The Khazars and the Smoking Gun of Haplogroup Q
by Ellen Levy-Coffman
With the discovery of haplogroup Q among Ashkenazi Jews, DNA
researchers may have found the “smoking gun” of Khazarian ancestry.
In one of the few DNA studies to examine haplogroup Q among Jews,
researchers made the surprising declaration that only 5-8% of the
Ashkenazi gene pool is comprised of Y chromosomes that originated from
non-Jewish European populations (Behar et al. 2004b). But since
subsequent research has confirmed that R1a1 alone comprises nearly 12%
of the Ashkenazi gene pool, it now appears that Behar’s estimate is
much too low. Additionally, Behar’s (2004b, Supplementary Material)
own data indicate that haplogroups R1b, R1a and I comprise more than a
quarter of Ashkenazi DNA results.
As for haplogroup Q, Behar (2004b) states that it is a “minor founding
lineage” among the Ashkenazim, but does not discuss it any further in
the study. Haplogroup Q appears in 23 out of 442 Ashkenazi results in
Behar’s study, or approximately 5% of the total results (Behar et al.
2004b, Supplementary Material). Interestingly, out of 50 non-Jewish
Hungarian results also appearing in this study, haplogroup Q did not
appear at all (Behar et al. 2004b, Supplementary Material).
Approximately 19 out of the 23 Q results exhibited the above
haplotype, with 3 additional results being a single step mutation away
on DYS marker #393 (Behar et al. 2004b, Supplementary Material). In
fact, so many identical haplotypes makes it difficult to accurately
date Ashkenazi Q, since using a TMRCA calculation indicates these
Ashkenazim, both eastern and western groups, could be related within
the last hundred years. This, however, seems highly unlikely, given
the separation between these populations over the last few hundred
years.
By designating Q a “minor founding lineage,” Behar (2004b) places this
group among “those haplogroups likely to be present in the founding
Ashkenazi population.” However, given that Haplogroup Q is rarely
found in Middle Eastern populations in DNA studies, the likelihood
that Q can be attributed to Israelite ancestry seems remote. The
presence of Haplogroup Q among all Ashkenazi groups indicates the
founders of this group either mixed with a number of separate
Ashkenazi populations or, more likely, entered to the Ashkenazi
population in western Europe in a similar fashion to Haplogroup R1a1,
before the Ashkenazi migrated in large numbers eastward in the
13th-14th centuries.
The extremely low haplotype diversity of Ashkenazi Q supports the
argument of a small number of closely-related founders merging with
the Ashkenazim while they still resided primarily in Western Europe,
but not significantly earlier in their formation, since a longer time
span would result in more haplotype diversity. It does not support
the contention that Q is Israelite in origin, or that the founders
merged into the Jewish population much earlier in the Diaspora.
Assuming the Ashkenazi population consisted of approximately 25,000
individuals around 1200-1300 CE, then approximately 1000-1500 Q
individuals became part of the Ashkenazi population at that time.
Haplogroup Q is rare in European populations as well. It occurs in
low percentages in Hungary (2.6%) and much higher percentages in
Siberia (Tambets et al. 2004). It can be found among populations in
Norway and the Shetland Islands of Scotland where many Norwegian
Vikings settled. The frequency of Haplogroup Q among Scandinavians
is comparable to that found in Ashkenazim (Faux, private
correspondence). It appears that Norwegians/Shetlanders and Ashkenazi
Jews possess the highest percentages of haplogroup Q of any
populations in Europe – a rare link between two very different
populations who may share a common ancestor from Central Asia or
Eastern Europe. Interestingly, Scandinavians and Shetlanders also
possess high levels of haplogroup R1a1 as well, perhaps some of it
originating from Central Asian sources (Faux, private correspondence).
David Faux, a researcher examining the Shetlander’s DNA and possible
Central Asian links, notes the following:
The best evidence we have to date is that, although not investigated
scientifically, that Q and K* arrived with R1a from the same
population source in the Altai region of Russian Siberia. It is
likely that what we are seeing with Q and K are very rare Scandinavian
haplogroups whose origins were long ago in Asia. If this is true,
then it is very unusual that there does not seem to be any Q or K
along the overland pathways to Norway (e.g., in Western Russia) – but
there is Q, along with R1a, in the region of Kurdistan, and among a
significant percentage of Ashkenazi Jews.
Faux further hypothesized that the homeland of Norse Q lies somewhere
in the populations of Siberia, such as with the Selkups (66.4% Q and
19.1% R1a) or the Kets (93.7% Q), or among the populations of the
Altai mountain system extending through Mongolia, Kazakhstan and
Russia (Tambets et al. 2004).
Haplogroup K* also appears among Ashkenazim, though this group is
rarely discussed in the DNA literature. Behar (2004b, Supplementary
Infor-mation) found 2-3% among Ashkenazi Jews. Behar identifies this
group as K*-M9, though they may, in fact, be within Haplogroup K2,
since they closely match the K2 haplotypes reported among Turkish
groups (Cinnioglu 2004). The appearance of Haplogroup K* only among
eastern Ashkenazim may be attributable to Eastern European or
Khazarian admixture (Behar 2004b, Supplementary Material).
Interestingly, Ashkenazi K* exhibits more haplotype diversity than
haplogroup Q results, perhaps indicating a larger percentage of
unrelated K* founders or genetic drift.
However, Behar (2003) reports finding a significantly higher frequency
of haplogroup K* among Sephardic Levites (23%) and Sephardic
Israelites (13%), perhaps the highest frequency of K* found among any
European population. This may indicate that some of Ashkenazi K* is,
in fact, of Israelite origin. Its absence among western Ashkenazim
and very low frequency among eastern Ashkenazim suggests that the high
frequency of Sephardic K* may be due to pronounced genetic drift or
significantly more K* founders as part of the original Sephardic
population. However, it is also possible that Sephardic K* is the
result of admixture with African or Mediterranean groups. Haplogroup
K* is known to reach a frequency of 10% in Cabo Verbe, an east
Atlantic island population with ties to Jewish founders from Spain and
Portugal (Goncalves et al. 2003).
A comparison of haplogroup Q among Altaians and Ashkenazi Jews was
undertaken by Dienekes Pontikos (2004), who operates a respected
website dedicated to the examination of anthropological,
archaeological and genetic research. He compared the frequency of
haplogroups R1a and Q among Altaian Turkic speakers and Ashkenazi
Jews. For Altaians, the percentages are 46/17, or a ratio of about
2.7, while in Ashkenazim it is 12/5, or a ratio of about 2.4.
Dienekes writes:
If Proto-Khazars were similar to present-day Altaians minus haplogroup
C, then they would have a frequency of about 59% R1a and 22% Q.
Therefore, it seems reasonable that an overall 5/22=22% of such
Proto-Khazar elements into the Ashkenazi Jewish populations may be
likely. But, the Khazars of Khazaria may themselves have been
somewhat mixed with Western Eurasian elements, which would decrease
their frequency of haplogroup Q.
Dienekes (2004) also wrote that he found the continued silence of
researchers about the presence of haplogroup Q among Ashkenazim
“puzzling.”
Haplogroup Q is found in high frequencies in only a few regions of the
world. Native American’s possess very high percentages of Q,
particularly a sub-group known as “Q3” (Zegura et al. 2004). But
haplogroup Q did not originate among the Native Americans, nor did
this population obtain their Q ancestry from Jewish or Scandinavian
ancestors. As previously noted by Faux, its origins probably lie
somewhere in northern Eurasia, in Siberia or the Altai, where Q
continues to be a common Y chromosome haplogroup. It is from this
group after migration to the New World that Native American Haplogroup
Q3 originated.
Genetic analysis has allowed researchers to trace Native American
haplogroup Q to its probable ancestral homeland – the Altai Mountains
of Southwest Siberia (Zegura et al. 2004). The researchers have also
pointed out that the Kets and Sekups, who currently inhabit the
eastern part of Western Siberia and the Yenisey River Valley, can
trace their origin homeland further south, on the slopes of the Altai
mountains (Zegura et al. 2004). This region is, of course, where Faux
postulated that Scandinavia’s Q and K* ancestors originated. It may
also be the homeland of Khazarian Q ancestors whose descendants are
found today among Ashkenazi Jewish groups.
In conclusion, it appears that some members of three very distinct
populations—Scandinavian-Shetlanders, Native Americans and Ashkenazi
Jews–may share common ancestors originating from the Altai regions of
southern Siberia. However, the Q ancestors of the Native Americans
appears to have departed from their Altai homeland much earlier than
the other two groups, migrating to the New World sometime between
10,000 to 17,000 years ago, providing sufficient time for the Native
Americans to develop their own unique subgroup of Q, known as Q3
(Zegura et al. 2004).
The migration of R1a and Q groups into Scandinavia is presently
unknown, though Faux postulates a group from Central Asia may have
moved up into Scandinavia sometime around 400 CE. Only a few hundred
years later, the Khazars of southern Russia make their first
appearance in the historical record. And it is to the Khazars, who
undoubtedly possessed a high frequency of this haplogroup, to which
the Jews most likely owe their unique Q ancestry.
