Are Southern Europeans part African?

Researchers analyzed genome-wide polymorphism data from about 40 West Eurasian groups to show that almost all Southern Europeans have inherited 1% – 3% African ancestry with an average mixture date of around 55 generations ago, consistent with North African gene flow at the end of the Roman Empire and subsequent Arab migrations. Levantine groups harbor 4% – 15% African ancestry with an average mixture date of about 32 generations ago, consistent with close political, economic, and cultural links with Egypt in the late middle ages. They also detect 3% – 5% sub-Saharan African ancestry in all eight of the diverse Jewish populations that were analyzed. For the Jewish admixture, they obtain an average estimated date of about 72 generations. This may reflect descent of these groups from a common ancestral population that already had some African ancestry prior to the Jewish Diasporas.