Although modern populations in the Maghreb speak languages belonging to the Afro-Asiatic family, which is associated with the Capsian culture, it has been hypothesized that the Capsians' predecessors, the Iberomaurusians, may have spoken a language(s) from a different phylum. This was inferred from the likelihood that the Iberomaurusians existed prior to the advent of the Proto-Afro-Asiatic language, as well as from the presence of what appears to be an older, pre-Afro-Asiatic population substratum in parts of the Atlas Mountains.
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