Line G2 among Chechens: the line of the western neighbours
Chechens differ from their western neighbours in G2 by having almost none of it: 3%, while among the peoples of the Western Caucasus it is from a third to three quarters.
The main line of the Western Caucasus
From Abkhazia to Ossetia G2 is the principal male line, and east of Ossetia its share falls sharply:
| People | Line share |
|---|---|
| Ossetians | 74% |
| Abkhaz | 57% |
| Kabardians | 43% |
| Circassians | 40% |
| Balkars | 33% |
| Georgians | 32% |
| Karachays | 32% |
| Armenians | 11% |
| Avars | 11% |
| Kumyks | 11% |
| Azerbaijanis | 10% |
| Lezgins | 7% |
| Chechens | 3% |
| Laks | 3% |
| Tsakhurs | 3% |
Which Chechens have it
Among Chechens as a whole there is little G2, but it is distributed unevenly and in some teips holds a notable place — 16 such teips in all:
| Teip | Line share |
|---|---|
| Tsadakharoy | 70% |
Notable: Vashandaroy 31%, Batsbi 29%, Abzoy 20%, Melardoy 17%, Eg'ashbatoy 13%, Sadoy 13%, Allaroy 11%, Arboy-Qureysh 11%, Arganoy 11%, Tsechoy 11%, Buosoy 9%, Saloy 8%, Sharoy 8%, Peshkhoy 6%, Shuonoy 6%.
Vashandaroy stands apart — a teip where no line dominates: L1, G2 and J2 are almost equal there, a third each.
Two branches, two kinships
Almost all Caucasian G2 belongs to one branch, 18,100 years old, which divides into two large ones. In the Caucasus each has its own circle of carriers — several peoples at once. The first is found among Ossetians (73%, almost all of their G2), Karachays (23%), Abkhaz (23%) and Georgians (22%). The second is wider: among Kabardians 29%, Circassians 30%, Abkhaz 29%, in Dagestan among Avars 9%, while Ossetians almost lack it; beyond the Caucasus the same second branch makes up most of European G2.
The Chechens on these two branches are divided between them almost equally and converge only in the branches' common ancestor. Each half has kin of its own.
On the first are Vashandaroy, who have a branch of their own as well, 1,500 years old. Branches from Georgia, Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia converge with them.
The second branch includes Chechens from different teips, alongside Circassians and Abkhaz. Tsadakharoy, the only teip where G2 dominates, is on it too, and related branches are found in Georgia, Turkey and Armenia. Chinkhoy stand apart: they are on an offshoot of the second branch that is found today in Europe, from Germany to Italy, and among Chechens only they have it.
Sources
Rootsi et al., “Distinguishing the co-ancestries of haplogroup G Y-chromosomes in the populations of Europe and the Caucasus”, European Journal of Human Genetics, 2012, 20:1275, doi 10.1038/ejhg.2012.86 (the G2a branches in the Caucasus); Balanovsky et al., “Parallel evolution of genes and languages in the Caucasus region”, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2011, 28:2905, doi 10.1093/molbev/msr126 (G2 among the peoples of the Caucasus); Agdzhoyan et al., “Origins of East Caucasus Gene Pool: Contributions of Autochthonous Bronze Age Populations and Migrations from West Asia Estimated from Y-Chromosome Data”, Genes, 2023, 14(9):1780, doi 10.3390/genes14091780 (line frequencies in the Eastern Caucasus); Tarkhnishvili et al., “Human Paternal Lineages, Languages and Environment in the Caucasus”, Human Biology, 2014, 86(2):113–130 (line frequencies among Kabardians, Balkars and Karachays).
The G2 branches of the Chechen teips — which of the western neighbours do they converge with, and when did they diverge?
The full tree of a line, with the ages of all its branches, the gars and nekye within each teip, and a comparison of teips — in the app.