Haplogroup B-M60

In human population genetics, haplogroups define the major lineages of direct paternal (male) lines back to a shared common ancestor. Haplogroup B (B-M60) is a Y-chromosome haplogroup common to paternal lineages in Africa, in Arabian Peninsula and in Eurasia.

Distribution

Haplogroup B-M60 is found in sub-Saharan Africa, especially to tropical forests of West-Central Africa. After Y-haplogroup A, it is the second oldest and one of the most diverse human Y-haplogroups. It was the ancestral haplogroup of not only modern Pygmies like the Baka and Mbuti, but also Hadzabe from Tanzania, who often have been considered, in large part because of some typological features of their language, to be a remnant of Khoisan people in East Africa.

According to one study of the Y-DNA of populations in Sudan, haplogroup B-M60 is found in approximately 30% (16/53) of Southern Sudanese, 16% (5/32) of local Hausa people, 14% (4/28) of the Nuba of central Sudan, 3.7% (8/216) of Northern Sudanese (but only among Copts and Nubians), and 2.2% (2/90) of Western Sudanese. According to another study, haplogroup B is found in approximately 15% of Sudanese males, including 12.5% (5/40) B2a1a-M109/M152 and 2.5% (1/40) B-M60(xM146, M150, M112).