Origin of the Basques

<h2 id="native-origin-theory">Native origin theory</h2>

<a href="/facts/Stephen_Oppenheimer/oasJ1gcT">Stephen Oppenheimer</a> has proposed that from c. 16,000 BC, the warmer climate allowed the expansion of proto-Basque groups to <a href="/facts/British_Isles/4fBquvMU">Britain and Ireland</a>, and that today’s inhabitants of Britain and Ireland descend from the Basques.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a>
In 2008, the <a href="/facts/Finland/G5Ak6T91">Finnish</a> linguist <a href="/facts/Kalevi_Wiik/NNE2mFjY">Kalevi Wiik</a> proposed that the current Basque language is the remainder of a group of "Basque languages" that were spoken in the Paleolithic throughout western Europe and that retreated with the progress of the Indo-European languages. Wiik states that his theory coincides with the homogeneous distribution of the <a href="/facts/Haplogroup_R1b_(Y-DNA)/fAuhNQX7">Haplogroup R1b</a> in <a href="/facts/Atlantic_Europe/NSs8Lvvu">Atlantic Europe</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>
Ludomir R. Lozny states that "Wiik's controversial ideas are rejected by the majority of the scholarly community, but they have attracted the enormous interest of a wider audience."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>

<h3>Paleogenetic investigations</h3>
In May 2012, the <a href="/facts/National_Geographic_Society/mlx2uHa4">National Geographic Society</a> <a href="/facts/Genographic_Project/pdoIHlDJ">Genographic Project</a> released a study that showed through detailed DNA analysis of samples from French and Spanish Basque regions that Basques share unique genetic patterns that distinguish them from the surrounding non-Basque populations. The results of the study clearly support the hypothesis of a partial genetic continuity of contemporary Basques with the preceding Paleolithic/Mesolithic settlers of their homeland.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>
<a href="/facts/Paleogenetics/7T1TwVy2">Paleogenetic</a> investigations by the <a href="/facts/Complutense_University_of_Madrid/KHRbuGLF">Complutense University of Madrid</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> indicate that the Basque people have a genetic profile coincident with the rest of the European population and that goes back to Prehistoric times.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> The <a href="/facts/Haplotype/0W2SEdu4">haplotype</a> of the <a href="/facts/Mitochondrial_DNA/goC0ex0X">mitochondrial DNA</a> known as U5 entered in Europe during the <a href="/facts/Upper_Paleolithic/BnpabgyJ">Upper Paleolithic</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> and developed varieties as the U8a, native of the <a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country</a>, which is considered to be Prehistoric,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> and as the J group, which is also frequent in the Basque population.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> The works of Alzualde A, Izagirre N, Alonso S, Alonso A, de la Rua C.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> about mitochondrial <a href="/facts/DNA/nB89Iauz">DNA</a> of the Human remains found in the Prehistoric graveyard of Alaieta, in <a href="/facts/Alava/MR7LGKEc">Alava</a>, note that there are no differences between these remains and others found across <a href="/facts/Atlantic_Europe/NSs8Lvvu">Atlantic Europe</a>.
Studies based on the <a href="/facts/Y_chromosome/nBDd0Vlg">Y chromosome</a> genetically relate the Basques with the <a href="/facts/Celts/eMCVYAFz">Celtic</a> <a href="/facts/Welsh_people/gWY430zy">Welsh</a>, and <a href="/facts/Irish_people/6Ykz2Dxl">Irish</a>;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> <a href="/facts/Stephen_Oppenheimer/oasJ1gcT">Stephen Oppenheimer</a> from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Oxford/ExVVQL6V">University of Oxford</a> says that the current inhabitants of the <a href="/facts/British_Isles/4fBquvMU">British Isles</a> have their origin in the Basque refuge during the last <a href="/facts/Ice_age/agSMvAgX">Ice age</a>. Oppenheimer reached this conclusion through the study of correspondences in the frequencies of genetic markers between various European regions.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> The <a href="/facts/Haplogroup_R1b_(Y-DNA)/fAuhNQX7">haplogroup R1b</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a> can be found most frequently in the <a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country</a> (91%), <a href="/facts/Wales/xa3W6PHH">Wales</a> (89%) and <a href="/facts/Ireland/35vYxXdP">Ireland</a> (81%).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a> The age of subclade which Basque carry, <a href="/facts/Haplogroup_R-DF27/xmwg5qzw">Haplogroup R1b-DF27</a>, "is estimated at ~4,200 years ago, at the transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, when the Y chromosome landscape of Western Europe was thoroughly remodeled. In spite of its high frequency in Basques, Y-STR internal diversity of R1b-DF27 is lower there, and results in more recent age estimates", implying it was brought to the region from elsewhere.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a> 
In 2015, a new scientific study of Basque DNA was published which seems to indicate that Basques are descendants of Neolithic farmers who mixed with local hunters before becoming genetically isolated from the rest of Europe for millennia.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden analysed genetic material from eight Stone Age human skeletons found in El Portalón Cavern in <a href="/facts/Atapuerca_Mountains/MTEKE2Vg">Atapuerca</a>, northern Spain. These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after the transition to farming in southwest Europe. The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> The official findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a> "Our results show that the Basques trace their ancestry to early farming groups from Iberia, which contradicts previous views of them being a remnant population that trace their ancestry to Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups," says Prof. Jakobsson. However, the results also showed that Basques, along with many other Iberian groups, carry both Neolithic farmer ancestry as well as some local mesolithic hunter-gatherer ancestry; showing that "the incoming farmers admixed with local, Iberian hunter-gather groups, a process that continued for at least 2 millennia."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a>
Rather, some 4500 years ago almost all Y-DNA heritage from Iberian admixture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers was replaced by the lineage of Indo-European herders from the steppe,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a> and the Basque genetic distinctiveness is a result of centuries of low population size, genetic drift, and <a href="/facts/Endogamy/RvgR5Rke">endogamy</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a> In 2019, a study was published in Science in which a more fine-tuned and deep time-transect of Iberian ancient populations including the Basque were analyzed. From their abstract, it says: "and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as a typical <a href="/facts/Iron_Age_Europe/WnvERtpx">Iron Age</a> population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia." This indicates Basques were isolated from admixture with outside groups since at least 1000BC or 3000 years before the present. In Iberia, these later admixture (interbreeding) events were with central European (Celtic), eastern Mediterranean and northern African populations, and genomic ancestry from them are found in all or most present-day Iberian populations, except for the Basque.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a>

<h3>Linguistics</h3>
In the field of linguistics, there are two lines of investigation, both based on etymology; one on toponyms, not only in the <a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country</a> but also in the rest of the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a> and <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>, and the other on the etymology of Basque words.

<h3>The aizkora controversy</h3>
Some vasconists have, in the past, suggested that Basque may have several words, all related to tools, that are derived from a word for 'stone', haitz (though this primarily means 'rock, boulder' in modern Basque). These include:

<ul><li>(h)aizkora 'axe'</li>
<li>(h)aitzur 'hoe'</li>
<li>(h)aitzur 'shears'</li>
<li>(h)aiztur 'tongs'</li>
<li>aizto 'knife'</li></ul>
Theories regarding the possibility of such a shared root have been put forward by <a href="/facts/Louis_Lucien_Bonaparte/UGSv1EIw">Louis Lucien Bonaparte</a>, <a href="/facts/Miguel_de_Unamuno/I49IfHWu">Miguel de Unamuno</a>, <a href="/facts/Julio_Caro_Baroja/8P308Nvp">Julio Caro Baroja</a> and others.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a> One implication of these hypothetical and controversial etymologies was that some aspects of the Basque language had been stable and uninfluenced by other languages since the <a href="/facts/Stone_Age/r1KMneWW">Stone Age</a>.
However, these etymologies are now doubted by mainstream vasconists. Aizkora has been identified as a loan from the <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> asciola.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> The root of the remaining terms – based on the <a href="/facts/Roncalese_dialect/96cRJJz6">Roncalese dialect</a>, which is known for its preservation of historical nasals and has the documented forms antzur, ainzter, aintzur and ainzto – was ainz- and thus the reconstructed root was *ani(t)z or *ane(t)z. There are no traces of such a nasal sound in the word haitz 'rock' (cf. Roncalese aitz).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29">29</a>

<h2 id="alternative-theories">Alternative theories</h2>
<h3>Basque-Iberism</h3>

The theory of the Basque-Iberism claims that there is a direct relationship between the <a href="/facts/Basque_language/rEMpH97p">Basque language</a> and the <a href="/facts/Iberian_language/vRQrW9PJ">Iberian language</a>, meaning either that Basque evolved out of the Iberian language, or that its precursor belonged to the same <a href="/facts/Language_family/IpJv9o5S">language family</a>. The first author to suggest this theory was <a href="/facts/Strabo/dzQ59zwn">Strabo</a> in the 1st century BC (at a time when the Iberian language was still spoken); he asserted that the <a href="/facts/Iberians/tdjNJ61l">Iberians</a> and the <a href="/facts/Aquitani/luxwaTW1">Aquitanians</a> were similar physically and that they spoke similar languages and had similar customs.
The <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">German</a> linguist <a href="/facts/Wilhelm_von_Humboldt/7tYkJbXT">Wilhelm von Humboldt</a> proposed, in the early 19th Century, a thesis in which he stated that the Basque people were Iberians, following some studies that he had conducted.
Others claim there is not a direct connection, including <a href="/facts/Koldo_Mitxelena/tpeWw2vA">Koldo Mitxelena</a> who claims the similarities between Iberian and Basque are attributed solely to the relationship of vicinity, and not to any kinship.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30">30</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31">31</a>

<h3>Caucasian origin</h3>
Some researchers have propounded the similarities between the Basque language and the <a href="/facts/Languages_of_the_Caucasus/GXBJ449t">Caucasian languages</a>, especially the <a href="/facts/Georgian_language/DoKtMLfq">Georgian language</a>.
The comparison between the <a href="/facts/Matrilineal/RFgpp4Bg">matrilineal</a> and <a href="/facts/Patrilineal/DRID1Ly4">patrilineal</a> DNA of the native peoples from the <a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country</a> and <a href="/facts/Georgia_(country)/ccBF8bBE">Georgia</a> has allowed the discovery of significant differences. The hypothesis that related both populations is only based on the typological similarities, which is not an accepted marker of linguistic kinship. These superficial similarities in the <a href="/facts/Linguistic_typology/B72Bumgm">linguistic typologies</a> do not seem to accompany a genetic relation at a population level.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32">32</a> The possible relation between Basque and the languages of the Caucasus is denied by authors such as <a href="/facts/Larry_Trask/yyQQfaPC">Larry Trask</a>, who stated that the comparisons were wrongly made, given the fact that the Basque language was compared with several Caucasian languages at the same time.

<h3>Old European</h3>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Vasconic_substratum_theory/nMXjK8Yw">Vasconic substratum theory</a>
These theories are based on the <a href="/facts/Old_European_hydronymy/XVdv1sML">Old European hydronymy</a>, assuming that the first inhabitants of Europe spoke a common tongue<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33">33</a> or languages of the same <a href="/facts/Language_family/IpJv9o5S">language family</a>. This theory is not accepted by most linguists, who believe that, in a territory as large as Europe, more than one language had to be spoken.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34">34</a>
In January 2003, the Spanish edition of the popular science magazine <a href="/facts/Scientific_American/jkl8bhUN">Scientific American</a> published a study conducted by <a href="/facts/Theo_Vennemann/jjqtqobA">Theo Vennemann</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:35" href="#fn:35">35</a> where he concluded:

<blockquote>Much of the names of settlements, rivers, mountains, valleys and landscapes in Europe would have their origin in Pre-Indo-European languages, specifically the Basque language.</blockquote>
Vennemann:

<blockquote>We do not fall in exaggeration if we say that all the Europeans are Basques.</blockquote>
According to Vennemann, the <a href="/facts/Proto-Basque_language/7c0mRb74">Proto-Basque language</a> (or a language family from which the Basque language originated) was the <a href="/facts/Stratum_(linguistics)/L73fjNSr">linguistic stratum</a> in which the Indo-European languages later settled. He found, among other examples, the Basque words ibai ('river') and ibar ('bottom') to repeat continuously in European rivers, or the word haran ('valley') in toponyms such as <a href="/facts/Val_d%2527Aran/ug8RFe2V">Val d'Aran</a>, <a href="/facts/Arendal/7vyy0SkW">Arendal</a>, <a href="/facts/Arundel/fpgUYozt">Arundel</a>, Arnach, <a href="/facts/Arnsberg/BsMpUKlf">Arnsberg</a>, Aresburg, <a href="/facts/Ahrensburg/1GX9TIcw">Ahrensburg</a>, Aranbach or <a href="/facts/Arnstein/xM6aEEvG">Arnstein</a>.
The Vennemann theory has been criticized by Basque scholars and it is not accepted by most linguists.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:36" href="#fn:36">36</a>
Specifically, Trask, after many pointed critiques of the methods employed, affirmed that Vennemann had found an <a href="/facts/Agglutinative_language/yd4Iee5p">agglutinative language</a>, but with no relation to the Basque language, and that probably it is simply the Indo-European language, as many other linguistic scholars agree.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:37" href="#fn:37">37</a>
Joseba Andoni Lakarra, a researcher of the <a href="/facts/Proto-Basque_language/7c0mRb74">Proto-Basque language</a>, criticizes the thesis of Vennemann, saying, like Trask, that he identifies modern Basque roots that are not related to the archaic Basque. In the same way, Lakarra says that, despite Basque now being an agglutinative language, there are reasons to believe that previously it was not so.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:38" href="#fn:38">38</a>

<h2 id="genetic-studies">Genetic studies</h2>

Although they are genetically distinctive in some ways due to isolation, the Basques are still very typically European in their <a href="/facts/Y-DNA/nBDd0Vlg">Y-DNA</a> and <a href="/facts/MtDNA/goC0ex0X">mtDNA</a> sequences, and in some other genetic <a href="/facts/Locus_(genetics)/JcIT8wLm">loci</a>. These same sequences are widespread throughout the Western half of Europe, especially along the Western fringe of the continent.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:39" href="#fn:39">39</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:40" href="#fn:40">40</a> 
<a href="/facts/Autosome/uN3B2AhI">Autosomal genetic</a> studies have confirmed that Basques share close genetic ties to other Europeans, especially with <a href="/facts/Spaniards/dbRtgpzl">Spaniards</a>, who have a common genetic identity of over 70 % with Basques, a homogeneity amongst both their Spanish and French populations, according to high-density SNP genotyping study done in May 2010, and a genomic distinctiveness, relative to other European populations.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:41" href="#fn:41">41</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:42" href="#fn:42">42</a>
Studies of the <a href="/facts/Human_Y-chromosome_DNA_haplogroup/HnkydH6o">Y-DNA haplogroups</a> found that on their direct male lineages, the vast majority of modern Basques have a common ancestry with other Western Europeans, namely a marked predominance of <a href="/facts/Haplogroup_R-DF27/xmwg5qzw">Haplogroup R1b-DF27</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:43" href="#fn:43">43</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:44" href="#fn:44">44</a> (70 % according to some<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:45" href="#fn:45">45</a>). This had initially been theorised to be a Palaeolithic marker.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:46" href="#fn:46">46</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:47" href="#fn:47">47</a>: p. 1365 (Table 3)  But this theory encountered inconsistencies even prior to the most recent chronological re-evaluations.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:48" href="#fn:48">48</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:49" href="#fn:49">49</a> More recent studies suggest that R1b spread up to Western Europe from southwestern Eurasia in the Neolithic period or later, between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:50" href="#fn:50">50</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:51" href="#fn:51">51</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:52" href="#fn:52">52</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:53" href="#fn:53">53</a> The age of the subclade which Basques carry, R1b-DF27, "is estimated at ~4,200 years ago, at the transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, when the Y chromosome landscape of Western Europe was thoroughly remodeled. In spite of its high frequency in Basques, Y-STR internal diversity of R1b-DF27 is lower there, and results in more recent age estimates", implying it was brought to the region from elsewhere.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:54" href="#fn:54">54</a> Next to the main lineage R1b, high frequencies of <a href="/facts/Haplogroup_E-V68/XLKgrT2I">E-V65</a>, associated with the Maghreb, Italy and Spain, were found among Basque autochthonous inhabitants of Álava province (17.3 %), Biscay province (10.9 %), and Gipuzkoa province (3.3 %).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:55" href="#fn:55">55</a> 
Several ancient DNA samples have been recovered and amplified from the Iberian and Basque region. The collection of <a href="/facts/Human_mitochondrial_DNA_haplogroup/6gsXw01l">mtDNA</a> and Y-DNA haplogroups sampled there differed significantly compared to their modern frequencies. The authors concluded that there is "discontinuity" between ancient locals and modern Basques.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:56" href="#fn:56">56</a> While Basques harbour some very archaic mtDNA lineages,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:57" href="#fn:57">57</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:58" href="#fn:58">58</a> they are not of "undiluted Palaeolithic ancestry" but of significantly early Neolithic origin with a connection to the isolate <a href="/facts/Sardinian_people/Kn4sScxd">Sardinian people</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:59" href="#fn:59">59</a> It appears that some 4,500 years ago almost all Y-DNA heritage from Iberian admixture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and <a href="/facts/Early_European_Farmers/grdH7u43">Neolithic farmers</a> was replaced by the R1b lineage of <a href="/facts/Western_Steppe_Herders/S7RecMnM">herders from the steppe</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:60" href="#fn:60">60</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:61" href="#fn:61">61</a> and the Basque genetic distinctiveness is a result of centuries of low population size, genetic drift, and endogamy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:62" href="#fn:62">62</a>
In 2015, a new scientific study of Basque DNA was published which seems to indicate that Basques are descendants of <a href="/facts/Neolithic/wRS0Bnh4">Neolithic</a> farmers who mixed with local <a href="/facts/Mesolithic/XTNS0x3r">Mesolithic</a> hunters before becoming genetically isolated from the rest of Europe for millennia.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:63" href="#fn:63">63</a> Mattias Jakobsson from <a href="/facts/Uppsala_University/zQbWhyqc">Uppsala University</a> in Sweden analysed genetic material from eight Stone Age human skeletons found in El Portalón Cavern in <a href="/facts/Atapuerca_Mountains/MTEKE2Vg">Atapuerca</a>, northern Spain. These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after the transition to farming in southwest Europe. The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:64" href="#fn:64">64</a> The findings were published in <a href="/facts/Proceedings_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences_of_the_United_States_of_America/w75CThX0">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:65" href="#fn:65">65</a> According to the study, the "results show that the Basques trace their ancestry to early farming groups from Iberia, which contradicts previous views of them being a remnant population that trace their ancestry to Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups." Still these early Neolithic farmer ancestors of the Basques did mix with local southwestern hunter-gatherers, and "the proportion of hunter gatherer-related admixture into early farmers also increased over the course of two millennia." This admixed group was also found to be ancestral to other modern-day Iberian peoples, but while the Basques remained relatively isolated for millennia after this time, later migrations into Iberia led to distinct and additional admixture in all other Iberian groups.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:66" href="#fn:66">66</a>
In 2019, a study was published in Science in which a more modern time-transect of Iberian ancient populations including the Basque were analyzed. From their abstract, it says: "and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as a typical <a href="/facts/Iron_Age_Europe/WnvERtpx">Iron Age</a> population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia." This indicates Basques were isolated from admixture with outside groups since at least 1000 BC, or 3000 years before the present. In Iberia, these later admixture (interbreeding) events were with central European (Celtic), eastern Mediterranean (Phoenician, Greek and Roman), northern African (Carthaginian and Mauritanian) and northern European (Gothic and Frankish) populations, and genomic ancestry from them are found in varying degrees in all or most present-day Iberian populations, except – albeit to a limited extent even there – for the Basque.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:67" href="#fn:67">67</a>

<h2 id="roman-records">Roman records</h2>
See also: <a href="/facts/History_of_the_Basque_people/MV8TeKPx">History of the Basque people</a> and <a href="/facts/Vascones/XVggXeq2">Vascones</a>

The early story of the Basque people was recorded by <a href="/facts/Ancient_Rome/cGqIuxPd">Roman</a> classical writers, historians and geographers, such as <a href="/facts/Pliny_the_Elder/grx67ghR">Pliny the Elder</a>, <a href="/facts/Strabo/dzQ59zwn">Strabo</a>, <a href="/facts/Ptolemy/htudGQTQ">Ptolemy</a> and <a href="/facts/Pomponius_Mela/YTocPRc6">Pomponius Mela</a>. The present-day <a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country</a> was, by the time of the Roman arrival in the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a>, inhabited by <a href="/facts/Aquitani/luxwaTW1">Aquitanian</a> and <a href="/facts/Celts/eMCVYAFz">Celtic</a> tribes. The Aquitanians spoke a language similar to, or identical to, <a href="/facts/Proto-Basque_language/7c0mRb74">Proto-Basque</a> and included several tribes, such as the <a href="/facts/Vascones/XVggXeq2">Vascones</a>, who were located at both sides of the western <a href="/facts/Pyrenees/YJ38kInj">Pyrenees</a>. In present-day <a href="/facts/Biscay/mLoosw3K">Biscay</a>, <a href="/facts/Gipuzkoa/GxfqWtp6">Gipuzkoa</a>, and <a href="/facts/%25C3%2581lava/MR7LGKEc">Álava</a> were located the <a href="/facts/Caristii/TSar1l13">Caristii</a>, <a href="/facts/Varduli/MrKEp3Ig">Varduli</a>, and <a href="/facts/Autrigones/xtp2ndAh">Autrigones</a>, whose origin is still not clear.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:68" href="#fn:68">68</a> It is not known if these tribes were of Aquitanian origin, related to the Vascones, or if they were of <a href="/facts/Celts/eMCVYAFz">Celtic</a> origin. The latter seems more likely, based on the use of Celtic and Proto-Celtic toponyms by these tribes. These tribes would have then gone through a <a href="/facts/Late_Basquisation/m72u4TXk">Basquisation</a>, caused by progress of the Aquitanian tribes on their territory.
<a href="/facts/Strabo/dzQ59zwn">Strabo</a> in the 1st century AD reported that the Ouaskonous (<a href="/facts/Vascones/XVggXeq2">Vascones</a>) inhabited the area around the town of Pompelo, and the coastal town of Oeaso (Οἰασών) in Hispania. He also mentioned other tribes between them and the <a href="/facts/Cantabri/zKYAVH0K">Cantabri</a>: the <a href="/facts/Varduli/MrKEp3Ig">Varduli</a>, <a href="/facts/Caristii/TSar1l13">Caristii</a>, and <a href="/facts/Autrigones/xtp2ndAh">Autrigones</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:69" href="#fn:69">69</a> About a century later, Ptolemy also listed the coastal Oeasso (Οἰασσώ) beside the Pyrénées to the Vascones, together with 15 inland towns, including Pompelon.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:70" href="#fn:70">70</a> Pompelo/Pompelon is easily identified as modern-day <a href="/facts/Pamplona/MQGIIgWJ">Pamplona</a>, <a href="/facts/Navarre/49tTsw4A">Navarre</a>. The border port of Irún, where a Roman harbour and other remains have been uncovered, is the accepted identification of the coastal town mentioned by Strabo and Ptolemy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:71" href="#fn:71">71</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:72" href="#fn:72">72</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:73" href="#fn:73">73</a> Three inscriptions in an early form of Basque found in eastern Navarre can be associated with the Vascones.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:74" href="#fn:74">74</a>
However, the Vascones appear to have been just one tribe within a wider language community. Across the border in what is now France, the <a href="/facts/Aquitani/luxwaTW1">Aquitanian</a> tribes of <a href="/facts/Gascony/BMKWXehe">Gascony</a> spoke a language different from the Celts and were more like the Iberi.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:75" href="#fn:75">75</a> Although no complete inscription in their language survives, a number of personal names were recorded in Latin inscriptions, which attest to Aquitanian being the precursor of modern Basque<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:76" href="#fn:76">76</a> (this extinct Aquitanian language should not be confused with <a href="/facts/Occitan_language/w0etTc3w">Occitan</a>, a Romance language spoken in Aquitaine since the beginning of the Middle Ages).

<h2 id="foundational-myths">Foundational myths</h2>
Between the 14th and 15th century, a series of historical legends were created with the objective of defending the singularity of the Basque people and their <a href="/facts/Fuero/MCN5B4op">Fuero</a> system, which regulated the relations between the Basque territories and the Crown. Among these legends are the Basque-Iberism, the Basque-Cantabrism, and The Battle of Arrigorriaga. These legends were used in a context of political vindication. In the 19th century, the <a href="/facts/Basque_nationalism/A1gpfdR9">Basque nationalists</a> would use these legends as the basis for their vindications.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:77" href="#fn:77">77</a>

<h3>Tower of Babel</h3>
Developed by Esteban de Garibay and Andrés Poza, a "legend" states that the Basque people are direct descendants of <a href="/facts/Tubal/pjERvS3n">Tubal</a>, grandson of <a href="/facts/Noah/IklCsV5Q">Noah</a>, fifth son of <a href="/facts/Japheth/Dldrp1Sk">Japheth</a>. According to the legend, Japheth and his tribe, the Iberians, departed to the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a>, settling between the <a href="/facts/Pyrenees/YJ38kInj">Pyrenees</a> and the river <a href="/facts/Ebro/Xo0GX4VE">Ebro</a>, right after the confusion of languages in the <a href="/facts/Tower_of_Babel/K0fANFqH">Tower of Babel</a>. Then, the Basque language would be one of the 72 languages that were created as a punishment of God after the <a href="/facts/Tower_of_Babel/K0fANFqH">Tower of Babel</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:78" href="#fn:78">78</a>

<h3>Basque-Cantabrism</h3>
Basque-Cantabrism is based on a historical and geographical distortion of the <a href="/facts/Cantabrian_Wars/7RgeAaIb">Cantabrian Wars</a>, based on a manuscript <a href="/facts/Gloss_(annotation)/f7MlXzqo">gloss</a> that Cristóbal de Mieres, secretary of Lope García de Salazar (1399–1476) introduced on a 1491 copy of Las bienandanzas e fortunas. This legend makes the <a href="/facts/Vascones/XVggXeq2">Vascones</a> the protagonists of these wars.

<h3>Battle of Padura/Arrigorriaga</h3>
Further information: <a href="/facts/Arrigorriaga/pqyKDbqw">Arrigorriaga § Place name</a>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Aizkolaritza/PmBNalBL">Aizkolaritza</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Basque_people/leFXJxBH">Basque people</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Basque_language/rEMpH97p">Basque language</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Basque_Country_(greater_region)/zFhbAKoh">Basque Country (greater region)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Haplogroup_R-DF27/xmwg5qzw">Haplogroup R-DF27</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Genetic_history_of_the_Iberian_Peninsula/U8yGn8D8">Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">The origins of the British; author Stephen Oppenheimer; Editor: Constable and Robinson (11 Sep 2006), ISBN 1-84529-158-1 <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Kalevi Wiik Were did european men come from (2008)The most plausible candidates for the ancient languages of the Iberian refuge are the Basque languages still spoken by about half a million people in the Basque area of Spain and France. Earlier, there were several languages belonging to this language group, but mainly because of the intensive spread of IE languages in Western Europe, the area of the Basque languages has shrunk ever since. It is probable that the entire Atlantic Coast was linguistically Basque during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the millennia after it. The area was homogeneous also in respect to subsistence system and genetics: the men were reindeer hunters and their main Y-chromosome haplogroup was R1b. <a href="https://www.jogg.info/41/Wiik.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.jogg.info/41/Wiik.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Lozny, Ludomir R (2011). Comparative Archaeologies: A Sociological View of the Science of the Past. Springer. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-4419-8224-7. <a href="978-1-4419-8224-7" target="_blank">978-1-4419-8224-7</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Doron M. Behar, Christine Harmant, [...], and The Genographic Consortium (4 May 2012). "The Basque Paradigm: Genetic Evidence of a Maternal Continuity in the Franco-Cantabrian Region since Pre-Neolithic Times". American Journal of Human Genetics. 90 (3): 486–493. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2012.01.002. PMC 3309182. PMID 22365151.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309182" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309182</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Fernández, Eva; García-Bour, Jaime; Arenal, Isabel; Pérez-Pérez, Alejandro; Valdés, Luís; Turbón, Daniel (2000). "Hacia el origen de los vascos. Secuencias de DNA mitocondrial antiguo del País Vasco" [Toward the origin of the basques. Ancient mitochondrial DNA sequences of the Basque country]. Complutum (in Spanish) (11): 101–114. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Dupanloup, Isabelle; Bertorelle, Giorgio; Chikhi, Lounès; Barbujani, Guido (July 2004). "Estimating the impact of prehistoric admixture on the genome of Europeans". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21 (7): 1361–72. doi:10.1093/molbev/msh135. PMID 15044595. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Maca-Meyer, Nicole; González, Ana M; Larruga, José M; Flores, Carlos; Cabrera, Vicente M (2001). "Major genomic mitochondrial lineages delineate early human expansions". BMC Genetics. 2 (1): 13. doi:10.1186/1471-2156-2-13. PMC 55343. PMID 11553319. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC55343" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC55343</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Alfonso-Sánchez, M. A.; Cardoso, S.; Martínez-Bouzas, C.; Peña, J. A.; Herrera, R. J.; Castro, A.; Fernández-Fernández, I.; De Pancorbo, M. M. (March 2008). "Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup diversity in Basques: A reassessment based on HVI and HVII polymorphisms". American Journal of Human Biology. 20 (2): 154–164. doi:10.1002/ajhb.20706. PMID 18172868. S2CID 24557437. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Alfonso-Sánchez, M. A.; Cardoso, S.; Martínez-Bouzas, C.; Peña, J. A.; Herrera, R. J.; Castro, A.; Fernández-Fernández, I.; De Pancorbo, M. M. (March 2008). "Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup diversity in Basques: A reassessment based on HVI and HVII polymorphisms". American Journal of Human Biology. 20 (2): 154–164. doi:10.1002/ajhb.20706. PMID 18172868. S2CID 24557437. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Alzualde, A.; Izagirre, N.; Alonso, S.; Alonso, A.; de la Rúa, C. (November 2005). "Temporal Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Basque Country: Influence of Post-Neolithic Events". Annals of Human Genetics. 69 (6): 665–679. doi:10.1046/j.1529-8817.2005.00170.x. PMID 16266406. S2CID 2643187. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">BBC Genes link Celts to Basques <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1256894.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1256894.stm</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">The origins of the British; author Stephen Oppenheimer; Editor: Constable and Robinson (11 Sep 2006), ISBN 1-84529-158-1 and from the same author Myths of British ancestry <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Los británicos descienden de los vascos de la Edad de Hielo. elcorreodigital.com <a href="http://www.elcorreodigital.com/vizcaya/prensa/20060930/sociedad/britanicos-descienden-vascos-edad_20060930.html" target="_blank">http://www.elcorreodigital.com/vizcaya/prensa/20060930/sociedad/britanicos-descienden-vascos-edad_20060930.html</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Británicos de origen vasco <a href="http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20060930/aldia/britanicos-origen-vasco_20060930.html" target="_blank">http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20060930/aldia/britanicos-origen-vasco_20060930.html</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Genes link Celts to Basques "On the Y-chromosome, the Celtic populations turn out to be statistically indistinguishable from the Basques," Professor Goldstein said. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1256894.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1256894.stm</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Karafet, T. M.; Mendez, F. L.; Meilerman, M. B.; Underhill, P. A.; Zegura, S. L.; Hammer, M. F. (21 February 2008). "New binary polymorphisms reshape and increase resolution of the human Y chromosomal haplogroup tree". Genome Research. 18 (5): 830–838. doi:10.1101/gr.7172008. PMC 2336805. PMID 18385274. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2336805" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2336805</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">The origins of the British; author Stephen Oppenheimer; Editor: Constable and Robinson (11 Sep 2006), ISBN 1-84529-158-1 and from the same author Myths of British ancestry <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Solé-Morata, Neus (2017). "Analysis of the R1b-DF27 haplogroup shows that a large fraction of Iberian Y-chromosome lineages originated recently in situ". Scientific Reports. 7 (7341): 7341. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.7341S. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07710-x. PMC 5544771. PMID 28779148. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Grant, Bob (9 September 2015). "Ancient DNA Elucidates Basque Origins". The Scientist Magazine. <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/the-nutshell/ancient-dna-elucidates-basque-origins-34853" target="_blank">https://www.the-scientist.com/the-nutshell/ancient-dna-elucidates-basque-origins-34853</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">"Ancient DNA cracks puzzle of Basque origins". BBC News. 7 September 2015. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Günther, Torsten; Valdiosera, Cristina; Malmström, Helena; Ureña, Irene; Rodriguez-Varela, Ricardo; Sverrisdóttir, Óddny Osk; Daskalaki, Evangelia A.; Skoglund, Pontus; Naidoo, Thijessen; Svensson, Emma M.; Castro, José María Bermúdez de; Carbonell, Eudald; Dunn, Michael; Storå, Jan; Iriarte, Eneko; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Carretero, José-Miguel; Götherström, Anders; Jakobsson, Mattias (2 September 2015). "Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (38): 11917–11922. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11211917G. doi:10.1073/pnas.1509851112. PMC 4586848. PMID 26351665. S2CID 12560130. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">Ancient genomes link early farmers to Basques, phys.org, September 7, 2015. <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-09-ancient-genomes-link-early-farmers.html" target="_blank">http://phys.org/news/2015-09-ancient-genomes-link-early-farmers.html</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">Gibbons, Ann (14 March 2019). "Men who lived in Spain 4500 years ago left almost no male genetic legacy today". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aax3372. S2CID 188982483. Retrieved 29 November 2020. <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/men-who-lived-spain-4500-years-ago-left-almost-no-descendants-alive-today" target="_blank">https://www.science.org/content/article/men-who-lived-spain-4500-years-ago-left-almost-no-descendants-alive-today</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">Blakemore, Erin (14 March 2019). "Surprising DNA found in ancient people from southern Europe". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190314222739/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/ancient-iberians-dna-from-steppe-men-spain/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20190314222739/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/ancient-iberians-dna-from-steppe-men-spain/</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">Bycroft, Clare; et al. (2019). "Patterns of genetic differentiation and the footprints of historical migrations in the Iberian Peninsula". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 551. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10..551B. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08272-w. PMC 6358624. PMID 30710075. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6358624" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6358624</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">Olalde, Iñigo; et al. (2019). "The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years". Science. 363 (6432): 1230–1234. Bibcode:2019Sci...363.1230O. doi:10.1126/science.aav4040. PMC 6436108. PMID 30872528. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">Trask, L. The History of Basque Routledge: 1997 ISBN 0-415-13116-2 <a href="/wiki/Larry_Trask" target="_blank">/wiki/Larry_Trask</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:28">Trask, L.† (edited by Max W. Wheeler) (2008): Etymological Dictionary of Basque Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, University of Sussex (unfinished). <a href="/wiki/Larry_Trask" target="_blank">/wiki/Larry_Trask</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:29">Trask, L. The History of Basque Routledge: 1997 ISBN 0-415-13116-2 <a href="/wiki/Larry_Trask" target="_blank">/wiki/Larry_Trask</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:30">Artetxe Sánchez, Karmele (2005): «Egungo euskoiberismoa, berrikuspen historiografikotik abiatuz», Kondaira 3, 2005, 1-53, ISSN 1698-9287. <a href="http://www.kondaira.eus/article/view/18" target="_blank">http://www.kondaira.eus/article/view/18</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:31">Artetxe Sánchez, Karmele (1999): «Egungo euskoiberismoari buruzko zenbait ohar», Euskonews & Media 54, 1999-11-12. <a href="http://www.euskonews.com/0054zbk/gaia5403eu.html" target="_blank">http://www.euskonews.com/0054zbk/gaia5403eu.html</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:32">Martinez Bouzas, Cristina (2003) "Relaciones Filogenéticas entre las Poblaciones Autóctona Vasca, Georgiana (Cáucaso) y Bereber (Mauritania) desde la Perspectiva de la Región Hipervariable del ADN Mitocondrial y Polimorfismos del Cromosoma Y". UPV / EHU <a href="#fnref:32" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:33">El Euskera arcaico Luis Núñez Astrain page 183 <a href="http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:34">El Euskera arcaico Luis Núñez Astrain page 183 <a href="http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:35">Vennemann's website Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.germanistik.uni-muenchen.de/theoretische_linguistik/vennemann.html" target="_blank">http://www.germanistik.uni-muenchen.de/theoretische_linguistik/vennemann.html</a> <a href="#fnref:35" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:36">Au sujet de l’histoire de la langue basque et de ses apparentements Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.iker.cnrs.fr/pdf/Oyhar_LangBasque_apparts_2003.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.iker.cnrs.fr/pdf/Oyhar_LangBasque_apparts_2003.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:36" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:37">El Euskera arcaico Luis Núñez Astrain pege 185 <a href="http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:37" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:38">El Euskera arcaico Luis Núñez Astrain pege 185 <a href="http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.erabili.com/zer_berri/muinetik/dokumentuak/2004/El_Euskera_Arcaico_Extension_y_Parentescos.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:38" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:39">Dupanloup, I.; et al. (2004). "Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21 (7). Oxford University Press: 1361–1372. doi:10.1093/molbev/msh135. PMID 15044595. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135</a> <a href="#fnref:39" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:40">Pericic, M.; et al. (2005). "High-Resolution Phylogenetic Analysis of Southeastern Europe Traces Major Episodes of Paternal Gene Flow Among Slavic Populations". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (10). Oxford University Press: 1964–1975. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi185. PMID 15944443. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsi185" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsi185</a> <a href="#fnref:40" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:41">Dupanloup, I.; et al. (2004). "Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21 (7). Oxford University Press: 1361–1372. doi:10.1093/molbev/msh135. PMID 15044595. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135</a> <a href="#fnref:41" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:42">Rodríguez-Ezpeleta, Naiara; et al. (2010). "High-density SNP genotyping detects homogeneity of Spanish and French Basques, and confirms their genomic distinctiveness from other European populations". Human Genetics. 128 (1): 113–7. doi:10.1007/s00439-010-0833-4. PMID 20443121. S2CID 28086737. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:42" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:43">Alonso, Santos; et al. (2005). "The place of the Basques in the European Y-chromosome diversity landscape". European Journal of Human Genetics. 13 (12). Springer Nature: 1293–1302. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201482. PMID 16094307. S2CID 7089003. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.ejhg.5201482" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.ejhg.5201482</a> <a href="#fnref:43" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:44">Li, J. Z.; Absher, D. M.; Tang, H.; Southwick, A. M.; Casto, A. M.; Ramachandran, S.; Cann, H. M.; Barsh, G. S.; et al. (2008). "Worldwide Human Relationships Inferred from Genome-Wide Patterns of Variation". Science. 319 (5866): 1100–4. Bibcode:2008Sci...319.1100L. doi:10.1126/science.1153717. PMID 18292342. S2CID 53541133. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:44" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:45">Solé-Morata, Neus (2017). "Analysis of the R1b-DF27 haplogroup shows that a large fraction of Iberian Y-chromosome lineages originated recently in situ". Scientific Reports. 7 (7341): 7341. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.7341S. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07710-x. PMC 5544771. PMID 28779148. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771</a> <a href="#fnref:45" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:46">Semino, O.; Passarino, G.; Oefner, P. J.; Lin, A. A.; Arbuzova, S.; Beckman, L. E.; De Benedictis, G.; Francalacci, P.; Kouvatsi, A.; Limborska, S.; Marcikiae, M.; Mika, A.; Mika, B.; Primorac, D.; Santachiara-Benerecetti, A. S.; Cavalli-Sforza, L. L.; Underhill, P. A. (10 November 2000). "The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic Homo sapiens sapiens in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome Perspective". Science. 290 (5494). Sciencemag.org: 1155–1159. Bibcode:2000Sci...290.1155S. doi:10.1126/science.290.5494.1155. PMID 11073453. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2013. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.290.5494.1155" target="_blank">https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.290.5494.1155</a> <a href="#fnref:46" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:47">Dupanloup, I.; et al. (2004). "Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21 (7). Oxford University Press: 1361–1372. doi:10.1093/molbev/msh135. PMID 15044595. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmolbev%2Fmsh135</a> <a href="#fnref:47" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:48">Alonso, Santos; et al. (2005). "The place of the Basques in the European Y-chromosome diversity landscape". European Journal of Human Genetics. 13 (12). Springer Nature: 1293–1302. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201482. PMID 16094307. S2CID 7089003. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.ejhg.5201482" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.ejhg.5201482</a> <a href="#fnref:48" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:49">Capelli, C; Brisighelli, F; Scarnicci, F; et al. (30 January 2013). "Y chromosome genetic variation in the Italian peninsula is clinal and supports an admixture model for the Mesolithic-Neolithic encounter". Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 44 (1): 228–39. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.11.030. PMID 17275346. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:49" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:50">Arredi, Barbara; Estella S Poloni; Chris Tyler-Smith (2007). "13. The Peopling of Europe" (PDF). In Michael H. Crawford (ed.). Anthropological Genetics: Theory, Methods and Applications. Cambridge University Press. pp. 380–408. ISBN 978-0-521-54697-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.[page needed] <a href="978-0-521-54697-3" target="_blank">978-0-521-54697-3</a> <a href="#fnref:50" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:51">Balaresque, Patricia; Bowden, Georgina R.; Adams, Susan M.; Leung, Ho-Yee; King, Turi E.; et al. (2010). Penny, David (ed.). "A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for European Paternal Lineages". PLOS Biology. 8 (1). Public Library of Science: e1000285. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000285. PMC 2799514. PMID 20087410. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799514" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799514</a> <a href="#fnref:51" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:52">Myres, Natalie M.; et al. (2010). "A major Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b Holocene era founder effect in Central and Western Europe". European Journal of Human Genetics. 19 (1). Springer Nature: 95–101. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.146. PMC 3039512. PMID 20736979. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3039512" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3039512</a> <a href="#fnref:52" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:53">Sjödin, Per; Olivier François (2011). "Wave-of-Advance Models of the Diffusion of the Y Chromosome Haplogroup R1b1b2 in Europe". PLOS ONE. 6 (6). Public Library of Science: e21592. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...621592S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021592. PMC 3123369. PMID 21720564. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123369" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123369</a> <a href="#fnref:53" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:54">Solé-Morata, Neus (2017). "Analysis of the R1b-DF27 haplogroup shows that a large fraction of Iberian Y-chromosome lineages originated recently in situ". Scientific Reports. 7 (7341): 7341. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.7341S. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07710-x. PMC 5544771. PMID 28779148. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544771</a> <a href="#fnref:54" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:55">Rodriguez, Javier; Palencia-Madrid, Leire; Mendoza, Vivian C.; Garcia-Bertrand, Ralph; De Pancorbo, Marian M.; Herrera, Rene J. (2021). "The Y chromosome of autochthonous Basque populations and the Bronze Age replacement". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 5607. Bibcode:2021NatSR..11.5607L. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-84915-1. PMC 7970938. PMID 33692401. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7970938" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7970938</a> <a href="#fnref:55" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:56">Levy-Coffman, Ellen (17 August 2006). "We Are Not Our Ancestors: Evidence for Discontinuity between Prehistoric and Modern Europeans". Journal of Genetic Genealogy. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2016. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090408043838/http://www.jogg.info/22/Coffman.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20090408043838/http://www.jogg.info/22/Coffman.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:56" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:57">González, Ana M.; Oscar García; José M. Larruga; Vicente M. Cabrera (23 May 2006). "The mitochondrial lineage U8a reveals a Paleolithic settlement in the Basque country". BMC Genomics. 7 (1): 124. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-7-124. PMC 1523212. PMID 16719915. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1523212" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1523212</a> <a href="#fnref:57" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:58">Behar, DM; Harmant, C; Manry, J; van Oven, M; Haak, W; Martinez-Cruz, B; Salaberria, J; Oyharçabal, B; Bauduer, F; Comas, D; Quintana-Murci, L (9 March 2012). "The Basque Paradigm: Genetic Evidence of a Maternal Continuity in the Franco-Cantabrian region since Pre-Neolithic Times". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 90 (3): 486–493. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2012.01.002. PMC 3309182. PMID 22365151. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309182" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309182</a> <a href="#fnref:58" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:59">Günther, Torsten; et al. (2015). "Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (38): 11917–11922. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11211917G. doi:10.1073/pnas.1509851112. PMC 4586848. PMID 26351665. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848</a> <a href="#fnref:59" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:60">Gibbons, Ann (14 March 2019). "Men who lived in Spain 4500 years ago left almost no male genetic legacy today". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aax3372. S2CID 188982483. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020. <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/men-who-lived-spain-4500-years-ago-left-almost-no-descendants-alive-today" target="_blank">https://www.science.org/content/article/men-who-lived-spain-4500-years-ago-left-almost-no-descendants-alive-today</a> <a href="#fnref:60" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:61">Blakemore, Erin (14 March 2019). "Surprising DNA found in ancient people from southern Europe". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201202232354/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/ancient-iberians-dna-from-steppe-men-spain/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20201202232354/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/ancient-iberians-dna-from-steppe-men-spain/</a> <a href="#fnref:61" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:62">Bycroft, Clare; et al. (2019). "Patterns of genetic differentiation and the footprints of historical migrations in the Iberian Peninsula". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 551. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10..551B. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08272-w. PMC 6358624. PMID 30710075. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6358624" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6358624</a> <a href="#fnref:62" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:63">Grant, Bob (9 September 2015). "Ancient DNA Elucidates Basque Origins". the-scientist.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2016. <a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/43950/title/Ancient-DNA-Elucidates-Basque-Origins/" target="_blank">http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/43950/title/Ancient-DNA-Elucidates-Basque-Origins/</a> <a href="#fnref:63" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:64">"Ancient DNA cracks puzzle of Basque origins". BBC News. 7 September 2015. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2016. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224</a> <a href="#fnref:64" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:65">Günther, Torsten; et al. (2015). "Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (38): 11917–11922. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11211917G. doi:10.1073/pnas.1509851112. PMC 4586848. PMID 26351665. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586848</a> <a href="#fnref:65" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:66">"Ancient genomes link early farmers to Basques". phys.org. 7 September 2015. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2016. <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-09-ancient-genomes-link-early-farmers.html" target="_blank">http://phys.org/news/2015-09-ancient-genomes-link-early-farmers.html</a> <a href="#fnref:66" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:67">Olalde, Iñigo; et al. (2019). "The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years". Science. 363 (6432): 1230–1234. Bibcode:2019Sci...363.1230O. doi:10.1126/science.aav4040. PMC 6436108. PMID 30872528. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108</a> <a href="#fnref:67" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:68">Ethnic maps of Iberia Archived October 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm" target="_blank">http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:68" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:69">Strabo, Geography, III, 4.10. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.4.10" target="_blank">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.4.10</a> <a href="#fnref:69" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:70">Ptolemy, Geography, II, 5: Tarraconensis Hispania. <a href="#fnref:70" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:71">R.J.A. Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (2000)[page needed] <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" target="_blank">/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources</a> <a href="#fnref:71" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:72">Santos Yanguas, Juan (1988). "Identificación de las ciudades antiguas de Álava, Guipúzcoa y Vizcaya. Estado de la cuestión" [Identification of the ancient cities of Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya State of the question]. Studia Historica: Historia Antigua (in Spanish) (6): 121–130. hdl:10366/73103. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:72" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:73">Ramírez Sádaba, José Luis (2006). "Las ciudades Vasconas segun las fuentes literarias y su evolucion en la tardoantigüedad" [The Basque cities according to literary sources and their evolution in late antiquity]. In Guerri, Elena Conde; Fernández, Rafael González; Vivancos, Alejandro Egea (eds.). Espacio y tiempo en la percepción de la antigüedad tardía: homenaje al profesor Antonino González Blanco, in maturitate aetatis ad prudentiam (in Spanish). EDITUM. pp. 185–199. ISBN 978-84-8371-667-0. <a href="978-84-8371-667-0" target="_blank">978-84-8371-667-0</a> <a href="#fnref:73" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:74">R. L. Trask, The History of Basque (1997), chapter 6. <a href="#fnref:74" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:75">Strabo, Geography, book 4, chapter 2. <a href="#fnref:75" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:76">R. L. Trask, The History of Basque (1997), chapter 6. <a href="#fnref:76" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:77">Bazán y Otros, Iñaki (2006). CIUDAD:Madrid EDITORIAL: La esfera de los libros (ed.). De Túbal a Aitor. Historia de Vasconia. Esfera de los Libros. ISBN 84-9734-570-3. <a href="84-9734-570-3" target="_blank">84-9734-570-3</a> <a href="#fnref:77" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:78">Bazán y Otros, Iñaki (2006). CIUDAD:Madrid EDITORIAL: La esfera de los libros (ed.). De Túbal a Aitor. Historia de Vasconia. Esfera de los Libros. ISBN 84-9734-570-3. <a href="84-9734-570-3" target="_blank">84-9734-570-3</a> <a href="#fnref:78" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Origin of the Basques open-in-new

Origin of the Basques