J

The age of this haplogroup is approx. 20,000 years old and can be split into two main subgroups, J1 and J2 which are thought to have origins in the southern and northern parts of the Fertile Crescent respectively. DNA Haplogroup J is found at highest frequencies in Middle Eastern and north African populations where it most likely evolved. This marker has been carried by Middle Eastern traders into Europe, central Asia, India, and Pakistan.

J2

According to DNA this lineage originated in the northern portion of the Fertile Crescent where it later spread throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean, and south into India. J2 has a high frequency across Iberia, Italy, Turkey, Albania, Greece, Arabic countries and across into India.

The above haplogroup determination is based on the 67 DNA markers that have been completed. I suspect that most male Gurliaccio DNA will match very closely with my results.

To give you an idea of where the J haplogroup is, Stephen Oppenheimer wrote a book titled "The Real Eve" and he says the DNA J haplogroup reaches 30-60% in the Levant, 40% in Anatolia with Italy and the Balkans having 20-30%. He states "...the trail (for J) down the Fertile Crescent through Kurdistand becomes hotter the further south-east we go. Mostly above 35% in the southern Caspian region and 59% in the Zagros Mountains region further south." Mr Oppenheimer quotes a Paris based geneticist named Lluis Quintana-Murci who argues for the ultimate origin of the J clan being the Zagros Mountains in south Kurdistan (ancient Elam). The Zagros region has the greatest diversity of J types anywhere in the world.