The missing piece from R1b puzzle. The R1b-Y4364

 The missing piece from R1b puzzle. The R1b-Y4364

With a unprecedented number of Y dna we now have better understanding of ancient migrations of known haplotypes At last two haplotypes appeared after the 2500bc. The R1b-Z2103 and I2a2b ( old name I2c2 ) The Z2103 has a complex structure. Let's see each branch separately.

+ L584 the most frequent type of Z2103 in Armenia. More than 50% of Z2103. It was popular in Lchashen culture (Etiuni land) and almost certainly was there since Trialeti Vanadzor period. It was also present in Hasanlu IA.

+ Y4364 it is the second by frequency in Armenia. But for some strange reasons it was absent in Lchashen-Metsamor culture. Two cases were found in Hasanlu IA which genome wide shows connections to western Vannic/Zagros regions.

+ Z2106>CTS8966 is the third by frequency. It has a moderate low presence today. It was found in Lchashen. Given it's modern distribution it could be more frequent in Sevan-Uzerlik (Artsakh ) culture. But we don't have any Y dna from this variant of MBA cultures.

Then we have PH331 and Z2110 subclades. It seems PH331 was present in Lchashen but I didn't noticed Z2110 yet. Both branches have low frequency today.

This absence of Y4364 is puzzling. In most likelihood it has a different story from L584. Two scenarios are possible.

+ Y4364 moved from modern Armenia to west toward Erzrum region were it evolved for sometime in Hayasa region. Later it expanded with Mushki and Urumu in Iron Age. It moved to Hasanlu in Iron Age via Van/Vaspurakan.

+ The second scenario is that it is related to Van-Urmia pottery. It moved to Urmia then to Van. It's presence in Hasanlu is old since MBA. It will have presence in Vannic Urartians also. In this scenario the Mushki Urumu can be related to the PH4150 subclade of L584.

In sum Y dna from Turkey is needed to better understand the story of Y4364 and it's potential ethnic affiliations. Right now we can we say that it was present in ancient Mannaeans.