The ancient Near East and northeastern Africa have been important zones in the history of human population movement.

The out-of-Africa dispersal of anatomically modern humans approximately 60,000-70,000 years ago passed through this region.

The subsequent Neolithic revolution — the transition from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled agriculture — originated in the Fertile Crescent approximately 10,000-12,000 years ago and spread from there into North Africa and Europe.

Bronze Age trade and migration created additional layers of population mixing.

Against this background of movement, the presence of Fertile Crescent ancestry in NUE001 at the level of approximately 20 percent is not anomalous.