Ancient DNA | Ice Age North Africa | Taforalt

The Africans who were two thirds Near Eastern, 15,000 years ago

In a cave in eastern Morocco, hunter-gatherers buried their dead 15,000 years ago, long before farming. Their DNA holds a puzzle: two thirds of their ancestry is most like that of the Natufians of the Levant, and one third is sub-Saharan African. We placed them, and the people who came after, in Global25.

15,000 yearsthe age of the human burials at the back of the Grotte des Pigeons, near Taforalt in eastern Morocco
About two thirdsof Taforalt ancestry is closest to the Natufians of the Levant, with the rest sub-Saharan African
7,000 yearsthat this ancestry survived in Morocco almost unchanged, from Taforalt to the first farmers

Hero image: AI generated illustration of Iberomaurusian hunter-gatherers at the Grotte des Pigeons near Taforalt, eastern Morocco, about 15,000 years ago, with a burial decorated with ochre and a necklace of Nassarius shell beads. Clothing, ornaments and the scene are approximations, and it is not a reconstruction of any documented moment or of the individuals whose genomes are discussed here.

The Grotte des Pigeons, near the town of Taforalt in the hills of eastern Morocco, is one of the richest prehistoric sites in Africa. It has yielded shell beads 82,000 years old, among the oldest known jewellery anywhere. And at the back of the cave, Stone Age people buried their dead about 15,000 years ago. In 2018, a team led by Marieke van de Loosdrecht sequenced the DNA of seven of them. The result reshaped our picture of North African ancestry.

These people belonged to the Iberomaurusian culture, the Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers of the Maghreb. What makes them so interesting is that their ancestry does not fit any simple story. It is neither purely African nor purely Eurasian, but a specific mixture that was already in place at the height of the last Ice Age.

Seventy thousand years at the edge of the MaghrebKey dates for Taforalt and the prehistory of Morocco, in years before present82,000Shell beads at TaforaltPerforated Nassarius shells from the same cave, among the oldest knownpersonal ornaments in the world.15,000The Taforalt cemeteryIberomaurusian hunter-gatherers bury their dead at the back of theGrotte des Pigeons. Seven of them yield DNA.15,000 to 11,500The Natufians of the LevantSedentary foragers in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, the closestknown relatives of the Taforalt people outside Africa.7,600Ifri OuberridThe last Moroccan hunter-gatherer sequenced so far: stillgenetically like Taforalt, 7,000 years later.7,300Kaf Taht el-GharThe first farmers of Morocco, about three quarters European Neolithic,with Cardial pottery, cereals and livestock.7,000Ifri n'Amr ou MoussaA local population that adopted farming withoutchanging its ancestry.6,400Skhirat-RouaziA Middle Neolithic cemetery with Levantine farmer ancestry,perhaps linked to pastoralists arriving from the Sahara.5,700Kehf el BaroudLocal, European and Levantine ancestries now mixed: theingredients of later North African populations are in place.Dates are rounded from the published radiocarbon dates; see the references.
Key dates for Taforalt and the prehistory of the Maghreb, in years before present. Dates are rounded from the published radiocarbon dates.

A puzzle in two parts

When van de Loosdrecht and colleagues modelled the Taforalt genomes, the best fit was roughly 63.5% ancestry related to the Natufians of the Levant, the sedentary foragers of Israel and Jordan who would later be among the first in the world to farm, and 36.5% ancestry related to sub-Saharan Africans. We confirm the shape of this in Global25.

How much of Taforalt is Near Eastern?Taforalt (average of four genomes) modelled as Natufian plus one African source (our analysis)0%25%50%75%100%fitYoruba (Nigeria)7129277Esan (Nigeria)7129277Dinka (South Sudan)6832275Kenya, Later Stone Age6832285Mota, Ethiopia (4,500 BP)6733284Shum Laka, Cameroon7426293Hora, Malawi (15,500 BP)7624302Mbuti (Congo)8515320Ju|'hoansi (Namibia)8515320Natufian (Levant)Sub-Saharan sourcePublished estimate (qpAdm): 63.5% Natufian-related, 36.5% sub-Saharan. Fit distances above 270 mean that no source matches exactly.
Taforalt (the average of its four highest-coverage genomes) modelled as a mixture of Natufians and one African source (our analysis). The split stays near two thirds Natufian-related whichever African population is used. Large fit distances mean the true sources are relatives of these, not these exactly.

Modelled as a mixture of Natufians and a single African source, Taforalt comes out close to two thirds Natufian-related and one third African, whichever African population we use. West Africans such as the Yoruba give about 71% to 29%; East Africans give a little more African. No model fits perfectly: the fit distances are all large, above 270, which tells us that Taforalt is not literally descended from Natufians plus Yoruba, but from populations related to both. The Natufians themselves are the key: among all sampled ancient Near Easterners, they are the closest to Taforalt, and the relationship runs deep into the Ice Age.

Two things the Taforalt people did not have are as important as what they did. They carried no detectable ancestry from Ice Age Europeans, even though Morocco faces Spain across a narrow strait. And their Y-chromosomes all belonged to haplogroup E-M78, a lineage at home in Africa and the Near East, while their mitochondrial lineages (U6 and M1) are old North African maternal lines. The connection between North Africa and the Near East was already tens of thousands of years deep, and it did not run through Europe.

Where did the mixture come from? The researchers could not say whether the Near Eastern-like ancestry came into Africa, or the African ancestry went into the Near East, or both descend from a shared older population. A 2025 study of 7,000-year-old herders from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Libyan Sahara found yet another deep North African lineage, long isolated, which suggests the region held several ancient populations we are only beginning to sample.

Seven thousand years of continuity

The most striking thing about Taforalt is how long its ancestry lasted. We modelled the later prehistoric people of the Maghreb with four sources: Taforalt itself, Levantine farmers, European farmers and a West African component.

Seven thousand years of continuity, then three newcomersAncient North Africans modelled with four sources in Global25 (our analysis)0%25%50%75%100%fitIfri Ouberridabout 7,600 years ago10045Kaf Taht el-Gharabout 7,300 years ago188217Ifri n'Amr ou Moussaabout 7,000 years ago9725Skhirat-Rouaziabout 6,400 years ago297041Kehf el Baroudabout 5,700 years ago20423530Djebba, Tunisia (Capsian)Later Stone Age10041Doukanet el-Khoutifa, TunisiaNeolithic682223Khenchela, AlgeriaIron Age4215301342Taforalt (Iberomaurusian)Levantine farmersEuropean farmersWest African
Prehistoric North Africans modelled with four sources: Taforalt, Levantine farmers, European farmers and West African (our analysis). Local Taforalt ancestry persists almost unchanged for 7,000 years before European and Levantine farmers arrive.

For thousands of years, nothing changes. The last Moroccan hunter-gatherer yet sequenced, from Ifri Ouberrid about 7,600 years ago, is still essentially pure Taforalt. So are the first farmers of Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa, around 7,000 years ago: they adopted agriculture, pottery and livestock without any change in their ancestry. Farming reached Morocco as an idea and a set of techniques, carried by local people, not only by incoming farmers.

Then, in the Neolithic, two waves of newcomers arrive. At Kaf Taht el-Ghar, farmers who are about four fifths European (ultimately from the first farmers of Iberia, with their Cardial pottery) appear alongside the locals. A little later, at Skhirat-Rouazi, a different population brings Levantine farmer ancestry, perhaps pastoralists moving in from the east. By the Late Neolithic site of Kehf el Baroud, all three ancestries, local Taforalt, European and Levantine, are mixed together. The recipe for every later North African population is now complete.

Who still carries it

That ancient Taforalt ancestry never disappeared. It is still measurable in people across North Africa today, in different amounts.

Who still carries the ancestry of Taforalt?Present-day populations modelled with the same four sources (our analysis)0%25%50%75%100%fitShilha Berbers, Tiznit41213028Tuareg, Mali4017241921Saharawi3433201330Mozabites, Algeria2929301240Riffians, Morocco26293747Kabyles, Algeria24303748Moroccans2440191641Berbers, Matmata, Tunisia2339261242Algerians2138261646Tunisians1949191350Libyans12681555Canary Islanders81108Andalusians91118Egyptian Copts9170Saudis95110Taforalt (Iberomaurusian)Levantine farmersEuropean farmersWest AfricanThe Levantine component also absorbs later Arabian and Phoenician ancestry. Single-genome margin for Taforalt ancestry: about 4 points.
Present-day North African and neighbouring populations in the same four-source model (our analysis). Isolated Berber and Saharan groups keep the most Taforalt ancestry. The Levantine component also absorbs later Arabian and Phoenician ancestry.

The highest shares are in the groups that have stayed most isolated: the Shilha Berbers of southern Morocco, the Tuareg of the Sahara, the Saharawi, the Mozabites of Algeria. In our model these carry 30 to 40% Taforalt ancestry. Arabic-speaking North Africans of the coast and the cities carry somewhat less, around 20 to 25%, with correspondingly more Levantine ancestry that arrived with later movements from Arabia and with the Phoenician and Arab expansions. Moving east, the share falls further: Libyans and Egyptian Copts carry little or none, because the ancient layer there was different.

The same ancient ancestry also crops up outside Africa. It is faintly present in Iberia and the Canary Islands, carried across the strait, and it is the signal that some genetic tests report as a small "North African" component in people from southern Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean islands. When a Spaniard sees a few percent of North African ancestry in their results, part of what they are seeing goes back to the hunter-gatherers of Taforalt.

These present-day percentages are approximate. The Levantine component in particular absorbs ancestry from several later movements, and for a single genome the Taforalt share carries a margin of about 4 points. But the broad pattern is solid, and it tells a clear story. North Africa has its own deep genetic history, as old as any in Europe or the Near East, shaped by a population that was mixing African and Near Eastern ancestry long before anyone farmed, built a city or wrote a word.

Key points

  • Seven hunter-gatherers buried at Taforalt in Morocco 15,000 years ago are the oldest well-sequenced North Africans.
  • About two thirds of their ancestry is closest to the Natufians of the Levant and one third is sub-Saharan African, a mixture already present in the Ice Age.
  • They carried no Ice Age European ancestry: the link between North Africa and the Near East did not run through Europe.
  • This ancestry survived almost unchanged for 7,000 years, and the first Moroccan farmers were locals who adopted agriculture rather than incomers.
  • Later Neolithic waves added European and Levantine farmer ancestry, completing the mix found in North Africans today.
  • Isolated Berber and Saharan groups still carry 30 to 40% Taforalt ancestry; it is also the source of the small North African signal seen in parts of southern Europe.

Global25 coordinates used in this article

The Taforalt individuals, the model sources and a few later populations. They can be pasted directly into the Vahaduo tool.

Morocco_Taforalt_Iberomaurusian:TAF010,-0.194638,0.085304,-0.028284,-0.091409,0.036007,-0.058288,-0.079199,0.018230,0.168937,0.011299,0.021598,-0.033270,0.076412,-0.044315,0.080346,-0.045346,-0.004563,-0.066258,-0.143799,0.038143,-0.045794,-0.135523,0.071730,-0.018557,0.021794
Morocco_Taforalt_Iberomaurusian:TAF011,-0.195776,0.086320,-0.020365,-0.091086,0.026159,-0.059125,-0.073793,0.020307,0.165255,0.002734,0.019487,-0.042712,0.087412,-0.054636,0.065960,-0.037655,0.009127,-0.072466,-0.149581,0.034266,-0.044297,-0.130454,0.071484,-0.013134,0.021435
Morocco_Taforalt_Iberomaurusian:TAF013,-0.195776,0.090382,-0.028284,-0.095608,0.031083,-0.063029,-0.073793,0.018461,0.160960,0.006925,0.023384,-0.037766,0.078939,-0.052434,0.069760,-0.041103,0.007432,-0.068285,-0.151340,0.044271,-0.038432,-0.130454,0.077400,-0.015785,0.019280
Morocco_Taforalt_Iberomaurusian:TAF014,-0.193499,0.081242,-0.023381,-0.085918,0.033852,-0.054941,-0.075438,0.014769,0.169141,0.000364,0.021435,-0.032971,0.077304,-0.056563,0.066367,-0.024927,0.015255,-0.068412,-0.157751,0.047898,-0.046917,-0.129588,0.079372,-0.022654,0.017962
Israel_Natufian_source,0.020488,0.131003,-0.039221,-0.141475,0.027082,-0.075300,-0.017861,-0.025845,0.102671,-0.004556,0.030042,-0.020682,0.069573,-0.000963,0.020222,0.028772,-0.012647,0.008868,-0.021117,0.042520,-0.004243,-0.002597,-0.011955,-0.006386,0.011735
Yoruba_West_African_source,-0.630062,0.062501,0.022113,0.016708,0.000503,0.012474,-0.044417,0.047767,-0.048881,0.032769,0.004621,0.000790,0.023056,0.000951,0.012523,-0.009607,0.007076,0.000449,0.006022,-0.002990,0.001554,0.002316,-0.001759,-0.000471,-0.000425
Spain_EN_European_farmer_source,0.125205,0.178226,0.032055,-0.068218,0.076507,-0.037009,-0.006674,-0.004315,0.060703,0.103674,0.001884,0.015286,-0.037567,-0.012606,-0.019422,-0.004071,0.010013,0.000988,0.003909,-0.012556,-0.000387,0.003240,-0.007839,-0.022955,-0.001593
Jordan_PPNB_Levantine_farmer_source,0.075692,0.161977,-0.029887,-0.134611,0.031544,-0.061356,-0.007520,-0.007788,0.076339,0.038543,0.020380,-0.015062,0.027205,0.001273,-0.027280,0.002718,0.015548,0.001045,-0.007007,0.013038,-0.003837,0.005935,0.003821,-0.004820,-0.003323
Morocco_EN_Ifri_nAmr_ou_Moussa,-0.177944,0.095121,-0.019736,-0.087425,0.027902,-0.059032,-0.076143,0.018846,0.153734,0.005406,0.021598,-0.028524,0.077006,-0.045507,0.070756,-0.031998,0.015125,-0.062415,-0.143757,0.036267,-0.033108,-0.116976,0.081056,-0.008395,0.018561
Morocco_EN_Kaf_Taht_el_Ghar,0.067915,0.165531,0.024513,-0.070414,0.069346,-0.040997,-0.020211,0.002461,0.081946,0.087534,0.004763,0.006844,-0.013132,-0.019497,-0.005429,-0.005834,0.019080,-0.006250,-0.024553,0.002543,-0.011355,-0.019496,0.006327,-0.019641,0.002754
Berber_Morocco_Shilha_Tiznit_today,-0.068397,0.136081,-0.002537,-0.081925,0.031586,-0.038107,-0.033115,0.010867,0.083910,0.034592,0.009271,-0.009264,0.025475,-0.021457,0.021061,-0.017200,0.001529,-0.031257,-0.057981,0.013586,-0.022256,-0.054531,0.032963,-0.005006,0.008339
Moroccan_today,-0.085367,0.130213,-0.012822,-0.070881,0.021132,-0.032940,-0.027783,0.009769,0.055403,0.024399,0.009509,-0.009025,0.026990,-0.014466,0.016302,-0.006188,-0.002767,-0.017033,-0.038422,0.009435,-0.009844,-0.029512,0.020911,-0.001125,0.005921

References

  1. Ancient DNA van de Loosdrecht M, Bouzouggar A, Humphrey L, Posth C, Barton N, et al., Hublin JJ, Krause J (2018). Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations. Science 360(6388): 548 to 552. doi.org/10.1126/science.aar8380
  2. Ancient DNA Simoes LG, Gunther T, Martinez-Sanchez RM, Vera-Rodriguez JC, Iriarte E, et al., Jakobsson M (2023). Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant. Nature 618: 550 to 556. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6
  3. Ancient DNA Fregel R, Mendez FL, Bokbot Y, Martin-Socas D, Camalich-Massieu MD, et al., Bustamante CD (2018). Ancient genomes from North Africa evidence prehistoric migrations to the Maghreb from both the Levant and Europe. PNAS 115(26): 6774 to 6779. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800851115
  4. Ancient DNA Salem N, van de Loosdrecht M, Hublin JJ, et al., Krause J (2025). Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage. Nature 641: 144 to 150. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7
  5. Data Global25 coordinates by Davidski (Eurogenes), and the Moriopoulos Collection 2026 of averages. Admixture models and figures: ExploreYourDNA.