Equally flawed is the inference that R1b1b2 is clinal (Figure
2A). Microsatellite variance is not significantly higher in
Turkey than in Europe -- even if one makes the questionable
questionable assumption that modern Anatolian Turks are
patrilineal descendants of Neolithic Anatolians. The
significance of the regression line disappears if 1 or 2 data
points are excluded, and the plot has a quite visible "gap"
between Turkey and Italy corresponding to the entirety of
eastern Europe and the Balkans, i.e. the routes that any
putative Neolithic lineages would have entered Europe.The
current paper does not sample the gap I noted in my earlier
post, but it looks at Sardinian Y chromosomes, casting doubt on
the alleged reduction of diversity from West Asia to Western
Europe. The new paper however has flaws of its own. Its most
significant error is its use of the infamous "evolutionary"
mutation rate. Second, Balaresque et al.  used a STR specific
germ-line mutation rate that placed the TMRCA in the Neolithic
age. In