At the end of the Second Age, there were Silvan Elves living in the western vales of these hills, though at that time the hills were known as Emyn Duir, the Dark Mountains. That name referred only to the dense shade of the trees, and not to the Shadow that would pass through the Forest and eventually lead to its becoming known as 'Mirkwood'. That same Shadow of Sauron caused the Elves of these hills to remove to the northern fringes of the Forest, where they established the Woodland Realm.
The encroaching darkness was also cause of the change of name from Emyn Duir to Emyn-nu-Fuin 'hills under nightshade'. We do not have sufficiently detailed dating evidence to say whether there were still Elves in these hills at the time they became known as Emyn-nu-Fuin, but given that they were fleeing the Shadow that gave rise to that name, on balance it seems likely that they would already have departed.
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