Paternal line · Y-DNA
A Levantine and Mediterranean line
E-M123
Where it is common today
The Levant, Arabia, Anatolia and the Mediterranean.
How old it is
This branch split from its parent about 18,800 years ago (between 17,100 and 20,700).
Every man who carries it today descends from one man who lived about 17,400 years ago (between 15,900 and 18,900).
From the big letter down to this branch
- E-P177
- E-M5557
- E-M215
- E-M35
- E-Z827
- E-Z830
- E-PF1962
- E-M123
Every test reads your line to a different depth. One report says J1, another J-P58, another a code four steps further down — all of them are right, the longer one is simply more detailed. HealthOS reads as deep as your file allows.
Ancient people who carried it
40 ancient genomes in the Allen Ancient DNA Resource carry this line. The oldest is from Ba’ja, Jordan, around 7,020 BC.
- Udegram, Pakistan1,270 BC – 890 BC6 people
- Nerkin-Getashen, Armenia1,370 BC – 1,300 BC3 people
- Oylum Höyük, Turkey1,740 BC – 1,720 BC2 people
- Tel Megiddo, Israel1,500 BC2 people
- Roopkund, IndiaAD 820 – AD 1,8202 people
- Ba’ja, Jordan7,020 BC1 people
- Arslantepe, Turkey3,260 BC1 people
- Tatika, Turkey3,000 BC1 people
- Ebla / Tell Mardikh, Syria2,600 BC1 people
- Hazor, Israel1,700 BC1 people
- Beniamin, Armenia1,420 BC1 people
- Karaterekh, Kazakhstan680 BC1 people
A note on tribes and genealogy
Families across Arabia often connect this line with a tribal genealogy — Adnani or Qahtani, or a named ancestor. Genetics can show that two men share a male-line ancestor, and roughly when he lived. It cannot confirm a genealogy, name the ancestor, or say which tribe a line "belongs" to: the same branch runs through many tribes and peoples, and one tribe carries many branches.
Find your own line
Upload the raw data file from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage or a whole-genome test. It is read on your device, and it is free.
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The HealthOS DNA Kit reads your maternal line, your paternal (Y) line if you have a Y chromosome, your ancestry across 15 regions and the ancient peoples you sit closest to. Spit in a tube at home; the lab is in Germany and the raw file is yours.
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