00:00have you ever wondered where your ancestors came from not just your grandparents but your
00:05ancestors from thousands of years ago for many people across eurasia the answer might lie in
00:12a tiny genetic marker called r1 az93 today we're going on an epic journey following the trail of
00:20this ancient dna from the vast eurasian steppes all the way to modern day poland uncovering the
00:26story of migration conquest and cultural fusion that shaped the world we live in so what exactly
00:34is r1 az93 think of it like a branch on the giant family tree of humanity it's a specific y
00:42chromosome
00:42haplogroup since the i chromosome is passed down almost unchanged from father to son it acts like
00:50a genetic surname allowing us to trace a direct paternal lineage back through countless generations
00:56the r1a haplogroup itself is incredibly common across a huge swath of eurasia from scandinavia to india
01:04but the specific subclade z93 tells a much more focused and fascinating story our story begins
01:11around 5000 years ago on the pontic caspian steppe this vast grassland stretching from modern-day ukraine
01:19to kazakhstan was home to a group of people we now call the proto-indo-europeans these weren't just
01:27simple nomads they were innovators they were among the first to domesticate the horse for riding and to
01:34use wheeled carts technologies that gave them unprecedented mobility it was a revolutionary
01:40moment in human history imagine being able to travel faster and further than ever before
01:46to transport goods and to project power across vast distances this mobility was their superpower
01:54archaeologically we associate these people with cultures like the yam naya and later the andronovo
02:00culture the yam naya were known for their distinctive burial mounds or kurgans which dot the steppe
02:06landscape genetic analysis of remains from these kurgans has shown a high prevalence of the r1a haplogroup and
02:14specifically the z93 marker began to emerge as a dominant lineage within these expanding steppe groups
02:22they were pastoralists warriors and explorers and the world was about to get a whole lot bigger
02:29sometime around 4 000 to 3 500 years ago a massive migration began a large portion of the people
02:37carrying the r1a z93 marker started moving south and east from their steppe homeland
02:42why did they move it was likely a combination of factors climate change population pressure and the
02:50simple desire for new lands and resources their horsemanship and wheeled chariots gave them a
02:57significant advantage one major branch of this migration headed south across the caucasus mountains
03:04in the iranian plateau into the indian subcontinent these were the indo-aryans their arrival is a pivotal
03:11moment in south asian history they brought with them their language which would evolve into sanskrit
03:18the root of many modern languages in the region they also brought their religious beliefs which
03:24formed the basis of the vedas the foundational texts of hinduism today r1a z93 is found at its
03:32highest frequencies in central asia and is very common among many groups in india pakistan and
03:38afghanistan especially within higher castes like the brahmins this genetic trail provides powerful
03:45evidence alongside linguistic and archaeological data for the so-called step hypothesis of indo-european
03:53migrations it has a genetic echo of an ancient movement of people that fundamentally reshaped the
03:59cultural and linguistic landscape of an entire subcontinent but that's not the whole story while one group went
04:07south others stayed on the steppe or moved in different directions the indo-iranians including
04:14the scythians sarmatians and alans who later dominated the steppes for centuries were also
04:20carriers of r1 az93 these were the legendary horse warriors of classical antiquity known to the greeks and
04:28romans they were masters of mounted archery and their influence was felt from the borders of china
04:34america to the edges of europe their genetic legacy this z93 marker is a testament to their long reign
04:42over the eurasian heartland now let's fast forward a few thousand years and shift our focus west to
04:49poland at first glance poland might seem like an odd destination for our z93 story slavic populations
04:57including poles are overwhelmingly dominated by a different branch of r1a specifically the r1am
05:06458 and z282 subclades these are considered the european branches of r1a linked to the expansion of
05:15slavic speaking peoples in the early middle ages so if most polish men have these slavic markers where does
05:23z93 fit in well this is where it gets really interesting while z93 is rare in poland it's not
05:31absent it appears in small but significant percentages usually around one to two percent of the population
05:38this isn't just random noise the presence of this eastern or indo-iranian marker in a slavic population
05:46begs the question how did it get there this brings us to one of the most romanticized and debated topics
05:52in polish history the sarmatian connection for centuries the polish nobility known as the slashta
05:59cultivated a belief system called sarmatism they claimed they were not descended from the common
06:05slavic farmers but from the ancient sarmatian warriors of the steppe this wasn't just a quaint
06:12family story it was a core part of their political and cultural identity it justified their privileged
06:19status their love of horsemanship their flamboyant dress and their warrior ethos for a long time
06:26historians dismissed sarmatism as a self-serving myth a fanciful origin story with no basis in reality
06:35but modern genetics is forcing us to take a second look the discovery of r1a z93 lineages in poland
06:42provides a potential albeit small genetic link to this very idea could these z93 lineages be the
06:50distant genetic remnants of actual sarmatian or other steppe peoples like the ellens who migrated into
06:57eastern europe during the migration period it's a tantalizing possibility during the chaos of the late
07:04romang empire various steppe groups moved west some were pushed by the huns others were simply looking for
07:12new opportunities we know from historical records that groups of alans who were sarmatian speaking
07:18people settled in regions of modern-day poland france and spain it's entirely plausible that small
07:26groups of these warriors integrated with the local slavic populations leaving behind their genetic signature
07:32z93 which has been passed down through the generations to a small number of polish men today
07:38of course we have to be careful the presence of z93 could also be explained by later migrations
07:47for example during the mongol invasions various turkic and mongolic groups who also carry z93
07:55moved through the region trade along the silk road later tatar settlements and other historical
08:02interactions could have also introduced these lineages disentangling these different layers of history
08:08history is the primary challenge for geneticists and historians but what's truly remarkable is how
08:14genetic testing can breathe new life into old legends a polish man who takes a dna test today
08:21might discover he carries the r1 az93 haplogroup he would find that his direct paternal lying doesn't
08:28trace back to the early slavs but to those ancient horsemen of the steppe his ancestors might have ridden with
08:35the indo-aryans into india or fought as scythian archers or been part of the sarmatian nobility
08:41that inspired a national myth he shares a paternal ancestor not with most of his neighbors but with
08:48people thousands of miles away in kyrgyzstan afghanistan or india this is the power of genetic genealogy
08:57it connects us to a human story that is far grander can more complex than we could ever imagine
09:03the journey of r1a z93 is a perfect example it's a story that starts with a technological
09:11revolution on the steppe leads to the formation of civilizations in asia gives rise to legendary
09:17warrior cultures and leaves a faint but persistent echo in the dna of a modern european nation
09:24potentially validating a centuries-old legend so the next time you think about your own ancestry
09:30remember the story of r1 az93 our dna is not just a biological code it's a history book written in
09:39a
09:39language we are only now beginning to understand each marker tells a story of survival migration and
09:46connection across vast stretches of time and space thanks for joining me on this incredible journey
09:53through our shared genetic past if you enjoyed this exploration make sure to like subscribe and hit the
10:00notification bell for more deep dives into history and genetics see you next time
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