Ifri N'Ammar


Ifri n'Amru Moussa is an Aterian and Iberomaurusian archaeological site in Morocco located on Zemmour Plateau in the rural commune of Ait Siberne, along the national road number 6 which leads to Meknes.

Genetics

examined the remains of 7 seven individuals buried at Ifri N'Ammar c. 5325-4786 BC. The 2 samples of Y-DNA extracted belonged to the paternal haplogroup E-L19*, while the 5 samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to the maternal haplogroups M1b1*, U6a1b, U6a7b2 and U6a3. The paternal haplogroup E-L19* is very common in North Africa. The maternal haplogroups are associated with migrations from Eurasia into North Africa during the Upper Paleolithic. They were found to be closely related to Stone Age people buried at Taforalt, Morocco c. 15000 BC. Both the Taforalt and Ifri N'Ammar people were found to be related to people of the Natufian culture and Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Levant, with whom they appeared to share a common origin. The presence of Neanderthal ancestry among the Ifri N'Ammar people provided further evidence that the Taforalt and Ifri N'Ammar descended from migrants from the Levant. Genetic continuity with the Taforalt suggested that the ancestors of the Ifri N'Ammar people had adopted a Neolithic lifestyle without substantial migration. Among modern populations, the examined individuals were determined to be most closely related to the Mozabite people. Individuals examined at the Late Neolithic site of Kelif el Boroud, Morocco, carried about 50% Early European Farmer ancestry, suggesting substantial migration of Cardial Ware people from Iberia into North Africa during the Neolithic. People buried at Ifri N'Ammar and Kelif el Boroud carried a much lower amount of sub-Saharan African admixture than modern North Africans, suggesting that trans-Saharan migrations occurred after Neolithic times. They carried lower sub-Saharan African admixture than Stone Age people of Taforalt as well. The Ifri N'Ammar people were determined to have had dark skin and dark eye color. The Guanches of the Canary Islands were modeled as a mixture of ancestry from Ifri N'Ammar and Kelif el Boroud.