Haplogroup I (mtDNA)
It is believed to have originated about 21,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) period in West Asia ((Olivieri 2013); Terreros 2011; Fernandes 2012).
The haplogroup is unusual in that it is now widely distributed geographically, but is common in only a few small areas of East Africa, West Asia and Europe.
The hypothesis about its Near Eastern origin is based on the fact that all haplogroup I clades, especially those from Late Glacial period (I1, I4, I5, and I6), include mitogenomes from the Near East (Olivieri 2013).
Also, a contour plot based on the regional phylogeographic distribution of the I haplogroup exhibits frequency clines consistent with an Iranian cradle ...
Moreover, when compared with other populations in the region, those from the Levant (Iraq, Syria and Palestine) and the Arabian Peninsula (Oman and UAE) exhibit significantly lower proportions of I individuals ... this haplogroup has been detected in European groups (Krk, a tiny island off the coast of Croatia (11.3%), and Lemko, an isolate from the Carpathian Highlands (11.3%)) at comparable frequencies to those observed in the North Iranian population.
The highest frequencies of mitochondrial haplogroup I observed so far appear in the Cushitic-speaking El Molo (23%) and Rendille (>17%) in northern Kenya (Castrì 2008).
Nikitin 2009 found that Lemkos (a sub- or co-ethnic group of Rusyns) in the Carpathian Mountains have the "highest frequency of haplogroup I (11.3%) in Europe, identical to that of the population of Krk Island (Croatia) in the Adriatic Sea".
Haplogroup I (with undetermined subclades) has also been noted at significant frequencies in more recent historic grave sites (Melchior 2008 and Hofreiter 2010).
In 2013, Nature announced the publication of the first genetic study utilizing next-generation sequencing to ascertain the ancestral lineage of an Ancient Egyptian individual.
The research was led by Carsten Pusch of the University of Tübingen in Germany and Rabab Khairat, who released their findings in the Journal of Applied Genetics.
[2] Haplogroup I has also been found among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from the Pre-Ptolemaic/late New Kingdom, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods.
[3] Haplogroup I5 has also been observed among specimens at the mainland cemetery in Kulubnarti, Sudan, which date from the Early Christian period (AD 550–800).
[4] We have previously observed a high frequency of Hg I's among Iron Age villagers (Bøgebjerggård) and individuals from the early Christian cemetery, Kongemarken [16], [17].
As haplogroup I is not observed in any ancient Italian, Spanish [contradicted by the recent research as have been found in pre-Neolithic Italy as well Neolithic Spain], British, central European populations, early central European farmers and Neolithic samples, according to the authors "Haplogroup I could, therefore, have been an ancient Southern Scandinavian type "diluted" by later immigration events" (Hofreiter 2010).
