Haplogroup G-M377
The extreme rarity of G-M377 in northern Pakistan could indicate that G-M377 in this area originates outside the region and was brought there in the historic period, perhaps from further west (Pakistan was part of both the Achaemenid Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great, and then formed a part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom).
Pakistani G-M377 haplotypes are quite divergent from the Ashkenazi Jewish clade, and therefore do not at all indicate a recent common origin.
This change is extremely uncommon in the rest of haplogroup G, but apparently happened early in the history of G2b.
A cluster of closely related Ashkenazi Jews represent majority confirmed G-M377 persons worldwide, both from private testing, and from academic studies.
Jews were not allowed to reside in most parts of Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries, aside from the Frankfurt Jewish Ghetto.
A significant number of German Jewish G-M377 appear to represent a pre-1640s independent settlement; some however may be the result of a migration from Eastern Europe.
[13] There are just two other confirmed G-M377 samples that have been publicly reported in the academic literature so far, one Pashtun in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and one Burusho in the Hunza Valley in Kashmir.
These two G-M377 are Y-STR haplotypes 731 and 794 from Table 3 in the study by Sengupta et al. (2006) of Indian (n=728), Pakistani (n=176), and East Asian (n=175) Y chromosome lineages.
Preliminary indications are that in this study, only a single Turkish Jew matches any of the modal haplotypes for G-M377, however, all of these samples are being tested for M377.
One very early G-M3115 sample, although it was derived as a negative for the SNP M377, was found in the remains of an individual dating back to 7000 BCE at Wezmeh Cave, a site near Eslamabad-e Gharb in the Kermanshah province in western Iran.
An edict issued by Leo III the Isaurian in 722 which ordered the baptism by force of all Jews in the Empire.
These stories were disseminated in Medieval times for religious reasons, and as part of the competition between the Mughals and the Pashtuns.
The rarity of G-M377 in northeast Pakistan could indicate that G-M377 in this area originates outside the region and was brought there in the historic period from further west (this area was part of both the Achaemenid Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great, and then formed a part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom).
These two reported G-M377 haplotypes seem to be quite divergent from both the Ashkenazi Jewish clade and the lone northeastern Anatolian G-M377 based on only 10 Y-STRs, and therefore may not indicate a recent common origin.
Another possible route which brought G-M377 to this region is through trade, because Hunza is a fertile valley that was a major stopping point along the southern Silk Road just before the Khunjerab Pass into China.
The rarity of G-M377, which is limited to this small area which only became important after the year 884 is most likely due to G-M377 arriving in the region after this time.
G-M377 could have spread from this region eastward toward the Hindu Kush and the Karakorum ranges, and southward among the Judeans, and then subsequently westward with the Jewish Diaspora to Italy and then Central and Eastern Europe.
