History of Somalia The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BC. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artefacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West. According to linguists, the first Afro-Asiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East. Other scholars propose that the Afro-Asiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its
Demographics of Somalia about 15% of the nation's population. They include [[Bantus (Somalia)|Bantus]], [[Bajuni people|Bajunis]], [[Eyle people|Eyle]], [[Ethiopia]]ns, [[India]]ns, [[Pakistan]]is, [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Arabs]], [[Italy|Italians]] and [[British people|Britons]]. Somalia has been described as the most ethnically homogenous nation in Sub-Saharan Africa, ahead of [[Botswana]], which is four-fifths [[Tswana people|Tswana]]. [[File:Shaxmednuradc1.ogg|thumb|right|180x180px|Speech sample in [[Somali language|Standard Somali]].]] [[Somali language|Somali]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] are the official languages of Somalia. The Somali language is the [[first language|mother tongue]] of the Somalis, the nation's most populous ethnic group. It is a member of the [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] family. In addition to Somali, Arabic, which is