The Q-YP1228, first identified pan-Kurdish lineage

The Q-YP1228/Q-YP1229 clade possibly represents one of the first identifiably pan-Kurdish lineages, originating from one of the original NCS tribes and tracing back to a man who lived around 266 AD. Given the limited number of Southern Kurdish testers, it is possible that additional divergent mutations could be identified, potentially pushing the TMCRA back by a few hundred years, which aligns with the expected linguistic divergence among NCS speakers.

That said, the Iraqi Arab from Baghdad is more likely than not to be descended from a Southern Kurd. The Assyrian individual likely descends from a Kurd who converted to the Nestorian Church, most likely via an Ezidi intermediary. The Palestinians belong to an Ayyubid clan called Abu’l-Hayja, named after their progenitor Ḥusām al-Dīn Abū’l-Hayjā’, a Kurdish general and aristocrat who served under Saladin.

Q-YP1228/Q-YP1229 is downstream of one of the most well-known proto-Iranian Q lineages, marked by the mutation Q-L245. Originally a WSHG (Western Steppe Hunter-Gatherer) lineage, this branch was assimilated into the proto-Iranian population in Central Asia around 4,000 years ago.