Paternal line · Y-DNA
The Arab and Semitic line
J1
Where it is common today
Arabia, the Levant and the Caucasus — the classic Arab and Semitic line.
How old it is
This branch split from its parent about 31,600 years ago (between 29,200 and 34,000).
Every man who carries it today descends from one man who lived about 18,300 years ago (between 16,400 and 20,300).
From the big letter down to this branch
- CF
- F
- GHIJK
- HIJK
- IJK
- IJ
- J
- J1
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
196 ancient genomes in the Allen Ancient DNA Resource carry this line. The oldest is from Satsurblia, Georgia, around 11,330 BC.
- Rákóczifalva-Bagi-földek, HungaryAD 580 – AD 78055 people
- Mödling-An der Goldenen Stiege, AustriaAD 72013 people
- Tel Megiddo, Israel1,900 BC – 1,000 BC11 people
- Baq'ah, Jordan1,390 BC – 1,280 BC11 people
- Mtwapa, KenyaAD 1,270 – AD 1,74010 people
- Lasithi, Greece2,200 BC – 2,100 BC4 people
- Geoksyur, Turkmenistan3,200 BC – 3,010 BC3 people
- Dzhoghaz, Armenia2,460 BC – 2,390 BC3 people
- Ebla / Tell Mardikh, Syria2,520 BC – 1,850 BC3 people
- Atchana-Alalakh, Turkey1,870 BC – 1,430 BC3 people
- Erfurt, GermanyAD 1,3203 people
- Nea Styra, Greece2,470 BC – 2,420 BC2 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.
Read my DNANo DNA test yet?
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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