Hi!
I apologize if I get intervene in the discussion but I would like to give my contribution to the debate about the origins of our haplogroup PF7263. First of all, I'm happy to know you. In a sense we are distant relatives since we share the paternal ancestor. I followed your very interesting discussion on the forum "Хаплогрупа J1-PF7263, покушај историјске реконструкције" and I thank you for the many information provided.
I would very much like to find out the origin of our common ancestor!
I am Sicilian (Italy) and I tested my DNA with BIG Y of FTDNA a few months ago and my haplogroup is J1 BY38105. At this moment on the SNP map of FTDNA this haplogroup turns out to be brought over by me, from an Iraqi, a Portuguese and a Norwegian, as well as obviously from the relative of Alexandra. My STR values are shown on the page of the J1 Y-DNA project of FTDNA.
The STR values of the people BY38105 present considerable divergences and this makes me think that there are sub-clades still to be discovered.
About the possible Jewish origin of many clades downstream of PF7263, I agree with what was reported by Radon. First of all PF7264 (from which PF7263 and P56 descend) is brother of P58 since they both derive from L136. PF7264, with its descendants PF7263 and P56, is undoubtedly a minor cluster present in all populations of Semitic origin (Jews, Arabs, Yemenis, etc.)
Among the many clues I found for example, I observe wich on 71 people downstream of PF7263 present in the various FTDNA projects, 27 (38%) have a clear Jewish origin proven by the participation in Jewish projects of FTDNA or the indications provided by the various members (2 out of 4 within BY38105). Moreover, even many individuals who are not currently Jews present on the basis of STR values a very high genetic closeness with current Jewish individuals and consequently many of them could be descendants of Jews converted to Christianity or Islam.
Finally, PF7263 and its downstream clades as well as resulting from the various FTDNA groups have their main diffusion center in the Central Eastern European areas traditionally populated by Ashkenazi Jews. PF7263 and clades downstream are also widespread in areas very distant from each other such as Southern Italy, the Canary Islands, Yemen, Spain, Iraq and Kurdistan, countries united by the fact that they have been inhabited by thriving Jewish communities.
Interesting, even if no longer updated, is this site on the Hebrew DNA that confirms that PF7263 is certainly widespread among the Jews:
http://jewishdna.net/index.html. In particular the branches pPF7263 are the A-39 and the A-38.
Radon I wanted to ask you two questions:
1. do you know what Viktar Mas thinks of our haplogroup J1PF7263?
2. do you know why the clusters of the J1 Y-DNA project of FTDNA are no longer updated?
Thank you very much for the attention