To investigate which aspects of contemporary human Y-chromosome variation in Europe are characteristic 100w products of primary colonization, late-glacial expansions from refuge areas, Neolithic dispersals or more recent events in gene flow haplogroup I was analyzed.The analysis of Hg I Y chromosomes revealed several sub-clades with distinct geographic distributions.Sub-clade I1a accounts for most of Hg I in Scandinavia, with a rapidly decreasing frequency towards the East European Plain and the Atlantic fringe; but microsatellite diversity reveals that the Iberian Peninsula/Southern France refugial area could be the source region of the early spread of both I1a and the less common I1c.I1b* extends from the eastern Adriatic to Eastern Europe, and declines noticeably towards click here the southern Balkans, and abruptly towards North Italy.
This clade probably diffused after the Last Glacial Maximum from a homeland in the Balkans or Eastern Europe.In contrast, I1b2 most probably arose in southern France/Iberia, underwent a post-glacial expansion, and marked the human colonization of Sardinia about 9000 years ago.