Editing Berbers (section)

=== Prehistory ===
{{Main|Prehistoric North Africa}}
{{further|Genetic history of North Africa|Proto-Berber language}}
[[File:Hoggar peinture rupestre1.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Ahaggar Mountains|Hoggar]] painting, [[Tassili n'Ajjer]]]]
[[File:Egypte louvre 131 statuette.jpg|thumb|upright|An [[Egypt]]ian statuette representing a Libyan [[Libu]] Berber from the reign of Rameses{{nbsp}}II (19th Dynasty) in 1279–1213 BC. ([[Louvre|Louvre Museum]], Paris)]]
The [[Maghreb]] region in northwestern Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers from at least 10,000&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Ilahiane2006">{{cite book|author=Hsain Ilahiane|title=Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E8qp_k515oC&pg=PA112|date=17 July 2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6490-0|page=112}}</ref> [[Cave paintings]], which have been dated to twelve millennia before present, have been found in the [[Tassili n'Ajjer]] region of southeastern Algeria. Other [[rock art]] has been discovered at [[Tadrart Acacus]] in the Libyan desert. A [[Neolithic]] society, marked by [[domestication]] and [[subsistence agriculture]] and richly depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, developed and predominated in the Saharan and Mediterranean region (the Maghreb) of northern Africa between 6000 and 2000&nbsp;BC (until the classical period).

Prehistoric [[Tifinagh]] inscriptions were found in the [[Oran]] region.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Tiliouine |editor-first1=Habib |editor-last2=Estes |editor-first2=Richard J. |title=The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies: Social, Economic, Political, and Ideological Challenges |year=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319247724 |page=115}}</ref> During the pre-Roman era, several successive independent states (Massylii) existed before King [[Masinissa]] unified the people of [[Numidia]].<ref name=Histoirede>Histoire de l'émigration kabyle en France au XXe siècle: réalités culturelles&nbsp;... De Karina Slimani-Direche</ref><ref>Les cultures du Maghreb. Maria Àngels Roque, Paul Balta, Mohammed Arkoun</ref><ref>Dialogues d'histoire ancienne à l'Université de [[Besançon]], Centre de recherches d'histoire ancienne</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2020}}