[14] Two possibilities were being considered as potential explanations for the presence of M1 in Africa: In 2009, two independent publications reported a rare, deep-rooted subclade of haplogroup M, referred to as M23, that is present in Madagascar.

With the possible exception of haplogroup M1, all other M and N clades in Africa were lost due to admixture with other African populations and genetic drift.

[27] All Andamanese belong to Haplogroup M.[28] It peaks in the Malaysian aboriginal Negrito tribes at almost 100% but with mtDNA M21a representing Semang; 84% in Mendriq people, Batek people 48%, (almost all belong to the specific Malaysian Negrito haplogroup M21a, this subclade also found in the Orang Asli 21%, Thais 7.8% and Malay 4.6%)[29][30][31] It also peaks very high in Japan and Tibet, where it represents on average about 70% of the maternal lineages (160/216 = 74% Tibet,[32] 205/282 = 73% Tōkai,[33] 231/326 = 71% Okinawa,[33] 148/211 = 70% Japanese,[21] 50/72 = 69% Tibet,[32] 150/217 = 69% Hokkaidō,[34] 24/35 = 69% Zhongdian Tibetan, 175/256 = 68% northern Kyūshū,[33] 38/56 = 68% Qinghai Tibetan, 16/24 = 67% Diqing Tibetan, 66/100 = 66% Miyazaki, 33/51 = 65% Ainu, 214/336 = 64% Tōhoku,[33] 75/118 = 64% Tokyo (JPT)[35]) and is ubiquitous in India[3][14] and South Korea,[33][36][37][38][39] where it has approximately 60% frequency.

[3][49][50] In 2013, four ancient specimens dated to around 2,500 BC-500 AD, which were excavated from the Tell Ashara (Terqa) and Tell Masaikh (Kar-Assurnasirpal) archaeological sites in the Euphrates Valley, were found to belong to mtDNA haplotypes associated with the M4b1, M49 and/or M61 haplogroups.

Since these clades are not found among the current inhabitants of the area, they are believed to have been brought at a more remote period from east of Mesopotamia; possibly by either merchants or the founders of the ancient Terqa population.

[52] Ancient DNA analysis of Iberomaurusian skeletal remains at the Taforalt site in Morocco, which have been dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 ybp, observed the M1b subclade in one of the fossils (1/7; ~14%).

[53] Ancient individuals belonging to the Late Iron Age settlement of Çemialo Sırtı in Batman, southeast Turkey were found to carry haplogroup M; specifically the M1a1 subclade (1/12; ~8.3%).

[54] Additionally, M1 has been observed among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from the Pre-Ptolemaic/late New Kingdom and Roman periods.

[55] Fossils at the Early Neolithic site of Ifri n'Amr or Moussa in Morocco, which have been dated to around 5,000 BCE, have also been found to carry the M1b subclade.

These ancient individuals bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area.