Research and sources

The papers, newest first

• 2026 August

  A shared selection signal links Canary Islanders and North Africa

  A whole-exome catalogue of Canary Islanders reports 387,555 genetic variants and a candidate selective sweep around the PRUNE1 gene that the population shares with the North African population it was compared against.

  Díaz-de Usera et al. · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.117146

• 2026 24 June

  North African ancestry in Sicily before the Islamic conquest

  Ancient DNA from 111 medieval Sicilians shows that several people buried before the Islamic conquest already carried substantial North African ancestry, so people were crossing the Mediterranean before that conquest.

  Monnereau et al. · PLOS One · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0350298

• 2026 26 March

  Islamic-period Ibiza reveals North African gene flow

  Genomes from medieval Ibiza burials (950–1150 CE) show North African ancestry arriving during the Umayyad and Almoravid periods — movement across the western Mediterranean running north, not south.

  Rodríguez-Varela et al. · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-70615-9

• 2026 12 March

  North African maternal diversity, from 869 mitogenomes

  A cohesive Maghreb maternal core, overlaid by historical female-mediated migrations. Directly relevant to how a lineage like H1 sits in the region.

  Boumajdi et al. · Mammalian Genome · doi:10.1007/s00335-026-10209-4

• 2026 6 January

  Sudanese genomes mix four ancestries, plus the Arab expansion

  High-coverage genomes from 125 people in five Sudanese ethnolinguistic groups reveal deep population structure built from Nilo-Saharan, West Eurasian, Northern African and Western African ancestry, along with signatures of the Arab expansion.

  Vilà-Valls et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2516263123

• 2025 13 December

  A North African signal in Galicia, carried mostly by men

  Whole genomes from Galicia, in Spain, carry a North African and Middle Eastern ancestry component of 13.5% to 16.5% that the authors say was likely introduced around 620 to 670 CE, before the Islamic conquest of 711 CE.

  Pardo‐Seco et al. · The FASEB Journal · doi:10.1096/fj.202502634r

• 2025 25 July

  733 modern and 43 ancient mitogenomes

  A large survey of North African maternal lineages, including the H1 subclade patterns that underlie the maternal half of the family case on this site.

  Colombo et al. · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-12209-x

• 2025 3 June

  The Guanches before European contact

  Demographic history of the indigenous Canarian Amazigh, whose ancestors sailed from North Africa. The same paternal branch as the family case on this site has been reported among them.

  Santana et al. · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-04302-y

• 2025 23 April

  Punic people were genetically diverse, and barely Levantine

  Genome-wide data from 210 individuals finds Carthaginian-era populations dominated by local and Mediterranean ancestry, with almost no Levantine contribution — culture spread without much migration.

  Reich et al. · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08913-3

• 2025 2 April

  Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara

  Genomes from Takarkori in Libya, around 7,000 years ago, reveal a deeply divergent North African lineage that had been largely isolated — from a period when the Sahara was grassland.

  Salem et al. · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7

• 2025 12 March

  The eastern Maghreb kept its foragers

  Ancient DNA from Algeria and Tunisia shows strong continuity of local forager ancestry through the Neolithic transition — farming arrived without replacing the people.

  Lipson et al. · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08699-4

• 2024 30 July

  Amazigh and Arab populations diverged over 20,000 years ago

  Whole-genome demographic modelling separates deep Epipaleolithic Amazigh origins from much later Arabization gene flow, via a soft-split model.

  Serradell et al. · Genome Biology · doi:10.1186/s13059-024-03341-4

• 2024 1 May

  Amazigh genomic heterogeneity, village by village

  The largest Amazigh genomic dataset to date finds diversity at a microgeographical scale, two trans-Saharan admixture waves, and deep Epipaleolithic roots.

  Vilà-Valls et al. · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-60568-8

• 2023 7 June

  The Maghreb Neolithic began with migrants from Iberia

  Ancient DNA from Neolithic Morocco confirms migration across the Strait of Gibraltar — the ancient-DNA reinforcement of the scenario that best explains this maternal line.

  Villalba-Mouco et al. · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6

• 2017 21 November

  E-M81 is far younger than anyone expected

  Whole Y-chromosome sequencing dates the defining Amazigh paternal marker to roughly 2,000–3,000 years ago, with a star-like pattern indicating rapid expansion from a small founder group.

  Solé-Morata et al. · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16271-y