E-BY4465: a Look into a Proto-Albanian lineage

by Murr Dedi

E-Z38456>BY4459>BY4465 represents a significant branch of E-V13 among ethnic Albanians, accounting for approximately 8-10% of all Albanian E-V13 lineages. It is distributed across Albanian-speaking territories, extending as far north as Plav/Plava in Montenegro and as far south as Konispol, as well as in some villages of Epirus - some of which are no longer Albanian-speaking.

As this article will explore, E-BY4465 provides an excellent case study of the expansion and history of Proto-Albanian branches of E-V13. Although pinpointing the exact place of origin for EZ38456 - upstream of E-BY4465 - and other patrilineages under E-CTS9320>Z17107 remains challenging given the lack of ancient DNA samples under these specific subclades, an analysis of modern and ancient samples under E-CTS9320 more broadly suggests that these branches likely originated in the Balkans, diversifying during the Iron Age onwards. Notably, two of the earliest confirmed E-CTS9320 samples (I15495 and I15513 from Olalde et al. 2023) were discovered in Viminacium, the capital of the Roman province of Upper Moesia in the central Balkans, dating to the 1st-3rd century CE. It is interesting to note that while the first sample had a west Balkan and East Med-related autosomal profile, the second was significantly more Eastern Mediterraneanshifted. Furthermore, one of the Balkan outliers - quite possibly from the west-central Balkans based on his auDNA profile - sample I10950 from Reitsema et al. (2022), was discovered at the ancient site of Himera in Sicily and dated to between 780–400 BCE. He has been confirmed to belong to E-CTS6377, the ancestral clade of E-CTS9320.

The case of E-BY4465 specifically is substantially clearer because of the better mapping of its subclades. While the branch itself likely originated in Antiquity, between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, its most recent common ancestor (MRCA) appears to have lived a few centuries following the Roman conquest of the Balkans, specifically between the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. As for distribution, E-BY4465 is currently split into two major subclades: E-Y161799 and E-Y142958. Both branches are most diverse and concentrated in the modern Balkans, with a particularly higher presence among Albanians and groups historically in contact with them, as well as Both branches share their most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) with other patrilineages typically associated with Albanians - placing the MRCAs in Late Antiquity. These factors allude to an origin and expansion from the west-central Balkans, a broad region considered to have been the homeland of the Proto-Albanians during the Late Roman period.

While E-Y161799 is comparatively less common among Albanians than its sibling branch, EY142958 but its modern distribution and diversity allow for several important inferences to be drawn. Firstly, estimates suggest that the MRCA lived sometime between c. 341-575 CE, a period of Late Antiquity marked by major population movements and upheavals. This era witnessed the Gothic migrations of the 4th century, the Plague of Justinian which devastated the Eastern Roman Empire between 541-549 CE, and the onset of the Slavic migrations into the Balkans towards the end of 6th century. It is precisely in this context of drastic shifts that the re-organization and consolidation of Late Proto-Albanian-speaking groups occurred across the west-central Balkans, evidenced by facts such as the dialectal diversification of Proto-Albanian into the Geg and Tosk varieties prior to c. 600 CE and parallels to other Y-DNA haplogroups associated with the movement of Albanian-speakers. For example, the most common and widespread branch of R1b-M269 among Albanians is R1b-Z2705, a clade which first started branching significantly between c. 150-420 CE.

As for distribution, E-Y161799 is found in both Geg and Tosk-speaking Albanians, many of which currently occupy basal positions in the branch. For example, a sample from the well-known Frashëri family from the eponymous village of southern Albania is currently positioned at E-Y161799*. Additionally, an Albanian from Shëngjergj (central Albania) and one from Korçë (southeastern Albania) are currently under E-Y161799>Y161798*. However, Downstream of these Albanian branches are several non-Albanian samples, almost exclusively from the Balkans which provide insights into various historical contacts. This is particularly evident in the lineages under E-Y161799>Y161798>BY4455, currently identified in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

According to scholarly consensus, the Late Proto-Albanians of Late Antiquity were in frequent and intense contact with Balkan Romance populations, ancestral to the modern Romanians, Aromanians and other related groups traditionally labelled under the exonym of “Vlach”. These groups likely lived in the central Balkans in a relatively more eastern location than the ancestors of Albanians. In fact, it has been further argued by many linguists that an element of this Balkan Romance population consisted of Late Proto-Albanians that had fully shifted to Latin speech. As a result of these contacts and ethno-linguistic shifts, there was an expansion of (proto-)Albanian lineages as part of the Proto-Romanians and other related populations. This is most likely reflected in E-BY4455, a branch of E-Y161799 positioned downstream of modern Albanians (who share a TMRCA in the 4th-6th centuries CE, prior to Albanian dialectal diversification) which shares a common ancestor that lived during the 9th century CE. This parallels other branches of ProtoAlbanian origin that were absorbed into Balkan Romance populations and subsequently spread as far north as the Carpathians. Take for example R1b-Z2705>BY199059, a branch that today is found almost exclusively among Serbs but also includes a Rusyn sample from Maramureș, Romania. Like E-BY4455, the common ancestor of this branch lived during the 9th century and was most likely descended from Proto-Albanians that had shifted to Latin speech integrated into early Vlach populations, evidenced by the fact that Albanians form the most dominant and diverse population on each parallel and upstream branch. It is also in this context that the - predominantly - Serb samples from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, who are positioned further downstream of the Albanian and Romanian branches, can be understood and analysed. Thus, not only does E-BY4455 reveal insights into historical Albanian-Balkan Romance contacts, but also to the westward movement of Vlach pastoralists and their subsequent integration into the local Slavic populations from the 10th century.

However, a branch of E-Y161799>Y161798 is also found outside the Balkans, specifically E-FTD9437, identified in Poggioreale, Sicily. Although the very limited sample size prevents us from drawing detailed and definitive conclusions about the history of this branch, its parallel clades and what has been written above show that its origins lie in the Balkans, quite possibly stemming from an ultimately Proto-Albanian source. Although the branch currently has a TMRCA dating back to the second half of the 10th century - centuries before the large-scale settlement of Albanians in the Italian Peninsula and Sicily during the 15th century - it is important to note and understand that TMRCA does not necessarily indicate the exact time of a branch’s arrival into a specific region. Nevertheless, this timeframe does open up the possibility of earlier, pre-15th century movements from medieval Albania into Italy.

E-Y142958 is the most common branch of E-BY4465 among Albanians. Similar to its sibling branch which we have discussed above, the MRCA for E-Y142958 lived during late antiquity albeit at a slightly earlier period around c. 270 CE. This earlier TMRCA can be expected of branches with early and high in-group diversity among Albanians as has been mentioned above in the case of R1b-Z2705, but also applies to J2b-Y20899; the most common branch of J2b-L283 among Albanians with a TMRCA dating back to the 1st century CE. Thus implying an early and important presence in Proto-Albanian groups. The most common and widespread branch of E-Y142958 among Albanians (and non-Albanians for that matter) is E-Y97307, a lineage which diverged from its ancestor during the 3rd century and began rapidly expanding between then and the 5th century.

Today, the greatest concentration of E-Y97307 branches is found between Dukagjin, Mirdita, and Dibra in northern Albania, where it is also associated with historical Albanian tribes (fise) such as Toplana and Shllaku from the northern banks of the Drin in Dukagjin, Dibrri in Mirdita and Çidhna in northern Dibra. While this broader region is interesting due to its great frequency of E-Y97307 and geographic correlation to the Komani-Kruja culture, it also showcases great diversity and variation of E-Y97307. This is perhaps best exemplified in the tribal territory of Dibrri in westernmost Mirdita. In this region, three distinct branches of E-Y97307>Y92017 (one of the main branches under E-Y97307) are found across three different villages: 1) E-Y92017>Y142966>FT421636>Y143058 in Kashjnet, 2) E-Y92017>FT83628>Y164461 in Ungrej, and 3) E-Y92017>FT83628>Y94614 in Kaçinar. The MRCA of E-Y92017 is estimated to have lived between c. 628-725 CE. The subclade E-Y142966 diverged between the 8th and 9th centuries, while E-FT83628 split between the 7th and 10th centuries. These results indicate an early entrenchment and consolidation of E-Y92017 clades in north-central Albania.

While E-Y92017 is concentrated in northern Albania, it is also found further south and even outside of Albania. This is the case for both E-Y142966 and E-FT83628. Outside of Albania, E-Y142966 has been identified in the city of Prilep in central North Macedonia. This sample and the Albanians under the same branch share a MRCA that lived during the early-9th century and while it is plausible that this sample descends from medieval Albanians that migrated from northern Albania into modern-day N. Macedonia, the TMRCA dating back to the Early Middle Ages and the noticeable diversity of E-BY4465 as a whole among the Albanians of N. Macedonia may allude to a local (proto-)Albanian origin. E-FT83628 on the other hand has been identified as far south as Pilur in south-western Albania, as well as in Greece. The background of this specific sample is linked to a claim of descent from the lineage of Greek priest Neophytos Doukas (1760-1845) who was born in the village of Ano Soudena (alt. Ano Pedina), in the Zagori region of Epirus. While Doukas’ ancestry has been labelled as Greek or Aromanian according to different sources, it must be borne in mind that the Zagori region was also heavily settled by Albanians, many of which were in close contact and - in some cases - symbiosis with the Vlach communities. For example, the traditionally Aromanian village of Malakasi in Zagori was founded by the eponymous Albanian fis during the medieval period, the inhabitants later fully shifting to semi-nomadic pastoralism and consequently Aromanian speech. Hence, this result and the broader historical context suggests a more distant Albanian heritage of Doukas’ family.

Aside from E-Y92017, the other main branches of E-Y97307 are also of significant interest for the history of population mobility and linguistic contacts in the western Balkans. Similar to E-Y161799, the branches of E-FT186965 and E-Y160670 provide further insights into AlbanianBalkan Romance contacts as well as later movements of Albanians into the eastern Balkans and elsewhere. In the case of E-FT186965, the main relevant branch is E-FT186965>FT19501 which shares a MRCA that lived between c. 800-925 CE and is currently found in an Albanian, Greek and Romanian sample. What is of particular interest is that the Romanian sample is from Vărădia, on the border with Serbia, and has an oral tradition of origin from the Aromanian settlement of Voskopojë (alt. Moscopole) in south-eastern Albania. As such, while it may be tempting to explain this branch to be a result of the Late Proto-Albanian-Balkan Romance contacts discussed prior, it seems more plausible that this branch expanded from the territory of modern Albania during the medieval period. Indeed, there are a number of patrilineages identified in modern Aromanians that were absorbed from medieval Albanian communities in which they were in close contact (f.e., R1b-Z2705>BY147912>Y264762 found in samples of Aromanian descent from Përmet and Gjirokastër).

E-Y160670 may reflect both earlier Late Proto-Albanian-Balkan Romance contacts during late antiquity and later migrations. This branch shares a MRCA who lived between c. 375-506 CE and is split into three main branches: 1) E-Y160670* found in an Albanian and Romanian sample, 2) E-BY190444 found in an Albanian and Bulgarian sample, and 3) E-Y228014 identified in a single Ukrainian sample. In the first case, the earlier TMRCA shared between the Romanian and other samples does suggest that this specific subclade may have been assimilated into the ProtoRomanian ethnos during Late Antiquity or shortly thereafter. Regarding E-BY190444, the Albanian and Bulgarian share a MRCA dating to the late-8th century. While this may indicate that the Bulgarian descends from late antiquity or early medieval Albanians that migrated eastwards (cf. the 11th century Paulician leader in Bulgaria bearing an Albanian name, Leka), his ancestry is from the village of Kostenkovtsi in Grabovo, located just 35km away from Arbanasi - a settlement named after late medieval Albanian settlers. In the case of E-Y228014 we are certainly dealing with a medieval branch as the TMRCA goes back to c. 1075 CE. The overall phylogeny of the upstream branches suggests a medieval migration from the Balkans into the Carpathians and subsequently into Ukraine, possibly with Balkan Romance pastoralists. It is also worth mentioning three other samples, the first being a Bulgarian who occupies a yet unidentified branch under E-Y142958 (Y97307-) and the other two being Albanians from Mati and Shkodra who occupy basal positions under E-Y97307 (Y92017-) whose exact clades are yet to be determined.

On top of these identified and mapped samples, there are also some samples which belong to branches that have yet to be determined or are unknown due to low coverage. Such a sample is one of an Albanian from Tetova in N. Macedonia, which is currently positioned under E-BY4465 albeit not under any of the main branches. This sample further increases the diversity and spread of EBY4465 among ethnic Albanians. There are also two Bulgarians from Ruse and Panagyurishte respectively who occupy positions under E-BY4465 that are yet to be determined. The Serbian DNA project (Poreklo) has also identified some E-Z38456 samples, some of which are most certainly under E-BY4465. Notably this includes some samples from the territory of Montenegro, including samples from the villages of Kruse, Mataguži, and Novo Selo. What is particularly interesting is that all three of these villages are either directly named after the medieval Albanian communities which founded them, or are located in areas of historical Albanian settlement. Kruse derives its name from the Kryethi fis which also established settlements such as Krute/Krytha in Ulcinj/Ulqin, while Mataguži takes its name from the eponymous Matagushi fis. On the other hand, Novo Selo is located in the historical tribal territory of the Bjelopavlići, an area settled by Albanian pastoralists with the core of the tribe itself also being Albanian in origin - albeit belonging to a different branch of E-V13 (E-Z13591) than the sample from Novo Selo.

In conclusion, both major branches of E-BY4465 are linked with Albanian mobility in different periods from the late Proto-Albanian era to the modern times. As such, the history of E-BY4465 follows a similar path to other Proto-Albanian patrilineages like R1b-Z2705 and J2b-Y20899. At the same, various subclades reflect the long history of inter-Balkan contacts between Albanians and other Balkan peoples.

Sources:
E-BY4465 on YFULL
E-BY4465 on FTDNA
Albanian DNA Project “Rrënjët”
Albanian Bloodlines Project (FTDNA)
Serbian Genealogical Society “Poreklo”
Greek DNA Project (FTDNA) - Public Results