Editing Berbers (section)

=== Genetics ===
{{Main|Maghreb#Genetics}}
Genetically, the Berbers form the principal indigenous ancestry in the region.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=Jamie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: L to Z |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781438126760 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSGzIPz8cYIC |title=The Report: Algeria 2011 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |year=2011 |isbn=9781907065378 |page=9}}</ref> [[Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)|Haplogroup E1b1b]] is the most frequent among Maghrebi groups, especially the downstream lineage of [[E-M81|E1b1b1b1a]], which is typical of the indigenous Berbers of North-West Africa. On the other hand, [[Haplogroup J-M267|Haplogroup J1]] is the second most frequent among Maghrebi groups and is more indicative of [[Middle East]] origins, and has its highest distribution among populations in the southern [[Arabian Peninsula]]. E1b1b1b accounts for 45% of North Africans, while Haplogroup J1-M267 accounts for 30% of North Africans, and has spread from Arabia.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Sarra |last1=Elkamel |first2=Sofia L. |last2=Marques |first3=Luis |last3=Alvarez |first4=Veronica |last4=Gomes |first5=Sami |last5=Boussetta |first6=Soufia |last6=Mourali-Chebil |first7=Houssein |last7=Khodjet-El-Khil |first8=Lotfi |last8=Cherni |first9=Amel |last9=Benammar-Elgaaied |first10=Maria J. |last10=Prata |display-authors=6 |date=August 2021 |title=Insights into the Middle Eastern paternal genetic pool in Tunisia: high prevalence of T-M70 haplogroup in an Arab population |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=15728 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-95144-x |pmid=34344940 |pmc=8333252 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1115728E }}</ref>

The Semitic-speaking presence in the Maghreb is mainly due to the migratory movements of [[Phoenicia]]ns in the 3rd century BC and large scale migrations of Arab [[Bedouin]] tribes in the 11th century AD such as [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], as well as other waves that occurred during the [[Arab migrations to the Maghreb]] ({{circa|7th century}} – 17th century). The results of a study from 2017 suggest that these Arab migrations to the Maghreb were mainly a demographic process that heavily implied gene flow and remodeled the genetic structure of the Maghreb.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 2017 |first1=Lara R. |last1=Arauna |first2=Javier |last2=Mendoza-Revilla |first3=Alex |last3=Mas-Sandoval |first4=Hassan |last4=Izaabel |first5=Asmahan |last5=Bekada |first6=Soraya |last6=Benhamamouch |first7=Karima |last7=Fadhlaoui-Zid |first8=Pierre |last8=Zalloua |first9=Garrett |last9=Hellenthal |first10=David |last10=Comas |display-authors=6 |title=Recent Historical Migrations Have Shaped the Gene Pool of Arabs and Berbers in North Africa |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=318–329 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw218 |pmid=27744413 |pmc=5644363 }}</ref>

DNA studies of [[Iberomaurusian]] peoples at [[Taforalt]], Morocco dating to around 15,000 years ago have found them to have a distinctive Maghrebi ancestry formed from a mixture of [[Near East]]ern and African ancestry, which is still found as a part of the genome of modern Northwest Africans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van de Loosdrecht |first1=Marieke |last2=Bouzouggar |first2=Abdeljalil |last3=Humphrey |first3=Louise |last4=Posth |first4=Cosimo |last5=Barton |first5=Nick |last6=Aximu-Petri |first6=Ayinuer |last7=Nickel |first7=Birgit |last8=Nagel |first8=Sarah |last9=Talbi |first9=El Hassan |last10=El Hajraoui |first10=Mohammed Abdeljalil |last11=Amzazi |first11=Saaïd |last12=Hublin |first12=Jean-Jacques |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Schiffels |first14=Stephan |last15=Meyer |first15=Matthias |date=4 May 2018 |title=Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aar8380 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=360 |issue=6388 |pages=548–552 |doi=10.1126/science.aar8380 |pmid=29545507 |bibcode=2018Sci...360..548V |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> A 2025 study sequenced individuals from [[Takarkori]] (7,000 YBP) and discovered that most of their ancestry was from an unknown [[Ancestral North African]] lineage, related to the African admixture component found in Iberomaurusians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salem |first=Nada |last2=van de Loosdrecht |first2=Marieke S. |last3=Sümer |first3=Arev Pelin |last4=Vai |first4=Stefania |last5=Hübner |first5=Alexander |last6=Peter |first6=Benjamin |last7=Bianco |first7=Raffaela A. |last8=Lari |first8=Martina |last9=Modi |first9=Alessandra |last10=Al-Faloos |first10=Mohamed Faraj Mohamed |last11=Turjman |first11=Mustafa |last12=Bouzouggar |first12=Abdeljalil |last13=Tafuri |first13=Mary Anne |last14=Manzi |first14=Giorgio |last15=Rotunno |first15=Rocco |date=2 April 2025 |title=Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08793-7 |journal=Nature |language=en |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |pmc=12043513 }}</ref> According to the study, the Takarkori people were distinct from both contemporary sub-Saharan Africans and non-Africans/Eurasians. They had "only a minor component of non-African ancestry" but did "not carry sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that, contrary to previous interpretations, the [[Green Sahara]] was not a corridor connecting Northern and sub-Saharan Africa."<ref>{{cite news |title=Sahara desert, once lush and green, was home to mysterious human lineage |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/sahara-desert-once-lush-green-was-home-mysterious-human-lineage-2025-04-04/ |work=Reuters |date=4 April 2025}}</ref>

Later during the [[Neolithic]], from around 7,500 years ago onwards, there was a migration into Northwest Africa of [[Early European Farmers|European Neolithic Farmers]] from the Iberian Peninsula (who had originated in [[Anatolia]] several thousand years prior), as well as pastoralists from the [[Levant]], both of whom also significantly contributed to the ancestry of modern Northwest Africans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=Luciana G. |last2=Günther |first2=Torsten |last3=Martínez-Sánchez |first3=Rafael M. |last4=Vera-Rodríguez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Iriarte |first5=Eneko |last6=Rodríguez-Varela |first6=Ricardo |last7=Bokbot |first7=Youssef |last8=Valdiosera |first8=Cristina |last9=Jakobsson |first9=Mattias |date=15 June 2023 |title=Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=618 |issue=7965 |pages=550–556 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=10266975 |pmid=37286608|bibcode=2023Natur.618..550S }}</ref> The [[Proto-Berber language|proto-Berber]] tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late [[Bronze Age|Bronze]]- and early [[Iron Age|Iron]] ages.<ref>Mário Curtis Giordani, ''História da África. Anterior aos descobrimentos.'' Editora Vozes, Petrópolis (Brasil) 1985, pp. 42f., 77f. Giordani references Bousquet, ''Les Berbères'' (Paris 1961).</ref>