Male‑lineage sorting explains Y‑bottleneck

The Neolithic Y‑chromosome bottleneck reflects a time‑limited, multi‑generation sorting process: agricultural assets encouraged intensified kinship and warrior cooperation, producing repeated conquest, killing/enslavement of defeated men, and reallocation of women upward — systematically eliminating many male lineages across generations even when large shares of men reproduced in any single generation. This contrasts with explanations that rely only on persistent polygyny or patrilineality and helps reconcile ancient‑DNA evidence of rapid male‑lineage loss followed by recovery. — Recasting the bottleneck as a social, generational sorting process reframes discussions about prehistoric patriarchy, selection on genetic traits, and modern claims about sex, status, and demographic causation.