U3 mtdna is very common in south-west minor Asia, the east coast of the Black Sea and of course the Middle East, especially around Jordan. It has a moderate frequency around the Black Sea, and it is also carried with a 35-56% frequency by various Romani groups in Poland, Lithuania and Spain.

It has first appeared in Europe as U3b with the Ezero culture in Thrace and may have been a lineage among Thracians, who also inhabited west minor Asia. It may have been later reinforced in Thrace with the Bulgars, who came in a counter-clockwise route around the Black Sea.

It belongs under haplogroup U2'3'4'7'8'9 so it might be of satem origin. Both Thracian and modern Bulgarian languages have had satem traits. The origins of the haplogroup although have probably to be searched in the Middle East or the Caucasus.

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