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. 2018 May 4;360(6388):548-552.
doi: 10.1126/science.aar8380. Epub 2018 Mar 15.

Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations

Marieke van de Loosdrecht  1 , Abdeljalil Bouzouggar  2   3 , Louise Humphrey  4 , Cosimo Posth  1 , Nick Barton  5 , Ayinuer Aximu-Petri  6 , Birgit Nickel  3 , Sarah Nagel  6 , El Hassan Talbi  7 , Mohammed Abdeljalil El Hajraoui  8 , Saaïd Amzazi  9 , Jean-Jacques Hublin  3 , Svante Pääbo  6 , Stephan Schiffels  1 , Matthias Meyer  6 , Wolfgang Haak  1 , Choongwon Jeong  10 , Johannes Krause  10
Affiliations

Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations

Marieke van de Loosdrecht et al. Science. .

Abstract

North Africa is a key region for understanding human history, but the genetic history of its people is largely unknown. We present genomic data from seven 15,000-year-old modern humans, attributed to the Iberomaurusian culture, from Morocco. We find a genetic affinity with early Holocene Near Easterners, best represented by Levantine Natufians, suggesting a pre-agricultural connection between Africa and the Near East. We do not find evidence for gene flow from Paleolithic Europeans to Late Pleistocene North Africans. The Taforalt individuals derive one-third of their ancestry from sub-Saharan Africans, best approximated by a mixture of genetic components preserved in present-day West and East Africans. Thus, we provide direct evidence for genetic interactions between modern humans across Africa and Eurasia in the Pleistocene.

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