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Table 1 Divergence time estimation between African populations speaking languages belonging to the main language phyla. All the estimates were inferred with MSMC using one individual from each population. CRHG represents central African rainforest hunter-gatherers, including east central African rainforest hunter-gatherers (East CRHG) Mbuti, west central African rainforest hunter-gatherers (West CRHG) Baka, Biaka, Bakola, and Bedzan. San: Khomani San and Ju|'hoan; Niger-Congo: Yoruba. Nilo-Saharan: Sengwer. Afroasiatic: Rendille. CRHG: Baka, Biaka, Bakola, Bedzan, Mbuti. The divergence times that we report here are based on relative cross-coalescent rates at 50% (25–75%)

From: African evolutionary history inferred from whole genome sequence data of 44 indigenous African populations

Population 1

Population 2

Divergence time (kya)

San

Niger-Congo

~ 100 (59–160)

San

Nilo-Saharan

~ 100–120 (44–160)

San

Afroasiatic

~ 100–120 (52–160)

San

Hadza and Sandawe

~ 68–85 (44–100)

San

CRHG

~ 78–85 (52–120)

West CRHG

East CRHG

~ 44 (31–50)

Niger-Congo

Afroasiatic

~ 34 (22–54)

Niger-Congo

Nilo-Saharan

~ 28 (17–41)

Nilo-Saharan

Afroasiatic

~ 16 (11–16)

Hadza

Sandawe

~ 23 (17–23)

Khomani San

Ju|’hoan

~ 30 (24–30)