Haplogroup K (mtDNA)

[25] Haplogroup K is also found among Gurage (10%),[22] Syrians (9.1%),[22] Afar (6.3%),[22] Zenata Berbers (4.11%),[26] Reguibate Sahrawi (3.70%),[26] Oromo (3.3%),[22] Iraqis (2.4%),[22] Saudis (0%-10.5%),[22] Yemenis (0%-9.8%),[22] and Algerians (0%-4.3%).

[29] The more ancient evidence of Haplogroup K has been found in the remains of three individuals from Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian of Spain 11,950 years ago[30][user-generated source] and in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Tell Ramad, Syria, dating from c. 6000 BC.

[36] A woman buried some time between 2650 and 2450 BC in a presumed Amorite tomb at Terqa (Tell Ashara), Middle Euphrates Valley, Syria carried Haplogroup K.[37] A lock of hair kept at a reliquary at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte Baume basilica, France, which local tradition holds belonged to the biblical figure Mary Magdalene, was also assigned to haplogroup K. Ancient DNA sequencing of a capillary bulb bore the K1a1b1a subclade and according to the highly controversial researcher Gérard Lucotte [fr], who claims to have discovered the DNA of Jesus Christ,[38] it would indicate that she would have been of Pharisian maternal origin.

[39] Haplogroup K1 has likewise been observed among specimens at the mainland cemetery in Kulubnarti, Sudan, which date from the Early Christian period (AD 550-800).

[41] Yuya, a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC) and his wife Thuya, an Egyptian noblewoman associated with the royal family, both belonged to the maternal haplogroup K, as did their descendants: The remains of 3 Haplogroup K carriers were among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt as follows beginning with their sample number, followed by clade and date: Fossils excavated at the Late Neolithic site of Kelif el Boroud in Morocco, which have been dated to around 3,000 BCE, have likewise been observed to carry the K1 subclade.

[44] This phylogenetic tree of haplogroup K subclades is based on the paper by Mannis van Oven and Manfred Kayser Updated comprehensive phylogenetic tree of global human mitochondrial DNA variation[2] and subsequent published research.

[46] In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes named the originator of this mtDNA haplogroup Katrine.

On an 18 November 2005 broadcast of the Today Show, during an interview with Dr. Spencer Wells of The National Geographic Genographic Project, host Katie Couric was revealed to belong to haplogroup K.[47][48] On 14 August 2007, Stephen Colbert was told by geneticist Spencer Wells that he is a member of this haplogroup during a segment on The Colbert Report.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. states that Meryl Streep belongs to Haplogroup K in his book Faces of America.

[51] Notable carriers of subclade K2a2a have included Steven Pinker,[52] Nadine Epstein,[52] Mike Nichols,[53] and Amy Harmon.