A few things of note from the GEDMatch list:
- Two
Alanic samples from the Caucasus belonged to
Q1a2-YP4000 (now found in Siberia, Poland and Chechnya),
Q1a2-L330 (Mongolic/Turkic branch found among the Kazakhs) and
R1a-Z93 (S23592, now found among the Poles, Chechens, Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Altaians). Previous Alanic samples from the North Caucasus belonged to G2a (probably local Caucasian) and R1a-Z93.
- The Alanic Q1a2-YP4000 is a direct descendant of the
Q1a2-YP4004 found in the
Bronze Age Glazkov culture in the Baikal region. This clade is also found among modern Tatars. The other
Q1a2-L330 was also found in that culture as its YP1102 subclade (found among modern Kazakhs). Hence
the Alans were of partial Hunnic descent, despite being an Iranian tribe.
-
Sarmatian Huns had
R1a-Z93 and
Q1a2-YP771 (now found in Slavic Russians and Hungarians).
-
Tian Shan Huns carried
Q1a1-L715 (now found in the North Caucasus (Kabardins), Poland and Hungary) and
Q1b2-YP755 (now found in Pakistan and NW India), but also
N1c, R1a-Z93 (YP1456, now found among the Bashkirs, Kyrgyzs and Altaians) and oddly also a number of Middle Easter lineages such as
E-V22 (Central Europe, Arabian peninsula, Azerbaijan and NE China near Korea) and
L1a1 (Y31213, found in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia)
-
Tian Shan Saka predating the Tian Shan Huns already carried
R1a-Z93 (Z2125),
Q1a2-L330 (the same as in Bronze Age Baikal and in the Caucasian Alans) and
J2a1-Y13534 (found in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Western Europe).
-
Tagar Scythians possessed
R1a-Z93 (Z2125) and
Q1a2-L933 lineages. The latter is now found in Kerala (southern tip of India!), Yemen, Georgia, Turkey, Czechia and Britain! Apart from the slightly older Indian sample, all have a TMRCA between 5000 and 6000 years, so probably of Steppic origin. It's amazing how far the Scythians migrated and, above all, how wide their geographic reach was, leaving descendants from southern India to Britain and from Siberia to Yemen. And that's just for Siberian Scythians! (as Q1a2 wasn't found in Central Saka or European Scythians).
-
Central Scythians (Saka) belonged to
R1a-Z93 (YP1456),
Q1b2-YP4500 (same as in Tian Shan Huns) and
E-M123 (Y31991, now found in Poland, Bulgaria, Lebanon and Qatar)
- The four
XiongNu samples only carried
O3 and Palaeolithic branches of R1b (not of Indo-European origin).
Overall the two dominant lineages of the Scythians, Huns and Alans appear to have been Q1a and R1a-Z93. These are the only two haplogroups that constantly show up in every culture from every region and period. There is also surprisingly little difference between the Scythians and the Huns. On the other hand, the XiongNu and Mongols carried completely different haplogroups (C2b, O3 and R1b-L278), which means that the Huns were in fact not of XiongNu/Mongol descent as most people thought, but of almost purely (Altaian) Scythian descent.
What is amazing is that almost all the branches of Y-haplogroup Q1a, except the Amerindian, Scandinavian and Levantine/Jewish ones, have been found among the Huns. I was therefore right in my assumption made about 7-8 years ago that the Huns (and explained in my
haplogroup Q page) were the ones who spread most of the Q1a1 and Q1a2 lineages.