I have wondered before if the presence of haplogroup I1 in the Balkans might be due to Germanic migrations (notably the Goths, who are known to have settled in the Eastern Roman Empire) or simply to Paleolithic/Mesolithic remnants. A new study of Serbian Y-DNA by Regueiro et al. provides for the first time data for subclades deep enough to confirm this. The sample size is rather small (n=103), but they tested I1d1 (P109) as well as R1b-S28 (U152) and R1b-S21 (U106, M405). I1d corresponds to the northern cluster of I1, found mostly in Norway, Sweden and Finland. I1d1 is much rarer in Finland, but more common in Denmark. It is typically Scandinavian. There is no less than 5% of I1d in this Serbian sample + 3% of other I1.
This much could confirm the presence of a major Germanic, probably a Gothic settlement in the region. If that is so, we should expect a considerable presence of matching Germanic R1b. This is just what the study found, with 2% of R1b-S21. There is an additional 3% of R1b-L23 that is neither S21 nor S28. Unfortunately they don't separate the Greek L23* from the Celto-Germanic L11. But some of it could also be Germanic. There is also plenty of R1a (20%), and only 6% of was positive for the Balto-Slavic M458 mutation. There is also potentially a lot of Germanic or Mesolithic R1a. The most important was the identification of a substantial amount of unmistakably Germanic I1 and R1b. We can't assess exactly the percentage of Germanic paternal lineages in Serbia, but my guess is around 15%.
This much could confirm the presence of a major Germanic, probably a Gothic settlement in the region. If that is so, we should expect a considerable presence of matching Germanic R1b. This is just what the study found, with 2% of R1b-S21. There is an additional 3% of R1b-L23 that is neither S21 nor S28. Unfortunately they don't separate the Greek L23* from the Celto-Germanic L11. But some of it could also be Germanic. There is also plenty of R1a (20%), and only 6% of was positive for the Balto-Slavic M458 mutation. There is also potentially a lot of Germanic or Mesolithic R1a. The most important was the identification of a substantial amount of unmistakably Germanic I1 and R1b. We can't assess exactly the percentage of Germanic paternal lineages in Serbia, but my guess is around 15%.