My paternal lineage began at least 180,000 years ago.
My paternal ancestors journeyed from Africa to Asia, settling in the region of southern China. There they were among the first people to develop rice agriculture. This event led to a population explosion, and my ancestors expanded throughout the region. Some of my cousins went north into Japan, while others traveled south, with some eventually heading out to sea in the great Polynesian migrations.
My paternal branch is O-CTS4290
HEATMAP FOR PK4
Note: A heat map for your specific haplogroup is not yet available. We hope that as more people from around the world participate in the project we will be able to create a more specific map. We're showing you a heat map for an earlier branch in your path: PK4.
BRANCH: P305
Age: More than 100,000 years old
Location of Origin: Africa
The common direct paternal ancestor of all men alive today was born in Africa between 300,000 and 150,000 years ago. Dubbed “Y-chromosome Adam” by the popular press, he was neither the first human male nor the only man alive in his time. He was, though, the only male whose Y-chromosome lineage is still around today. All men, including your direct paternal ancestors, trace their ancestry to one of this man’s descendants. The oldest Y-chromosome lineages in existence, belonging to the A00 branch of the tree, are found only in African populations.
Around 100,000 years ago the mutation named P305 occurred in the Y chromosome of a man in Africa. This is one of the oldest known mutations that is not shared by all men. Therefore, it marks one of the early splits in the human Y-chromosome tree, which itself marks one of the earliest branching points in modern human evolution. The man who first carried this mutation lived in Africa and is the ancestor to more than 99.9% of paternal lineages today. In fact, men who do not carry this mutation are so rare that its importance in human history was discovered only in the past two years.
As P305-bearing populations migrated around the globe, they picked up additional markers on their Y chromosomes. Today, there are no known P305-bearing individuals without these additional markers.
BRANCH: M42
Age: About 80,000 Years Ago
Location of Origin: East Africa
Around 80,000 years ago, the BT branch of the Y-chromosome tree was born, defined by many genetic markers, including M42. The common ancestor of most men living today, some of this man’s descendants would begin the journey out of Africa to the Middle East and India. Some small groups from this line would eventually reach the Americas, while other groups would settle in Europe, and some would remain near their ancestral homeland in Africa.
Individuals from this line whose ancestors stayed in Africa often practice cultural traditions that resemble those of the distant past. For example, they often live in traditional hunter-gatherer societies. These include the Mbuti and Biaka Pygmies of central Africa, as well as Tanzania’s Hadza.
BRANCH: M168
Age: About 70,000 years ago
Location of Origin: East Africa
When humans left Africa, they migrated across the globe in a web of paths that spread out like the branches of a tree, each limb of migration identifiable by a marker in our DNA. For male lineages, the M168 branch was one of the first to leave the African homeland.
The man who gave rise to the first genetic marker in your lineage probably lived in northeast Africa in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in present-day Ethiopia, Kenya, or Tanzania. Scientists put the most likely date for when he lived at around 70,000 years ago. His descendants became the only lineage to survive outside of Africa, making him the common ancestor of every non-African man living today.
Your nomadic ancestors would have followed the good weather and the animals they hunted, although the exact route they followed remains to be determined. In addition to a favorable change in climate, around this same time there was a great leap forward in modern humans’ intellectual capacity. Many scientists believe that the emergence of language gave us a huge advantage over other early humanlike species. Improved tools and weapons, the ability to plan ahead and cooperate with one another, and an increased capacity to exploit resources in ways we hadn’t been able to earlier allowed modern humans to rapidly migrate to new territories, exploit new resources, and replace other hominids such as the Neanderthals.
BRANCH: P143
Age: About 60,000 years old
Location of Origin: Southwest Asia
This mutation is one of the oldest thought to have occurred outside of Africa and therefore marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of modern humans. Moving along the coastline, members of this lineage were some of the earliest settlers in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
But why would man have first ventured out of the familiar African hunting grounds and into unexplored lands? The first migrants likely ventured across the Bab-al Mandeb strait, a narrow body of water at the southern end of the Red Sea, crossing into the Arabian Peninsula and soon after developing mutation P143—perhaps 60,000 years ago. These beachcombers would make their way rapidly to India and Southeast Asia, following the coastline in a gradual march eastward. By 50,000 years ago, they had reached Australia. These were the ancestors of some of today’s Australian Aborigines.
It is also likely that a fluctuation in climate may have contributed to your ancestors’ exodus out of Africa. The African ice age was characterized by drought rather than by cold. Around 50,000 years ago, though, the ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere began to melt, introducing a short period of warmer temperatures and moister climate in Africa and the Middle East. Parts of the inhospitable Sahara briefly became habitable. As the drought-ridden desert changed to a savanna, the animals hunted by your ancestors expanded their range and began moving through the newly emerging green corridor of grasslands.
BRANCH: M89
Age: About 55,000 Years Old
Location of Origin: Southwest Asia
The next male ancestor in your ancestral lineage is the man who gave rise to M89, a marker found in 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans. This man was likely born around 55,000 years ago in Middle East.
While many of the descendants of M89 remained in the Middle East, others continued to follow the great herds of wild game through what is now modern-day Iran, then north to the Caucasus and the steppes of Central Asia. These semiarid, grass-covered plains would eventually form an ancient “superhighway” stretching from France to Korea. A smaller group continued moving north from the Middle East to Anatolia and the Balkans, trading familiar grasslands for forests and high country.
BRANCH: M578
Age: About 50,000 Years Old
Location of Origin: Southwest Asia
After settling in Southwest Asia for several millennia, humans began to expand in various directions, including east and south around the Indian Ocean, but also north toward Anatolia and the Black and Caspian Seas. The first man to acquire mutation M578 was among those that stayed in Southwest Asia before moving on.
Fast-forwarding to about 40,000 years ago, the climate shifted once again and became colder and more arid. Drought hit Africa and the Middle East and the grasslands reverted to desert, and for the next 20,000 years, the Saharan Gateway was effectively closed. With the desert impassable, your ancestors had two options: remain in the Middle East, or move on. Retreat back to the home continent was not an option.
BRANCH: P128
Age: About 45,000 years ago
Location of Origin: South Asia
The next male ancestor in your ancestral lineage is the man who gave rise to P128, a marker found in more than half of all non-Africans alive today. This man was born around 45,000 years ago in south Central Asia and was likely part of the second wave of migrants to move east from Southwest Asia.
Some of the descendants of P128 migrated to the southeast and northeast, picking up additional markers on their Y chromosomes. This lineage is the parent of several major branches on the Y-chromosome tree: O, the most common lineage in East Asia; R, the major European and Central Asian Y-chromosome lineage; and Q, the major Y-chromosome lineage in the Americas. These descendant branches went on to settle the rest of Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Still many others traveled to Southeast Asia, and some descendants of P128 individuals moved across the waters south and east and are most commonly seen in Oceanian and Australian Aboriginal populations.
BRANCH: M526
Age: About 42,000 Years Old
Location of Origin: South or Southeast Asia
The man who first carried mutation M526 was part of the second wave of settlers that migrated around the Indian Ocean and settled in Southeast Asia. This mutation is shared by men from haplogroups M, N, O, P, Q, R, and S; these are groups common in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
BRANCH: M214
Age: About 35,000 years ago
Location of Origin: Central Asia
This branch marks another major turning point in your ancestors’ journey. The founder of this lineage was a nomad in the time of the Paleolithic.
His descendants founded two major descendant branches. One would travel north and settle East Asia through Siberia. Some from this line would eventually turn back west and travel to Scandinavia. The second of the two branches would travel another road across South Asia. It too would eventually reach East Asia.
BRANCH: P186
Age: 28,000 – 41,000 Years Ago
Location of Origin: Southeast Asia
Groups containing this lineage traveled along the coastline of Asia into Southeast Asia. From there, some from this lineage continued north into East Asia. The majority of these men traveled inland across what is now the south of China. Thus, this came to be the highest frequency lineage in the region. From inland China, some traveled back toward the west into the northeast of the Indian subcontinent.
Today, geneticists have found this lineage at varying frequencies in South Asian populations. It is about 23 percent of the overall Indian male population. However, in the northeast the frequency reaches about 80 percent. In Japan, its frequency is between 47 and 65 percent. In Korea, it is between 70 and 82 percent of the male population. It is between 69 and 86 percent of male lineages in Han population groups.
BRANCH: M268
Age: About 30,000 Years Ago
Location of Origin: Asia
Men from this lineage traveled along the coast of Asia toward Southeast Asia and settled the shorelines followed by the outlying islands.
Today, it is most common in Korea (32 percent), the islands of Japan (38 percent), and among the Yao in China (20 percent).
BRANCH: PK4
Age: To Be Determined
Location of Origin: Asia
Men in this lineage traveled with groups who moved inland into South Asia and then northeast toward the Hindu Kush.
Today, men from this lineage are present in Pakistan as part of Pashtun groups. There, this branch contributes to about 4 percent of male lineages. They are about 11 percent of the male population in the Tharu of Eastern Terai. In Andhra Pradesh, they are about 3 percent of the tribal population.
Note: This branch is not accompanied by a major movement on the map, and research on this branch is continuing.
BRANCH: M95
Age: 34,500 – 48,750 Years Ago
Location of Origin: Southeast Asia
The Austro-Asiatic language family developed in groups containing men from this lineage. As these groups spread across Southeast Asia in successive waves, they spread their language.
Today, the distribution of men from this lineage matches the pattern of these waves of migration. It is 42 percent of male lineages in Java, 40 percent of male lineages in Vietnam, and 38 percent of male lineages in Borneo. It accounts for 28 percent of the male population in Malaysia. It is present in Sumatra in about 14 percent of the male population. In mainland China, it is, on average, about 3 percent of the male population. In South Asia, it is 9 percent of the Pardhan, between 1 and 2 percent of the Andh, and 10 percent of the Naikpod. It is around 59 percent of Balinese male lineages.
Note: This branch is not accompanied by a major movement on the map, and research on this branch is continuing.
Here is my paternal genetic history from the first phase of the GenoGraphic Project.
Here is my maternal genetic history from Geno 2.0.
© 2005 - 2012 National Geographic Society. THE GENOGRAPHIC PROJECT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, and Yellow Border are trademarks of NGS. All rights reserved
