The findings of this latter study contradict a more thorough analysis Y-chromosome analysis of the Iberian peninsula according to which haplogroup E1b1b1b surpasses frequencies of 10 percent in Southern Spain. The study points only to a very limited influence from Northern Africa and the Middle East in Iberia, both in historic and prehistoric times. The absence of microsatellite variation suggests a very recent arrival from North Africa consistent with historical exchanges across the Mediterranean during the period of Islamic expansion, namely of Berber populations. However, a study restricted to Portugal, concerning Y-chromosome lineages, revealed that The mtDNA and Y-DNA data indicate that the presence of Berbers in that region dates clearly prior to the Moorish expansion in 711 AD, so it´s not recent there at all. ... Our data indicate that male Berbers, unlike sub-Saharan immigrants, constituted long-lasting and continuous community in the country.