There are several locations proposed as possible sites for prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking peoples: Mesopotamia, the Levant, East Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa, with the most recent Bayesian studies supporting the view that Semitic originated in the Levant circa 3800 BC, and was later also introduced to the Horn of Africa in approximately 800 BC from the southern Arabian peninsula, and to North Africa via Phoenician colonists at approximately the same time. This is supported by the fact that by far the earliest recored examples of Semitic languages are to be found in Western Asia, and considerably the largest number of historically recorded Semitic languages occur in this region also.