Correlation of annual precipitation with human Y-chromosome diversity and the emergence of Neolithic agricultural and pastoral economies in the Fertile Crescent

2008/06/01 by Jacques Chiaroni, Roy King, Peter A. Underhill · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Agriculture #Ancient history #Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Biology #Distribution (mathematics) #Diversity (politics) #Ethnology #Forensic and Genetic Research #Forestry #Genetic diversity and population structure #Geography #Haplogroup #Haplotype #History #Law #Livestock #Pastoralism #Political science

paper · doi:10.1017/s0003598x00096800

openalex publication_date 2008/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08

Abstract

Examining the beginnings of agriculture in the ‘Fertile Crescent’, this research team has compared the distribution of rainfall with the distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroups. The extended families signalled by J1 and J2 haplogroups seem to have had different destinies in the era of agro-pastoralist experiment: J2 were the agricultural innovators who followed the rainfall, while J1 remained largely with their flocks. Acknowledging the fuzzy edges of such mapping, the authors nevertheless escort us into new realms of the possible for the early history of peoples.

Citations

• Congruent distribution of Neolithic painted pottery and ceramic figurines with Y-chromosome lineages
• Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution
• Clinal patterns of human Y chromosomal diversity in continental Italy and Greece are dominated by drift and founder effects
• Isolates in a corridor of migrations: a high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variation in Jordan
• Holmespun: An Intimate Portrait of an Amish and Mennonite Community, Conceptual Art and the Politics of Publicity
• Iran: Tricontinental Nexus for Y-Chromosome Driven Migration
• A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in North Africa
• Y chromosomal haplogroup J as a signature of the post-neolithic colonization of Europe
• The phylogeography of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations
• Polarity and Temporality of High-Resolution Y-Chromosome Distributions in India Identify Both Indigenous and Exogenous Expansions and Reveal Minor Genetic Influence of Central Asian Pastoralists
• Use of Y Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Population Structure in Tracing Human Migrations
• Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area
• The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations

Cited by

• Origin and diffusion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267
• Y-chromosome phylogeographic analysis of the Greek-Cypriot population reveals elements consistent with Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements
• Haplogroup J-M267 [wikipedia]

Related

• Origin and diffusion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267
• Dissecting the influence of Neolithic demic diffusion on Indian Y-chromosome pool through J2-M172 haplogroup
• Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia
• A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for European Paternal Lineages
• The genetic structure of the world’s first farmers