# Is there any evidence of African migration to Europe across the Mediterranean after the Neolithic

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 4, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004 "2018-03-04T13:46:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004/21 "2018-03-06T13:00:06Z")

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OK, so the Sahara has been an impediment to migration for seven million years, less occasional, geologically brief wet periods.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004/22 "2018-03-06T17:08:31Z")

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> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> OK, so the Sahara has been an impediment to migration for seven million years, less occasional, geologically brief wet periods.

Did you actually _read_ my links? It swung back and forth regularly between wet and dry, it was not “occasional” anomalous periods.

The current state and extent of the Sahara is partly an anthropogenic phenomenon - global warming and overgrazing aren’t helping.

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**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004/23 "2018-03-06T17:29:49Z")

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But the point is that the Sahara is much more of a barrier to migration and trade than the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean isn’t a barrier to migration and trade, it promotes migration and trade.

And so in the classical era North Africa wasn’t isolated, it was just the southern shore of the pan-Mediterranean world.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004/24 "2018-03-06T18:49:41Z")

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> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> And so in the classical era North Africa wasn’t isolated, it was just the southern shore of the pan-Mediterranean world.

Yep. In a sense it was as if the Mediterranean was center of the world!

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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-of-african-migration-to-europe-across-the-mediterranean-after-the-neolithic/810004/25 "2018-03-06T22:44:49Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Did you actually _read_ my links? It swung back and forth regularly between wet and dry, it was not “occasional” anomalous periods.

I read the last three and skimmed (a bit too quickly, I suppose) the first. I suppose my mistake was in thinking that your list of events was meant to be exhaustive.

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