Line C2 among Kazakhs: the line of the Steppe, shared with the Mongols
C2 accounts for 53% of the corpus of Kazakh tribes. The next largest, R1a, is 8%. C2 dominates in 13 tribes out of 26, and it is the line by which Kazakhs are closest to Mongols, Kalmyks and Buryats.
The line of the Steppe
C2 is one of the old branches of the paternal tree, 33,900 years old. Today it is the main line of the Mongolic and Tungusic peoples from Lake Baikal to the Caspian. Among the Kazakhs' neighbours in Central Asia it is noticeably lower:
| People | Line share |
|---|---|
| Buryats | 58% |
| Kalmyks | 56% |
| Mongols | 55% |
| Kazakhs | 53% |
| Hazara | 33% |
| Karakalpaks | 23% |
| Kyrgyz | 18% |
| Tuvans | 18% |
| Altaians | 13% |
| Uzbeks | 12% |
| Uyghurs | 7% |
| Tajiks | 4% |
Among Uzbeks and Kyrgyz C2 is less than half the Kazakh share. By C2 Kazakhs are closer to the Mongolic-speaking Kalmyks than to the Turkic-speaking Karakalpaks and Kyrgyz.
Tribes on line C2
In 13 tribes C2 accounts for more than half of the men, and among Kerei, Baiuly, Kongyrat and Alimuly it nearly displaces the other lines:
| Tribe | Line share |
|---|---|
| Shaksham | 100% |
| Kerei | 86% |
| Baiuly | 84% |
| Kongyrat | 81% |
| Alimuly | 80% |
| Alban | 77% |
| Sary-Uisin | 71% |
| Dulat | 71% |
| Shaprashty | 68% |
| Suan | 61% |
| Shanyshkyly | 54% |
| Oshakty | 51% |
| Tarakty | 50% |
Notable: Tore 44%, Jalayir 40%, Zhetiru 33%, Naiman 24%, Uak 23%, Kypshak 16%, Sirgeli 14%, Ysty 11%, Argyn 10%, Kozha 10%, Kangly 10%.
Two branches: the old one and the star cluster
Inside C2 Kazakhs have two large branches, and they diverged long ago. One, the old one, is 3,700 years old. It accounts for 13% of all Kazakhs, that is roughly a quarter of C2, and among the neighbours it occurs where C2 itself does: among Kalmyks — 39%, among Mongols — 17%, among Tuvans — 11%. The other is the “star cluster”: a branch 2,700 years old that in the Middle Ages fanned out from one node into a multitude of lines, like the rays of a star — hence the name.
Among Alimuly and Baiuly, tribes of the Junior Juz, almost all C2 is the old branch. Among Dulat it is a minority, among Kerei — almost none:
| Tribe | Share of the old branch (C-M48) among the tested |
|---|---|
| Alimuly | 97% |
| Baiuly | 86% |
| Zhetiru | 41% |
| Oshakty | 36% |
| Dulat | 19% |
| Suan | 9% |
| Jalayir | 6% |
| Kerei | 2% |
| Alban | 0% |
| Shaprashty | 0% |
Kerei is the opposite pole: 92% of its tested C2 carriers stand in the star cluster, and there Kerei has a branch of its own, 800 years old.
Inside the old branch the Junior Juz has a branch of its own, 650 years old. On it are Baiuly and Alimuly, two tribal unions of the juz. The common ancestor of these carriers lived later than, according to tradition, the unions themselves took shape.
There is a shared branch in the star cluster too: part of Kerei and part of Dulat share a branch 800 years old.
C-M217 - The old branch 3,700 years ago
C-M48Baiuly, Alimuly 650 years agoC-Y15552 - The star cluster 2,700 years ago
C-F3796Own branch among Kerei 800 years agoC-FT224144
Part of the C2 tree. The dashed line passes through intermediate branches.
Sources
Khussainova et al. 2022; Zhabagin et al. 2020, 2021, 2024; Zhunussova et al. 2025; open Y-DNA data.
Your tribe on line C2 — on the old branch or in the star cluster, and which tribe does it converge with most closely?
The full tree of a line with the ages of all its branches, the distribution of clan lines inside each tribe, and comparison of tribes with one another — in the app.