Ifri n'Amr Ou Moussa is an archaeological site discovered in 2005, located in the rural commune of Aït Siberne,

Khémisset Province Khémisset () is a province in the Morocco, Moroccan economic region of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. Its population in 2004 was 521,81 The town was founded in 1924 on the site of a military outpost on the road from Rabat to Fez, Morocco, Fes; now a provin ...

, in Western Morocco. This site has revealed burials associated with both Moroccan Early Neolithic and

Bell Beaker culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the beginning of the European Bronze Age, arising from around ...

Genetics

examined the remains of 7 individuals buried at Ifri N'Amr Ou Moussa (c. 5325-4786 BCE). The 2 samples of

Y-DNA The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the Y ...

extracted belonged to the paternal haplogroup E-L19*, while the 5 samples of

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

extracted belonged to the maternal haplogroups M1b1*, U6a1b (two samples), U6a7b2 and U6a3. The paternal haplogroup E-L19* is very common in North Africa, and the maternal haplogroups are associated with migrations from

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

into North Africa during the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

. They were found to be closely related to the early Stone Age people buried at

Taforalt Taforalt, or Grotte des Pigeons, is a cave in the province of Berkane, Aït Iznasen region, Morocco, possibly the oldest cemetery in North Africa. It contained at least 34 Iberomaurusian adolescent and adult human skeletons, as well as young ...

, Morocco (c. 15000 BCE). Both the Taforalt and Ifri N'Amr ou Moussa people were found to also be related to people of the

Natufian culture The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even befor ...

(c. 12000 BCE) and

Pre-Pottery Neolithic The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Near East, dating to years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE).Richard, Suzanne ''Near Eastern archaeology'' Eisenbrauns; illustrated edition (1 Aug 2004) p.24/ref> It succeeds the ...

(c. ~10000 BCE) of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, with whom they appeared to share a common origin. This genetic continuity with the Taforalt suggested that the ancestors of the Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa people had adopted a Neolithic lifestyle without substantial migration, however a paper from 2023 dealing with ancient genomes in Morocco, found that a change from foraging to food production occurred 7,400 years ago, and farming practices were introduced by Neolithic European groups, being adopted by locals initially without demic diffusion. PCA ancestry inference in ancient samples from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

PCA ancestry inference in ancient samples from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

Among modern populations, the examined individuals were determined to be most closely related to the

Mozabite people The Mozabite people or Banu Mzab (; ) are a Berbers, Berber ethnic group inhabiting the M'zab natural region in the northern Sahara of Algeria, numbering about 150,000 to 300,000 people. They primarily speak the Mozabite language, one of the Zen ...

of Algeria. In contrast to the Ifri N'Amr individuals, the examined samples at the Late Neolithic site of Kelif el Boroud (~c. 4000 BCE), carried about 50% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry, suggesting substantial migration of

Cardial Ware Cardium pottery or Cardial ware is a Neolithic decorative style that gets its name from the imprinting of the clay with the heart-shaped shell of the '' Corculum cardissa'', a member of the cockle family Cardiidae. These forms of pottery are ...

people from

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

into North Africa during the Neolithic phases. Both the studied groups buried at Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa and Kelif el Boroud carried a much lower amount of

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

n admixture than modern North Africans, indicating that the trans-Saharan migrations occurred after Neolithic times (however, they also carried lower Sub-Saharan African admixture than the Stone Age people of Taforalt). Phenotypically, the Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa people were determined to have had

dark skin Dark skin is a type of human skin color that is rich in melanin pigments. People with dark skin are often referred to as black people, although this usage can be ambiguous in some countries where it is also used to specifically refer to differe ...

and dark

eye color Eye color is a polygene, polygenic phenotypic trait determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's Iris (anatomy), iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the Turbidity, turbid medium in the Stroma of iris, str ...

. The ancient

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

(c. 500 BCE - 1500 CE) of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

were modeled as a mixture of ancestry from the Ifri N'Amr ou Moussa and Kelif el Boroud, with a majority shared component of 80.2% coming from these mainland communities.

References

Sources

* {{Navbox prehistoric caves 2005 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in Morocco 6th-millennium BC establishments

Genetics

See also

References

Sources