finally into England (2,600 years ago).

In human genetics, the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor (Y-MRCA, informally known as Y-chromosomal Adam) is the patrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) from whom all currently living humans are descended. He is the most recent male from whom all living humans are descended through an unbroken line of their male ancestors. The term Y-MRCA reflects the fact that the Y chromosomes of all currently living human males are directly derived from the Y chromosome of this remote ancestor. The analogous concept of the matrilineal most recent common ancestor is known as “Mitochondrial Eve” (mt-MRCA, named for the matrilineal transmission of mtDNA), the most recent woman from whom all living humans are descended matrilineally. As with “Mitochondrial Eve”, the title of “Y-chromosomal Adam” is not permanently fixed to   a single individual, but can advance over the course of human history as paternal lineages become extinct.

Estimates of the time when Y-MRCA lived have also shifted as modern knowledge of human ancestry changes. In 2013, the discovery of a previously unknown Y-chromosomal haplogroup was announced,^[1] which resulted in a slight adjustment of the estimated age of the human Y-MRCA.^[2]

By definition, it is not necessary that the Y-MRCA and the mt-MRCA should have lived at the same time.^[3] While estimates as of 2014 suggested the possibility that the two individuals may well have been roughly contemporaneous,^[4] the discovery of archaic Y-haplogroup has pushed back the estimated age of the Y-MRCA beyond the most likely age of the mt-MRCA. As of 2015, estimates of the age of the Y-MRCA range around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, roughly consistent with the emergence of anatomically modern humans.^[5]

Y-chromosomal data taken from a Neanderthal from El Sidrón, Spain, produced a Y-T-MRCA of 588,000 years ago for Neanderthal and Homo sapiens patrilineages, dubbed ante Adam, and 275,000 years ago for Y-MRCA.Many proposals for haplogroup A-L1085’s (A0-T’s) origin suggest it was associated with the ancestral population of Southern Africa’s hunter-gatherers. This is because haplogroup A-L1085 lineages are frequent among the San people.

However, the A-L1085 lineages of Southern Africa are subclades of A lineages found in other parts of Africa. This suggests that A-L1085 lineages arrived in Southern Africa from elsewhere.^[3] The two most basal lineages of Haplogroup A-L1085, A-V148 and A-P305, have been detected in West Africa, Northwest Africa and Central Africa. Cruciani et al. 2011 suggests that these lineages may have emerged somewhere in between Central and Northwest Africa, though such an interpretation is still preliminary due to the incomplete geographic coverage of African y-chromosomes.^[1]

Initial studies reported that Haplogroup A-L1085 lineages emerged around 60,000 years ago which was significantly more recent than TMRCA for mitochondrial DNA lineages which coalesce to between 150-200kya. Cruciani et al. 2011 with major restructuring of branches pushed back the root of the Y-chromosome tree to 142,000 years ago.

It is estimated that the SNP M89 (Haplogroup F) appeared 38,700–55,700 years ago, and most likely originated in South Asia^[2][10] or Southeaset Asia^[11] It has also been suggested by previous research that F-M89 most likely first appeared in the Arabian Peninsula, Levant or North Africa, about 43,800–56,800 years ago,.^[3] It has also been speculated that the possible location of this lineage’s first expansion and rise to prevalence appears to have been in the Indian Subcontinent, or somewhere close to it, and most of the descendant subclades and haplogroups appear to have radiated outward from South Asia and/or neighbouring parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Some lineages derived from Haplogroup F-M89 appear to have back-migrated into Africa from South Asia, during prehistory. Subclades of F-M89 associated with this hypothetical “Back to Africa” migration include F Haplogroup F-M89 appeared to be more frequent among Meroitic, Post-Meroitic [1] J, R1b, and T.

Y-DNA haplogroup K-M9 is an old lineage that arose approximately 47,000-50,000 years ago,^[4] probably in South Asia or West Asia.

In human genetics, Haplogroup P (M45) is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. This haplogroup contains the patrilineal ancestors of most Europeans and almost all of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It also contains approximately one third to two thirds of the males among various populations of Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Haplogroup P is a branch of Haplogroup K (M9). It is believed to have arisen north of the Hindu Kush, in Siberia, Kazakhstan, or Uzbekistan, approximately 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.  (Familypedia).

Haplogroup P1 (P-M45), the immediate ancestor of Haplogroup R, likely emerged in Southeast Asia.^[5] The SNP M207, which defines Haplogroup R, is believed to have arisen during the Upper Paleolithic era, about 27,000 years ago.^[2][1]

Only one confirmed example of basal R* has been found, in 24,000 year old remains, known as MA1, found at Mal’ta–Buret’ culture near Lake Baikal in Siberia.^[2] (While a living example of R-M207(xM17,M124) was reported in 2012, it was not tested for the SNP M478; the male concerned – among a sample of 158 ethnic Tajik males from Badakshan, Afghanistan – may therefore belong to R2.)

It is possible that neither of the primary branches of R-M207, namely R1 (R-M173) and R2 (R-M479) still exist in their basal, original forms, i.e. R1* and R2*. No confirmed case, either living or dead, has been reported in scientific literature. (Although in the case of R2*, relatively little research has been completed.)

Despite the rarity of R* and R1*, the relatively rapid expansion – geographically and numerically – of subclades from R1 in particular, has often been noted: “both R1a and R1b comprise young, star-like expansions” (Karafet 2008).

The wide geographical distribution of R1b, in particular, has also been noted. Hallast et al. (2014) mentioned that living examples found in Central Asia included the “deepest subclade” of R-M269 (R1b1a1a2) – the most numerous branch of R1b in Western Europe, and the rare subclade R-PH155 (R1b1b) found only in one Bhutanese individual and one Tajik.

(While Hallast et al. suggested that R-PH155 was “almost as old as the R1a/R1b split”,^[5] R-PH155 was later discovered to be a subclade of R-L278 (R1b1) and has been given the phylogenetic name R1b1b.)

Haplogroup R descended from the East-Eurasian lineage P*, which expanded with East Asian-related hunter gatherers. Haplogroup R became dominant in an West-Eurasian population somewhere in western Central Asia through geneflow and genetic drift, and than diversified there.

According to Hallast et al. 2020, haplogroup P and its two sub-clades, R and Q, spread with East-Eurasian   gatherers and migrated to both Oceania and Europe respectively during several migrations and expansions from Eastern Eurasia. P and its two sub-clades survived predominantly in Siberia and today Europe as well as in pockets in Southeast Asian groups. Hallast et al. refers to this migration event concerning Europe as the “replacement of West-Eurasian lineages from the East”.^[7]