The Alborz foothills and an early northern Iranian ancestry background.
📍 RegionIran
🧬 Closest modern matchMakrani
⏳ Time periodMesolithic
Hotu Cave: foragers on the southern Caspian shore
Hotu Cave lies near Behshahr, where the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains meet the southern Caspian lowlands. Its prehistoric sequence preserves a long history of occupation before and after farming reached the region. The Mesolithic genetic reference belongs to the earlier, foraging part of that story and illuminates the ancestry present in northern Iran before the agricultural populations of later millennia.
Between mountains and the Caspian lowlands
The cave’s location brought the mountain foothills and the coastal plain within the same local landscape. Renewed excavation has documented a long sequence beginning around 12,000 BC and continuing through later prehistoric and historical occupations. The Mesolithic reference is associated with the early Holocene, approximately the ninth millennium BC. This geographical setting differs from the central Zagros sites farther southwest, offering an important northern perspective on the population history of Iran.
The Caspian cave sequence allows archaeologists to follow changes from hunting toward later Neolithic economies. Studying animal remains across successive layers reveals how people used the surrounding environments as settlement and food production changed. Hotu’s importance comes from this depth of occupation: the same place connects an earlier foraging world with the communities that later adopted agriculture. Its record broadens the story beyond the better-known early farming villages of the Zagros.
The ancient genetic evidence places Hotu close to the early Iranian ancestry background represented by Zagros Neolithic populations, while preserving differences from those southern highland communities. The relationship shows that some deep connections within Iran preceded agriculture. It also helps explain why an Iranian-related ancestry label can describe roots older than the first farming villages. Comparing Hotu with Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein follows that early structure across contrasting environments; comparing all three with Copper Age Iranian populations shows the later widening of genetic connections. Hotu supplies the Caspian forager perspective within this longer regional sequence.
In the World Genetics modern G25 comparison, the closest non-self match for Iran Mesolithic Hotu is Makrani. Other nearby references include Balochi Pakistan, Brahui, Balochi Iran, and Pashtun Mashwani. This gives the Iran Mesolithic Hotu profile its nearest modern genetic context inside the current reference database.
Closest Matches
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Distance
What does Iran Mesolithic Hotu ancestry look like?
The ancestral breakdown below loads the best-fitting World Genetics calculator for the Iran Mesolithic Hotu average. It should be read as a model of deep ancestry components, while the closest-match table is the better guide to which modern populations are most similar in G25 space.
Ancestral Breakdown
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Loading ancestral breakdown.
Where is Iran Mesolithic Hotu DNA closest on the map?
The heatmap gives the Iran Mesolithic Hotu profile a geographic shape. Warmer areas mark regions where available modern reference populations sit closer to the Iran Mesolithic Hotu average, while cooler areas represent more distant matches.
What populations are genetically closest to Iran Mesolithic Hotu?
The closest non-self match in this World Genetics comparison is Makrani. Other nearby references include Balochi Pakistan, Brahui, Balochi Iran, and Pashtun Mashwani.
Is Iran Mesolithic Hotu DNA closest to Makrani?
In the current modern G25 reference set, Makrani is the closest listed match to the Iran Mesolithic Hotu average after removing Iran Mesolithic Hotu itself from the table.
What does the Iran Mesolithic Hotu heatmap show?
The heatmap shows where modern reference populations are closer or farther from the Iran Mesolithic Hotu G25 average, giving the closest-match results a geographic view.
