Modern Europeans share an important gene pool with the Neolithic population of Anatolia. Missing from the genome reconstructions of ancient Middle Eastern societies is a signature characteristic of sub-Saharan African peoples. Lazaridis et al. (2022) examined aDNA data from 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc area (Anatolia, Balkans, Western Near East) spanning ~11,000 years of history. It was shown that during the Copper and Early Bronze Ages, two main directions of migration were involved: waves of genes from the eastern regions of the Middle East towards the north, and expansions of Yamnaya steppe herders towards the south. The Yamnaya culture initiated a mass migration to the Balkans around 5000-4500 BC - some Balkan communities inherited almost all of their genes from this expansion - and then mixed with the local population, creating a complex ancestral mosaic from which the Greek and Paleo-Balkan languages emerged. At the same time, Yamnaya expansion reached Armenia through the Caucasus: around 4000 BC, the Armenian area became an enclave of a small but lasting share of steppe genes, with male lines of Yamnaya descendants surviving there much longer than on the steppe itself. The Armenian language arose from this very mix, as a relative of the Indo-European languages of Europe with a common Yamnaya heritage. Neolithic Anatolia, on the other hand, had a different genetic background. Early Anatolian communities combined the native gene pool of ancient hunter-gatherers with incoming influences from the east - from Caucasian, Mesopotamian and Levantine populations. After about 6500 BC, there was a leveling off of these genetic differences in Anatolia under the influence of a steady influx of eastern genes (corresponding to the spread of Anatolia's ancient Protoural languages). What definitely stands out is the fact that Anatolia remained virtually free from the influence of genes from the steppe until the Bronze Age. On the contrary, half of the ethnic origin of the Yamnaya shepherds were representatives of the West Asian population (from the Caucasus and southern Anatolia/Levant). Migrations toward the steppe began as early as around 7000 BC, which means that the later Yamnaya movement to the Caucasus was a de facto return of part of their ancestors to the original West Asian area. Genetic affinity of Europeans and Neolithic Anatolians. The genomes of modern Europeans bear clear traces of Anatolian Neolithic influence. Lazaridis et al. (2022) showed that early populations of European farmers were a mix of Neolithic Anatolian genes and local hunter-gatherers. In other words, "European farmers" (early Neolithic farmers) inherited the bulk of their autosomal DNA from Neolithic Anatolians. In their five-component genetic model, the proportion of the Anatolian component in the genes of European farmers was dominant, while the Levantine component contributed by Yamnaya was balanced 1:1 with the Anatolian . As a result, modern Europeans share an important gene pool with the Neolithic Anatolian population. This Anatolian component is readily apparent in PCA analyses and f3/f4 statistics - both in archaeological Neolithic samples (e.g., LBK and Kardial cultures) and in modern southern and eastern European populations - indicating the inheritance of genes of the first farmers from the Middle East. No significant migrations from sub-Saharan Africa Paleogenetics results show no significant influx of African genes into the Neolithic Near East. Lazaridis et al. (2016) clearly stated that statistical analyses of Natufite populations (ancient hunters of the Levant) do not reveal any elevated affiliation with sub-Saharan African populations . The presence of an African component in f4/Nascent Eurasia statistics is the same as in other ancient Eurasians, ruling out additional mixing with sub-Saharan populations. Similarly, mixing models (qpAdm) of Neolithic populations of Anatolia and the Levant explain their origins based solely on local and Caucasian sources, without the need to introduce an African element. In conclusion, the genome reconstructions of ancient Middle Eastern societies lack the signature characteristic of sub-Saharan African peoples, indicating that migrations from this region did not play a significant role in the Neolithic era of the Southern Arc .