Description
Haplogroup C1a2 (V20) is a rare relict lineage that represents one of the earliest waves of modern human expansion into Europe. During the Upper Paleolithic, C1a2 was one of the dominant paternal lines among European hunter-gatherers, alongside haplogroup I. However, following the Neolithic revolution and subsequent Indo-European migrations, C1a2 was largely replaced and survives today only at extremely low frequencies, often scattered across Western and Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Caucasus.
Interesting Fact
The 7,000-year-old 'La Braña 1' individual discovered in Northwest Spain — a dark-skinned, blue-eyed Mesolithic hunter-gatherer — was found to belong to haplogroup C1a2, providing a direct genetic snapshot of this ancient European population.
Distribution by Ethnicity
| Ethnic distribution | Region | Frequency | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kabyle Berbers | North Africa | n=100 | |
| Spanish (Asturias) | Southern Europe | n=200 | |
| Europeans (Scattered) | Europe | — | |
| Armenians | West Asia | n=400 |
Tags
References
- Fu et al. (2016) — The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 534, 200–205.
- Olalde et al. (2014) — Derived immune and ancestral pigmentation alleles in a 7,000-year-old Mesolithic European. Nature 507, 225–228.