Ashkenazi-Levites and Kurds

I was recently contacted by an individual who is very interested in the history and genetics of Ashkenazi-Levites, Iraq, and ancient Khazaria due to his ancestry. He read my post about Ashkenazi-Levites, but he thinks that the ancestry of R1a1a Levites cannot be pinpointed because this haplogroup is "everywhere, in Nepal, in Ireland".



This is why I decided to give some more details about my thought process.



Regarding the R1a1a Ashkenazi-Levites I recently did a new analysis here using more Y-STRs, a total of 67 STRs. Unfortunately, all Iranian samples and the Kurdish sample "H1483" don't have 67 STRs analyzed, so they are not included in this Y-STR67 analysis. I am pretty sure that the Iraqi Kurdish individual H1483 would end up as the closest to the R1a1a Ashkenazi-Levite cluster in a hypothetical STR67 analysis and I will explain it in detail.



Another analysis was done by Vladimir Semargl comparing all R1a individuals that have analyzed 111 STRs (and a few 67STRs). Again, no Kurds or Iranians are included because of the low number of tested STRs.
 The blue area on the top of the lineage tree is the R1a1a Levite cluster.

So based on this Y-STR111 lineage tree, the closest one to the R1a1a Levite cluster is "Quassad_116213".
Now, compare the R1a1a Levite modal haplotype (MODE) with Quassad's results and the Iraqi Kurdish H1483 (just focus on the 43 STRs that were measured by all three):

2. C1. Z93+ L342+ L657- Ashkenazi-Levite (Type "A" / "AJ")
MIN				13	24	15	10	11-14	12	12	10	13	11	29	14	9-10	11	11	24	14	20	29	12-12-12-15	11	10	19-23	14	15	16	19	33-37	11	11	11	8	17-17	8	11	10	8	11	10	12	22-22	15	10	12	12	12	8	13	23	21	12	12	10	13	10	11	12	13	32	13	9	17	12	26	27	19	12	12	12	12	10	9	12	11	10	11	11	30	12	12	25	13	9	10	20	15	19	11	23	15	12	15	24	12	23	19	10	15	17	9	11	11
MAX				13	25	17	10	11-15	12	12	12	14	11	32	15	9-11	11	11	24	14	21	32	12-12-15-16	12	12	19-23	15	17	20	22	36-40	15	11	11	9	17-17	8	12	10	8	12	10	12	22-22	15	10	12	12	15	8	16	24	22	13	12	12	13	10	11	12	13	32	15	9	17	12	28	27	19	12	12	12	12	10	9	12	11	10	11	11	30	12	12	25	13	9	10	20	15	20	11	23	15	12	15	25	13	23	19	10	15	17	9	11	11
MODE				13	25	16	10	11-14	12	12	10	13	11	30	14	9-10	11	11	24	14	20	30	12-12-15-15	11	11	19-23	14	16	19	20	35-38	14	11	11	8	17-17	8	12	10	8	11	10	12	22-22	15	10	12	12	14	8	14	23	21	12	12	11	13	10	11	12	13	32	15	9	17	12	27	27	19	12	12	12	12	10	9	12	11	10	11	11	30	12	12	25	13	9	10	20	15	20	11	23	15	12	15	25	12	23	19	10	15	17	9	11	11

116213	KhalilQussad	13	24	16	11	11-14	12	12	10	13	11	30	16	9-10	11	11	24	14	20	30	12-12-15-15	11	11	19-23	17	16	19	16	34-37	14	11	11	8	17-17	8	11	10	8	11	10	12	22-22	15	10	12	12	13	8	15	24	21	13	12	11	13	11	11	12	13	30	15	9	15	12	27	27	19	13	13	13	12	10	9	12	10	10	11	11	30	11	14	25	13	9	10	19	15	19	11	23	16	12	15	24	12	23	19	10	14	17	9	11	11
H1483	Kurd	13	25	16	10	11-14	12	12	10	13	11	31	16	9-10	11	11	24	14	20	32	12-12-15-15	11	11	19-23	15					13	11																		15			13																										11	30	12	14	24	13	9												23						11

Results:
Distance 116213 vs R1a1a Modal of Ashkenazi-Levite: 8 STR distance steps out of 43 STRs (19%)
Distance H1483 vs R1a1a Modal of Ashkenazi-Levite: 9 STR distance steps of 43 STRs (21%)

The Palestinian Khalil Qussad has a distance of 8/43, and the Iraqi Kurd shows slightly more distance steps (9/43) to the R1a1a Modal haplotype of Ashkenazi-Levites. But not only the number of differences is important but also where these differences are and how "untypical" they are for Ashkenazi-Levites:
Check if the differences are within the range of R1a1a Ashkenazi-Levites variation or not (See Minimum and Maximum values).

STR differences:
H1483:  6  STRs (orange) within Ashkenazi-Levite variation, 3 STRs (yellow) outside
116213: 3 STRs (orange) within Ashkenazi-Levite variation, 5 STRs (yellow) outside

So, even though the Kurd H1483 is more distance steps away from the Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype than "116213", he is still closer to the Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype because the distance steps are on more variable STRs.

The genetic distance should be determined by the STR distance steps and the variability of the STRs.  I tried to combine and automate both factors. This is what I was trying to explain in the post "How to read STR data".

And finally, I am presenting an analysis using 43 STRs (all tested STRs of the Iraqi Kurd H1483) to find the best matches for the Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype. All L342+ individuals with more than 12 tested STRs were used, the data are sorted by this new approach (see second column "compared STRs in table below). Please also note that some of the Top matches only have 34 STRs compared, so these results are less accurate. The Kurd H1483 and the Khalil Quassad (116213) are highlighted in bold and yellow.

Top30 matches for the Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype (including Ashkenazi-Levites):

Top30 matches for the Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype (excluding Ashkenazi-Levites):

Conclusions:
1. By now, the closest non-Jewish individual to the R1a1a Ashkenazi-Levite modal haplotype is the Iraqi Kurdish individual H1483.

2. The 111 STR lineage tree designed by Vladimir Semargl is great but it is only based on the distance steps (third color-coded column in tables above); it does not address the variability of the different STRs and it does not reflect the diversity. A much better tree by Marko Heinila is posted here.