I have revised all the mtDNA frequencies and added 20 new populations. This now permits me to create mtDNA maps.
Ideally I would need more detailed regional data for central and southern Spain, all Germany, Ukraine and European Russia (except the Caucasus, which is well covered). I have got especially conflicting data for Russia, where frequencies for haplogroup K vary from 0% near Karelia to nearly 8% in nearby Vladimir and Yaroslav (around Moscow) but an average of just 3.7% for the 1768 samples collected.
Most K1a subclades were dispersed by Near Eastern Neolithic farmers. K1a was the most frequent form of K found in Neolithic samples all over Europe. Haplogroup K seems to have been twice more prevalent in Neolithic Europe than today. Apart from one K2a5 sample and Ötzi's K1f, all Neolithic samples were K1a, including one K1a4a1a2. K1a is also very common in the Levant today, notably among the Druzes, who are believed to be the population most representative of the pre-Arabic expansion in the Levant, and possibly the closest to the original Neolithic farmers.The Druzes, who have 13% of haplogroup K, possess mostly K1a subclades, including K1a4b, K1a6 and K1a12. K1a4 is the most common subclade in Europe today and could have been the most common subclade among Neolithic farmers.
Nevertheless, the frequency of haplogroup K seems to correlate with that of haplogroup R1b in Europe (although not in the Near East and North Africa). Why would there be a correlation with R1b, which only came during the Bronze Age and not during the Neolithic ? I believe that there may be two reasons for this:
1) R1b men replaced a high percentage of Neolithic lineages in Europe, particularly in Western Europe, which was less technologically advanced than Southeast Europe and was conquered later by better equipped R1b warriors. There are many ways in which R1b lineages could have come to replace Neolithic male lineages. I have explained this in detail here. In short, R1b men had children with indigenous Neolithic Western European women who carried such lineages as K1a, H1, H3, J1c, T2, X2, etc. From c. 2000 BCE these maternal lineages bore more children to R1b men than to other haplogroups, even those these mt-haplogroups were not originally Indo-European. This is hybridisation. K1a4 was one of those lineages assimilated by R1b men in Bronze Age Europe.
2) R1b people originated in the Near East and could have picked up maternal K lineages in Anatolia and the Caucasus (Georgia has the highest frequency of any country), then again in Southeast Europe before migrating to Western Europe.
K lineages that were already assimilated by R1b tribes before the Bronze Age expansion from the Pontic Steppe would have ended up all over Europe, but also in the Volga-Ural region, the Altai, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and most of Central Asia. Potential candidates for a Proto-Indo-European dispersal include K1a1a, K1a3 and K2a6. Other K subclades, such as K1c1, K1c2 and K2b are better associated with the spread of R1a Indo-Europeans. K1c2 and K2b1 are particularly common in Germanic countries and could be linked to the Germanic branch of R1a or to the Corded Ware culture. See Haplogroup K page for more details.
Ideally I would need more detailed regional data for central and southern Spain, all Germany, Ukraine and European Russia (except the Caucasus, which is well covered). I have got especially conflicting data for Russia, where frequencies for haplogroup K vary from 0% near Karelia to nearly 8% in nearby Vladimir and Yaroslav (around Moscow) but an average of just 3.7% for the 1768 samples collected.
Most K1a subclades were dispersed by Near Eastern Neolithic farmers. K1a was the most frequent form of K found in Neolithic samples all over Europe. Haplogroup K seems to have been twice more prevalent in Neolithic Europe than today. Apart from one K2a5 sample and Ötzi's K1f, all Neolithic samples were K1a, including one K1a4a1a2. K1a is also very common in the Levant today, notably among the Druzes, who are believed to be the population most representative of the pre-Arabic expansion in the Levant, and possibly the closest to the original Neolithic farmers.The Druzes, who have 13% of haplogroup K, possess mostly K1a subclades, including K1a4b, K1a6 and K1a12. K1a4 is the most common subclade in Europe today and could have been the most common subclade among Neolithic farmers.
Nevertheless, the frequency of haplogroup K seems to correlate with that of haplogroup R1b in Europe (although not in the Near East and North Africa). Why would there be a correlation with R1b, which only came during the Bronze Age and not during the Neolithic ? I believe that there may be two reasons for this:
1) R1b men replaced a high percentage of Neolithic lineages in Europe, particularly in Western Europe, which was less technologically advanced than Southeast Europe and was conquered later by better equipped R1b warriors. There are many ways in which R1b lineages could have come to replace Neolithic male lineages. I have explained this in detail here. In short, R1b men had children with indigenous Neolithic Western European women who carried such lineages as K1a, H1, H3, J1c, T2, X2, etc. From c. 2000 BCE these maternal lineages bore more children to R1b men than to other haplogroups, even those these mt-haplogroups were not originally Indo-European. This is hybridisation. K1a4 was one of those lineages assimilated by R1b men in Bronze Age Europe.
2) R1b people originated in the Near East and could have picked up maternal K lineages in Anatolia and the Caucasus (Georgia has the highest frequency of any country), then again in Southeast Europe before migrating to Western Europe.
K lineages that were already assimilated by R1b tribes before the Bronze Age expansion from the Pontic Steppe would have ended up all over Europe, but also in the Volga-Ural region, the Altai, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and most of Central Asia. Potential candidates for a Proto-Indo-European dispersal include K1a1a, K1a3 and K2a6. Other K subclades, such as K1c1, K1c2 and K2b are better associated with the spread of R1a Indo-Europeans. K1c2 and K2b1 are particularly common in Germanic countries and could be linked to the Germanic branch of R1a or to the Corded Ware culture. See Haplogroup K page for more details.
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