the two populations, while at the same time consistent differences between the prehistoric samples and the present inhabitants of the same geographical areas were noted. From this it can be deduced that, while central and northern Europe have undergone significant demographic changes due to post-Neolithic migrations, presumably from the eastern periphery of Europe (Pontic–Caspian steppe), Southern Europe and Sardinia in particular were affected less; Sardinians appear to be the population that has best preserved the Neolithic legacy of Western Europe. A 2016 study, published on the journal Genetics, traced the origin of the Sardinians in conjunction with a genetically isolated landrace dog breed from the island, the Sardinian Shepherd Dog or Fonni's dog, pinpointing a Middle Eastern and Central European lineage. A 2018 study by Llorente et al. found that the present-day Sardinians are the closest population to the genome of the West Eurasian backflow to the Horn of Africa in ancient times. A 2020 study by Fernandes et al. estimated that the current Sardinian genome derives roughly 62.5% from Neolithic Early European Farmers (EEF), 9.7% from the Mesolithic Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), 13.9% from ancestry related to Neolithic Iranians of Ganj Dareh (or also Caucasus-related ancestry), 10.6% from the Bronze Age Western Steppe Herders (WSH) of the Yamnaya culture and, lastly, 3.4% from Late Neolithic Moroccans (partly of European origin). Fernandes concluded that: "Major immigration into Sardinia began in the first millennium BC and, at present, no more than 56–62% of Sardinian ancestry is from its first farmers. This value is lower than previous estimates, highlighting that Sardinia, similar to every other region in Europe, has been a stage for major movement and mixtures of people". Sardinians as a whole are not simply a homogeneous genetic population: several studies have found some differences among the various villages and sub-regions of the island. In this regard, the mountainous area of Ogliastra (part of the wider region of Barbagia) is more distant from the rest of Europe and the Mediterranean than other Sardinian sub-regions located in the plains and in the coastal areas. This occurs in part because these more accessible areas show the highest genetic influxes of Bronze Age steppe, Iranian farmer-related and North African ancestries in Sardinia, although still moderate in comparison to the predominant Neolithic farmer ancestry. By contrast, the more isolated area of Ogliastra retains the highest amount of earlier Mesolithic and Neolithic ancestry on the island. According