Y-chromosomal diversity in Europe is clinal and influenced primarily by geography, rather than by language

Clinal patterns of autosomal genetic diversity within Europe have been inte rpreted in previous studies in terms of a Neolithic demic diffusion model f or the spread of agriculture; in contrast, studies using mtDNA have traced many founding lineages to the Paleolithic and have not shown strongly clina l variation. We have used 11 human Y-chromosomal biallelic polymorphisms, d efining 10 haplogroups, to analyze a sample of 3,616 Y chromosomes belongin g to 47 European and circum-European populations. Patterns of geographic di fferentiation are highly nonrandom, and, when they are assessed using spati al autocorrelation analysis, they show significant dines for five of six ha plogroups analyzed. Clines for two haplogroups, representing 45% of the chr omosomes, are continentwide and consistent with the demic diffusion hypothe sis. Clines for three other haplogroups each have different foci and are mo re regionally restricted and are likely to reflect distinct population move ments, including one from north of the Black Sea. principal-components anal ysis suggests that populations are related primarily on the basis of geogra phy, rather than on the basis of linguistic affinity. This is confirmed in Mantel tests, which show a strong and highly significant partial correlatio n between genetics and geography but a low nonsignificant partial correlati on between genetics and language. Genetic-barrier analysis also indicates t he primacy of geography in the shaping of patterns of variation. These patt erns retain a strong signal of expansion from the Near East but also sugges t that the demographic history of Europe has been complex and influenced by other major population movements, as well as by linguistic and geographic heterogeneities and the effects of drift.