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Haplogroup L-M20

L-M20 is a South Asian and Near Eastern lineage, strong along the Indus, in South India and in pockets of the Caucasus and Anatolia. Explore the branch in the full Y-DNA haplotree: sub-branches, defining variants and where its testers live. Free, no account needed.

Paternal branch

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Paternal line

L-M20

Testers: 3,723; 435 on this exact branch
Strongest today: India, Pakistan, Turkey
Formed
Oldest man on this line

See it on the map Explore it in the full tree

Origin and distribution of L-M20

Where does L-M20 come from? Whole Y chromosome dating favours a West Asian origin about 20,600 years ago, alongside the hunter-gatherers of the Iranian plateau and the Caucasus. The lineage is strongest today along the Indus, through South India, and in pockets of the Caucasus and Anatolia.

Where it began: Bayesian analyses of 165 high-coverage Y chromosomes favour a West Asian origin for L1-M22 about 20,600 years ago, and the haplogroup parallels the genome-wide ancestry of hunter-gatherers from the Iranian plateau and the Caucasus.Source: Human Y chromosome haplogroup L1-M22 traces Neolithic expansion in West Asia and supports the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis (2024)
Its two population groups: One group expanded with the West Asian Neolithic transition. The other moved to South Asia about 8,000 to 6,000 years ago without expanding, and likely took part in the spread of Dravidian languages.Source: Human Y chromosome haplogroup L1-M22 traces Neolithic expansion in West Asia and supports the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis (2024)
Its South Asian expansion: South Asian L1-M22 lineages expanded about 4,000 to 3,000 years ago, coinciding with the introduction of steppe ancestry to the subcontinent.Source: Human Y chromosome haplogroup L1-M22 traces Neolithic expansion in West Asia and supports the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis (2024)
Its sibling lineage: A shared marker links haplogroups L and T in the wider Y tree, so the two rare West Asian lineages descend from one ancestor.Source: Increased Resolution of Y Chromosome Haplogroup T Defines Relationships among Populations of the Near East, Europe, and Africa (2011)
Where it is common: Pakistan and northwest India, dense through South India's Dravidian-speaking peoples, with a distinct western branch in the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Levant. It is rare in Europe.
What Ancestrify reports: The free Y-DNA Clade Finder places your paternal line on this branch from a raw DNA export, at the resolution your file supports. Ancestry proportions come from the Ancient Ancestry (qpAdm) and Ancestry Map (Global25) reports, never from a haplogroup.

L-M20 rose in or near the Indus world and remains most at home there: its L1a branches are common in Pakistan and northwest India (among Baloch, Brahui and Punjabi populations) and dense through South India's Dravidian-speaking peoples, while a distinct western branch (L1b/L-M317) settled the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Levant in smaller numbers, with a notable pocket among Chechens and in eastern Anatolia.

Ancient DNA has begun filling in its history: L appears among the farming populations of the Iranian plateau and in Bronze Age Near Eastern cities, suggesting the lineage was part of the agricultural world stretching from Mesopotamia to the Indus. In Europe it is rare, mostly a Mediterranean trace, which makes an L result a strong pointer toward South Asian or Near Eastern paternal roots.

One line among many: your Y haplogroup traces a single paternal line, one ancestor per generation out of thousands, so it is a thread of deep ancestry, not an ethnicity and not a percentage of who you are. Two men in the same branch share a forefather, but the rest of their genomes can differ as much as any two strangers'.

The line through time

Each branch on this line from the root of the tree, oldest first.

Where testers are found

Counts of people who took a Y-DNA test and shared an origin. They describe the tested world, not ancient frequencies.

Russia (Republic of Chechnya)

326 · 27%

India

156 · 13%

Turkey

141 · 12%

Saudi Arabia

136 · 11%

Italy (Aosta Valley)

113 · 9.3%

Iraq

78 · 6.4%

Kuwait

71 · 5.8%

United Arab Emirates

53 · 4.4%

Plus 1,820 testers who gave no country. Shares are of testers with a known country.

Where this branch runs strongest

The share of each country's testers who sit on this branch.

India

1 in 10 · 10%

Pakistan

1 in 11 · 9.3%

Turkey

1 in 18 · 5.6%

What defines it

The changes on the Y chromosome that every man on this branch carries. Positions are on the GRCh38 reference.

Is this your line?

If you have tested with a consumer DNA company, your own branch is already in your raw data file. The free Clade Finder reads it and shows you where you sit on this tree.

Find my branch, free

Prefer it read for you? The Ancient Ancestry report can carry your paternal haplogroup as an add-on, placed on this same tree beside your ancestry model.

Frequently asked questions

What is haplogroup L-M20?

L-M20 is a South Asian and Near Eastern lineage, strong along the Indus, in South India and in pockets of the Caucasus and Anatolia. It is a branch of the Y-DNA tree: everyone in it inherits the same set of defining mutations from one shared forefather.

How do I find out if I belong to L-M20?

If you have already tested with a consumer DNA company, the free Y-DNA Clade Finder reads a raw DNA export (23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage or a VCF) and places you on the tree at the resolution your file supports. It is free, and the file is discarded after analysis. A dedicated Y-DNA sequencing test resolves deeper branches than a genotyping chip can.

Does belonging to L-M20 make me descend from one people?

No. A haplogroup follows a single paternal line, one ancestor per generation, while the rest of your ancestry doubles every generation back. It is a deep-time thread, not an ethnicity, and two members of the same branch can otherwise be as genetically different as any two strangers.

What does this page's tree data show?

The branch view on this page shows the branch inside the full Y-DNA haplotree of tested lineages: the line it descends from, the branches below it, the variants that define it, and the countries its testers report. Counts reflect people who have taken a Y-DNA test and shared an origin, so they describe the tested world, not ancient frequencies.

Keep exploring

Don't know your haplogroup yet? The free Y-DNA Clade Finder reads it from a raw DNA export. Or browse the whole tree in the Y-DNA Haplotree. Other major branches: