An unusual branch of E1b-M123 from ancient Aghitu

An unusual branch of E1b-M123 from ancient Aghitu

An E1b-Z21466 was found in ancient Aghitu from the Hellenistic era. This branch is rare in ancient remains. Only one sample was previously known from the Imperial Roman period, and now another has been found in ancient Armenia.

You may ask why this is important. Well, Z21466 is a parallel branch of E1b-L791 (see the chart), which is also not particularly rich in ancient samples. L791 is important because indirect data suggest that its expansion is related to Bronze Age Anatolia. The presence of samples from the parallel branch may provide a hint about the direction from which L791 came to Anatolia. Even though the common ancestor of L791 and Z21466 is quite old (12,000 years), the limited amount of ancient DNA from these two branches suggests that they had a compact distribution in the past.

Most likely, the common ancestor Z841 is related to the spread of the so-called Central farmers from northern Mesopotamia northward, including historic Armenia, and possibly southward into southern Mesopotamia. Later, L791 expanded in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. Yediay et al. 2024 identified an E1b-Z830 in Bronze Age Anatolia. Most likely, it belongs to the M123 branch. When the files are uploaded, we will know its exact subclade.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s relatives have been tested, and he belonged to the E1b-L791 branch.