Introduction
The main driving force behind the speed and direction of human migration is the Earth's climate.

Due to the planet's oscillations in orbit and rotation, Earth's history has been punctuated with periods of cold phases, called ice ages, cycling every 200 million years and lasting for a few million years. Currently we are in the middle of an "interglacial" -- a period of warm weather -- in an Ice Age that started 2 million years ago. Evidence of these temperature fluctuations can be seen in core samples taken from ocean beds and ice sheets by many projects such as the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica.

Cold temperatures lock up moisture in ice, expanding arid areas -- such as deserts -- and lowering the sea level. The return of warm weather allows plants to flourish while re-submerging land under water as polar ice caps melt.

More than 2 million years ago, early humans roamed the Earth. Although we call ourselves "humans" today, several species of humans -- genus "Homo" -- preceded our arrival. From Homo habilis to Homo neanderthalensis, each succeeding species of human spawned a new one, becoming more and more adept at adjusting to the erratic weather of the last ice age.

By combining years of research and data, scientists and organizations are reconstructing the geographic and genetic maps of human origins.

Click on each point on the timeline, representing different periods of the past in thousands of years, to see where humans moved and to learn how Earth's climate affected their migration. The section on ethnic groups describes the journey of seven haplogroups and where they live today.

Dawn of 'Mitochondrial Eve'
200,000 - 160,000 years ago
7 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

According to European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica data, a steep drop in temperatures occurred 200,000 years ago, killing off many of the world's hominids who were unable to adapt to the cold weather. It was out of this small group of survivors that modern humans were born.

Scientists can't be sure exactly where the first Homo sapiens came into existence, but paleoanthropologists suspect that remains found in Ethiopia's Omo River Valley, discovered by Richard Leaky and dated to be 195,000 years old, could indicate a birthplace. It is here, in Eastern Africa, that we place the birth of "Mitochondrial Eve."

By using mitochondrial DNA in our cells, which is inherited from only our mothers, all modern humans living today can trace their lineages back to a single woman, our most recent common ancestor, who the scientific community has dubbed "Eve." This doesn't mean that Eve was the only woman to exist at the time, but rather that her mitochondrial DNA is the founding lineage or "haplogroup" that propagated all lines existing today. Over time, small genetic mutations in the mitochondrial DNA as it is passed down from generation to generation result in the diversity of lines seen today. By mapping the location and frequency of genetic markers in modern people, researchers have worked to uncover our distant origins.

Although she and her immediate descendents, labeled L0, never left sub-Saharan Africa, it wasn't long before Eve's more adventurous descendents ventured out of Africa and to the rest of the world.

First steps outward
160,000 - 130,000 years ago
8 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

About 140,000 years ago, the temperature continued its plummet to a low of 8 degrees Celsius colder than present day's average. The prolonged colder climate locked up more moisture in ice glaciers, expanded the North African deserts and created a barrier for travel out of Africa.

Instead, Mitochondrial Eve's descendents, the L0 haplogroup, spread across sub-Saharan Africa.

Although the L0 and L1 haplogroups never migrated and flourished outside of Africa in great numbers -- except for those displaced to the western hemisphere by the Atlantic slave trade -- the L1 marker and some traces of the L0 marker can still be found, according to the Genographic Project.

Today, the L1 genetic marker is found in greatest frequencies among the Khoisan (bushmen) of southern Africa and the Biaka (pygmies) of central Africa.

First exit out of Africa
130,000 - 90,000 years ago
3 degrees C warmer than today's average temperature

Just like their ancestors, Homo sapiens eventually found a way out of Africa. A sudden warming 130,000 years ago raised Earth's climate to several degrees warmer than present day's temperatures. This caused the polar caps to melt and turned the globe into a warm and humid greenhouse. The Sahara, as well as other arid regions of the world, turned into lush grasslands and lakes. But these periods of growth -- called "interglacial optimums" -- tended to last for only brief intervals.

When the Sahara opened up, a band of L1 haplotype migrants moved north across the Sahara, following the large game animals that also moved into the flourishing former desert. Moving further north, they traveled over the Sinai Peninsula and journeyed as far as Levant -- a historical area occupied by Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.

According to Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer and the Bradshaw Foundation, genetic and archeological evidence found in the Skhul and Qafzeh caves in Israel suggest that the pioneers died as colder temperatures returned. Levant returned to desert conditions and closed their escape route through the Sahara behind them. Some evidence also shows that early modern humans made contact and interacted with Neanderthals, predecessors of Homo sapiens who had already left Africa and spread through the world.

The peopling of Africa
90,000 - 70,000 years ago
4 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

After the first attempt to leave Africa ended in Levant, a renewed expansion of Africa's population followed. Originating near the birthplace of Mitochondrial Eve and her L1 descendents, L2 and L3 haplogroups repopulated Africa, venturing further into every corner of Africa.

As the new populations flourished in Africa, the original L0 and L1 inhabitants became displaced and thinned out. Although in small numbers now, L0 and L1 types can still be found among the Khoisan and Biaka of south and central Africa.

About 74,000 years ago a massive eruption of Mt. Toba in Sumatra sent an apocalyptic amount of ash into the atmosphere, covering the immediate areas of India, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf under some five meters of ash, and sending the rest to every corner of the world. Because of the blast's large-scale effects across the Earth, the eruption is the most accurately dated event before the last Ice Age.

The eruption plunged the world into a nuclear winter and a 1,000-year Ice Age, resulting in a mass extinction of most hominids -- both modern and early species of humans. Evolutionary theory suggests that an event such as this can spark an explosion of genetic diversity from a small number of survivors, said Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer of the Bradshaw Foundation.

In search of greener lands
70,000 - 65,000 years ago
6 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

With the Sahara gateway still closed, the early Africans had to find another route if they wanted to journey outside the confines of Africa. It was a matter of time before modern humans developed the tools and maritime technology to find a path.

That exit appeared between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where a narrow channel 10 miles across separated Africa's eastern and the Arabian Peninsula's western coastlines. It was at this crossing, using their crude sailing skills, that early L3 migrants made the short voyage and landed in the Middle East, according to the Genographic Project.

As this very small group multiplied across the peninsula, evidence shows that many of them stuck to the shores, using stone tools to take advantage of the abundance of seafood such as clams and oysters. "Call it the world's first oyster bar," said geologist Bob Walter from the University of Toronto, who found stone tools and clam shell fossils on the coasts of the Red Sea.

Eventually two haplogroups emerged: the M haplogroup, which continued to follow the eastern shores and became the founder of many Southeast and East Asian groups; and the N haplogroup, which traveled north toward Europe and founded nearly all lineages found in Europe and the Near East.

Birth of 'Adam'
65,000 - 55,000 years ago
7 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

Similarly to how Mitochondrial Eve marks the genetic ancestor of all mitochondrial DNA lineages, "Adam" does the same for the Y-chromosome. Although the names "Adam" and "Eve" imply that the two entities existed at the same time, Eve had passed away long before Adam was born. As with Eve, the name "Adam" also does not mean that he was the first and only man to exist. Rather, it means he is the human ancestor at which all Y-chromosome lineages come together, a common male ancestor.

And just like previous mitochondrial lineages, haplogroup densities suggest that Adam arose in the region of Ethiopia or Sudan in eastern Africa. Following previous paths, Adam's descendents spread across Africa while others crossed the Red Sea into the Arabian Peninsula.

As for the original migrants to exit Africa, their paths took them in several directions. Perhaps the easiest route followed the shoreline, along the Indian Ocean, across Southeast Asia, and finally up the East Asian coast and into Australia. Dodging the effects of the fluctuating weather patterns during the last Ice Age, the "beachcombers," a term used by Stephen Oppenheimer of the Bradshaw Foundation, took advantage of the stable temperatures and near limitless supply of seafood and coastal flora. The migrants quickly multiplied, moving from beach to beach across Asia and into New Guinea. The Ice Age temperatures 65,000 years ago imprisoned water in the northern ice caps, lowered sea levels, and made New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania into a single landmass geologists call "Sahul".

The Genographic Project suggests that those who went north had a much more difficult journey, encountering vast stretches of arid land, Neanderthals and erratic temperatures.

Although the N genetic marker is often found alongside its M counterpart, it is important to note that the M marker is not found in Europe. It is the European descendents of the N haplogroup that is the focus of Bryan Sykes' book "The Seven Daughters of Eve," which describes the origins of European ancestry through fictional narratives of seven haplogroups.

Trek across Asia
55,000 - 40,000 years ago
4 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

About 50,000 years ago, during a period of several warm and wet cycles in quick succession, the climate turned the once barren Fertile Crescent and Central Eurasia into lush grasslands. With another gate opened, migrants traveled northward and outward into Europe and Asia, while the northernmost reaches of the two continents remained under an ice sheet.

Researchers suggest different ways humans could have entered central Asia. Those who had skirted along the beaches all the way to the East Asian coast saw several opportunities along their route to travel into central Asia and return to their hunter-gatherer roots. The mountainous terrain would prove to be a formidable barrier, but several paths made inward movement possible.

The easiest paths would have been to stay near sources of water and avoid deserts or mountains. Moving west to east, the Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong and Yangtzi are all rivers along the way that led toward the heart of Asia.

These same rivers and mountain paths became the Silk Road, a trading route, used by merchants such as Marco Polo, linking East Asia with the West.

Expansion to other continents
40,000 - 25,000 years ago
6 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

At this point, Homo sapiens had been interacting and living in the presence of Neanderthals since their first exit from Africa. First thought to be an ancestor of humans, Neanderthals are now considered to be an offshoot species that spread out across Asia and Europe as much as 300,000 years before the birth of Mitochondria Eve. Intelligent and hearty, the Neanderthals developed tools and flourished.

Although this era is marked by an erratic Ice Age climate, modern humans were able to adapt to the weather with new tools and behaviors. Even during an Ice Age, some humans were able to live in the unrelenting cold of Siberia. On the other hand, the Neanderthals could not cope and eventually died off as modern humans outfought them for the sparse Ice Age resources.

With less competition, humans thrived and diverged into many haplogroups until they reached both western and eastern extents of Eurasia.

Bridging the gap - Beringia
25,000 - 19,000 years ago
7 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

With temperatures continuing to fall, more and more land became exposed as sea levels dropped 90-120 meters lower than those seen today. Large sections of land, usually submerged by water, saw the light of day and became traversable. One wide tract of land, between Alaska and Siberia popped up, creating a "land bridge" from Asia to North America. However, at about 1,000 kilometers across, "Beringia" was less a "land bridge" and more like a landmass allowing mass migration, says the Genographic Project.

Following herds of large game animals, several different groups of humans traveled over Beringia 25,000 years ago. Genetic studies suggest that five main haplogroups, A, B, C, D and X, trekked the span and became the founding populations for all indigenous people in the Americas.

Once in North America, the migrants quickly moved east and south; either following the western coastline -- much like their beachcombing predecessors, or moving through the middle North America -- avoiding ice-covered lands in the arctic north and deserts in the southwest.

Much debate remains over the ethnic makeup of the five original founder lines. Language analyses, archeological evidence and genetic tests have been used to study whether the North American pioneers came from the same general set of people or from several different groups from across Asia who crossed Beringia in parallel tracks.

In search of a refuge
19,000 - 15,000 years ago
9 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

Although Homo sapiens had learned to adapt to a wide range of climates and weather conditions, the Ice Age proved to be too much. Some 19,000 years ago, the last Ice Age reached its "Last Glacial Maximum" -- the peak of ice age conditions -- to a low of 9-10 degrees Celsius below today's average.

At its coldest, ice sheets covered everything north of the 55th parallel, which includes half of North America, most of Northern Europe and much of Asia. In addition, a barely habitable permafrost extended down to the 50th parallel, according to the Bradshaw Foundation.

As a result, modern humans, as well as our ancestral hominids and animals, were forced to either retreat south or perish. The scattered human populations congregated and clustered together at key points along the ice boundaries as they waited for the frost to abate.

Humans in Europe took refuge in several locations including the Basque region of Spain -- the southern most region of the Iberian Peninsula -- and in Italy and Ukraine. Those in Asia massed in south China and southeast Asia. In the Americas, most humans migrated south and prospered in Central and South America. However, one key refuge was located in Beringia, where some groups were able to persist through the worst of the chill.

The arctic regions weren't the only areas affected by the severe temperatures. The Himalayas grew an ice cap, tropical rainforests dried into savannahs and deserts in Africa, Middle East and central China swelled in size. All in all, the worldwide population of humans took a severe blow, but survived as they had done many times before.

The last Ice Age breaks
15,000 - 12,000 years ago
3 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

Approximately 15,000 years ago, the last glacial maximum finally broke. The sudden rise in temperature -- to just a few degrees below current temperatures -- was the green light for the mass repopulation of Eurasia and North America.

As a result of the refuges and the flood of humans back into the northern areas, present day studies have found several interesting distributions of haplogroups. For instance, up in northwestern Alaska and northern Canada, the A haplotype is almost the only one of the five founding lineages found among the Eskimos, Inuits and Aleutians. In Europe, the V haplotype is highly concentrated among the Saami people of northern Finland.

The warmer temperatures also led to a rise in the sea level, re-submerging Beringia and any other landmasses that may have aided humans in their migration. This meant that North America became cut off from Asia and many groups found themselves isolated on islands.

Colonization, domestication, agriculture
12,000 years ago - present
1 degrees C cooler than today's average temperature

After the last Ice Age passed, the world's fluctuating climate slowed and finally stabilized.

Until this point, modern humans were foragers and hunters, requiring them to travel in small groups. Once the resources in a region were exhausted, they moved on to a new area, following the herds of large mammals. Because of the need to stay mobile, the world population grew slowly but remained sparse. At most, the population numbered a few million 10,000 years ago.

But with the advent of a stable environment, groups of humans could settle down in the best locations. The Fertile Crescent, a rich basin between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and around the Nile River delta, is thought to be the birthplace of agriculture. It did not take long for farming techniques, such as irrigation and terracing, to spread quickly to Asia, northern Africa and eastern Europe.

However, the Genographic Project suggests that this "Neolithic Revolution" happened in several locations independently in the Americas and Africa.

Shortly thereafter, domestication of animals in some areas began, eliminating the need for a nomadic lifestyle all together. This radical change in human behavior became the impetus for a huge population boom. Two thousand years ago, the world's population ballooned to 300 million humans, and now the Earth carries an estimated 6.5 billion people, according to the Population Reference Bureau.

Ethnic Groups

Skolt Saami Speakers
Location: Finland, Russia
Haplogroup: V (mtDNA)

A language threatened to go into extinction, Skolt Saami is kept alive by some 400 people living in the Inari municipality of northern Finland. With about 45,000 Saami populating Northern Europe, Skolt Saami is one of the rarest of the 10 languages spoken by the Saami. Perhaps the most famous word to come from the Saami languages is, not surprisingly, "tundra."

One of the oldest cultures to populate Europe, the Saami predate Finnish, Russian, and other Scandinavian settlers to inhabit the region. A nomadic tradition long isolated from modern societies, the now modernized Saami still carry the V haplotype at a rate of over 50 percent.

A dramatic warming 50,000 years ago following a mini Ice Age allowed two groups of migrants to emerge out of Africa and populate into the Fertile Crescent. One of the groups, the N haplogroup, became the sprouting point from which most of Europe's haplogroups came.

About 20,000 years ago, the Last Glacial Maximum -- the last cold snap before present day -- blocked off Northern Europe, Asia and most of North America, forcing survivors to retreat south. The early Europeans sought refuge in southwestern Europe, where the H and V haplogroups developed while waiting for the ice to abate. Due to the time spent in the region, 12 percent of the Basque population in northern Spain have the V haplotype.

When the final Ice Age cracked 15,000 to 13,000 years ago, the V haplogroup, along with others, migrated north and recolonized the vacated Northern Europe.

Australian Aborigines
Location: Australia
Haplotypes: C (Y-chromosome)

Apart from boomerangs, kangaroos and didgeridoos -- a traditional wind pipe, Australian Aborigines are also known for their belief in Dreamtime, a tradition noteworthy in its belief that past, present and future coexist. Dating back nearly 50,000 years, the Aborigines have one of the longest -- if not the longest -- continuous cultural traditions of any other ethnic group.

Today, nearly 500,000 indigenous Australians live across the continent, Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islands. Although much of the Australian Aboriginal population has assimilated into urban life, a significant number still live in settlements, closer to their traditional practices. However, both groups still face problems with racism, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse and health issues.

Starting at around 55,000 years ago, C and D became the first Y-chromosome haplotypes to come out of Africa. From the Middle East region, both haplogroups followed the coast -- "beach-combed" -- through India, Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands, then back up the East Asian coast into Japan.

Eventually, the D haplogroup turned back south and populated down to Tibet, while the C haplogroup traveled further south into Australia over the Sahul landmass -- a land bridge that formed from low sea levels during the last Ice Age. The C haplotype of the Y-chromosome is found in more than 65 percent of aboriginal males. Further traces of the C haplotype also are found in Siberia and North America, suggesting that the group ventured over the Bering Land Bridge 20,000 years ago.

Most notably, the spread of the C haplotype across China is believed to be due to Mongol conquests of Genghis Kahn, who is thought to have up to 16 million male descendents today (about 0.5 percent of the world's male population).

Ojibwa Indians
Location: Great Lakes, North America
Haplotypes: X2 (mtDNA)

The Ojibwa Indians, more commonly known as the Chippewa or Aanishanabe Indians, are the largest group of Native Americans north of the Mexican border with a population of 175,000 in more than 100 bands distributed between the United States and Canada -- mainly concentrated in the Great Lakes region.

The name "ojibwe" is thought to mean "keep records of a vision" in reference to the group's Midewiwin rites, ceremonies and pictorial writing.

The X haplotype is believed to have originated about 30,000 years ago in the region of Iran, off of the N haplogroup that left Africa. However from that point, there is much debate over the path that the group took to arrive in North America. Because the haplotype is non-existent in East Asia, some believe the group may have had an early maritime tradition that took them across the Atlantic Ocean to North America, using the ice-covered passages during the last Ice Age. Overall, the X haplotype accounts for 2 percent of the north African and Eurasian population.

But since some traces of the haplotype are found in Siberia, most researchers believe that they followed the same path as the A, B, C and D groups that crossed into Canada over the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia) 25,000 years ago. X became one of the five main haplotypes found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas, found in 25 percent of the Ojibwa, 15 percent of the Sioux, and others.

Inuit-Aleut
Location: Alaska, Canada
Haplotypes: A (mtDNA)

So how many words does the Eskimo language have for snow? A common myth says hundreds, if not thousands. The real question is how to define the Eskimo language.

Linguists, anthropologists and scientists have debated for years over the labeling and categorization of the dozens of languages and dialects that exist among indigenous North Americans today.

In reality, there is no single Eskimo language. Inuit-Aleut is a broad language family that extends from Greenland, across the Canadian Artic, all the way to Eastern Siberia. The Aleut refer to the indigenous people living on the Aleutian, Probilof and Commander islands. Although the Inuit and Eskimo names are sometimes interchanged, the Inuit people consider being called Eskimo offensive, while the term Inuit does not encompass several groups, including the Yupik. Because of the wide dispersal of A haplogroup descendents, this situation is unlikely to be resolved soon.

The A haplotype is believed to have originated about 50,000 years ago off of the N group that left Africa. Shortly after, a warming of the Earth's climate turned the Middle East into lush grasslands, allowing the A haplogroup and other migrant groups to spread out into Europe and Asia.

As the last Ice Age approached, most scientists believe that the A, B, C, D and X groups crossed into Canada over the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia), which opened 25,000 years ago. The A haplotype became one of the five main haplotypes found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

About 20,000 years ago, the Last Glacial Maximum blocked off Northern Europe, Asia, and most of North America, forcing nearly all inhabitants to retreat south. A small group sought refuge in the southern most areas of the Beringia land bridge -- Alaska. When the final Ice Age cracked 15,000 to 13,000 years ago, the A haplogroup migrated north and east and recolonized North America.

Due to the effect of the Ice Age refuges, A is for the most part the only haplotype found in Eskimos indigenous to Siberia, Alaska and Canada.

KhoiSan (bushmen)
Location: Southern Africa
Haplotypes: L1 (mtDNA)

Nearly all cultures pass down some form of myth explaining the creation of the world. Typically, part of the myth labels the indigenous people as the progenitor of all other human beings. But for the KhoiSan of Southern Africa, genetic research has proven that their story is likely closest to the truth.

The KhoiSan are unlike most of the other inhabitants of Africa. They consist of two groups; the San, whose name means "people different from ourselves," are hunter-gatherers and refers to those without or who steal livestock. The Khoi, meaning "the real people," are herders and came to refer to people with domestic animals. The term "bushmen," a derogatory name for those of low status and without domesticated animals, was coined by Dutch settlers arriving in southern Africa in the 1600s.

The Khoisan also are notable for their distinct use of click consonants in their languages, found in no other widespread language in the world.

Scientists estimate that the L1 haplotype originated in East Africa 150,000 to 170,000 years ago, 30,000 to 50,000 years after the approximate birth of "Mitochondrial Eve" -- the oldest traceable modern human ancestor -- and her L0 line.

Although L0 and L1 haplogroups lived together at the same time, L0 became extinct and all other human descendants came from L1 -- including L2 and L3 who were the first humans to step out of Africa. Currently, L1 represents 29 percent of all African mtDNA haplotypes. The West African slave trade also contributed to the spread of L1 individuals around the world, with significant populations found in North and South America.

Ainu
Location: Japan
Haplotypes: D2 (Y-chromosome)

In their indigenous language, the word "ainu" means "human" or "us" -- referring to the 25,000 to 150,000 people living on Hokkaido, northern Honshu, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and southern Kamchatka. The true number of those with Ainu ancestry is not possible to measure because many Ainu conceal or are unaware of their heritage, stemming from Japanese racism and segregation as early as the 15th century.

Though living on the same island, the indigenous Ainu are separate and different from the ethnic Japanese. Considered isolated, the Ainu language bears only a slight relation to Japanese but is spoken fluently by a small percentage of native Ainu. The Ainu also are practitioners of animism, the belief that ordinary objects and animals are endowed with a spirit or god.

Starting at around 55,000 years ago, C and D became the first Y-chromosome haplotypes to come out of Africa. From the Middle East region, both haplogroups followed the coast -- "beach-combed" -- through India, Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands, then back up the East Asian coast into Japan. Eventually, the D haplogroup turned back south and populated down to Tibet.

The D haplogroup itself split up into several subgroups. Though originating from different D subgroups, the Tibetans and Ainu show a high frequency of the overall D haplogroup -- more than 40 percent of Japanese, 50 percent of Tibetans and an astounding 88 percent of the Ainu carry the haplotype.

Anatolians
Location: Turkey
Haplotypes: J (Y-chromosome)

The key peninsula linking Europe and Asia -- now known as Turkey -- Anatolia has historically been a hub for several civilizations and empires to meet and share cultures. Anatolia has changed hands several times through history; conquerors include Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans and Ottomans.

Though originating in the Fertile Crescent, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, where humans first ventured out of Africa, the J haplotype is a relatively recent group to populate the area -- about 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. It is a descendent of the F haplogroup, a second wave of humans that left Africa 45,000 to 40,000 years ago when a warming of the world's climate turned the Middle East into lush grasslands. When the temperature plummeted and the region turned arid again, the migrants were forced to move on to greener lands.

From the F haplogroup, migrants spread out into Europe and Asia, taking advantage of the large herds of land mammals and traversable grasslands. A group traveled north into Turkey to become the Anatolians.

Although most of Anatolia's residents speak Turkish today, many have populated into surrounding Mediterranean countries including: Italy, Greece, Spain, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Ethiopia, Egypt and India.

Descendents belonging to the J haplogroup and subgroups (J2) are sometimes attributed with the spread of agriculture, attributed to the favorable farming conditions found in the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean. The J haplotype's reach is evident, from 20 percent of southern Italians to 30 percent of Jews and Anatolians carry the marker. J2 is particularly present in South and East India.