Basque Origins | DNA, Language, and History

[Music] [Music] basque origins dna language and identity from the spanish and french valleys of the western pyrenees to the atlantic coast of the bay of biscay the historically isolated basque people have lived for millennia in this diverse and fertile region the basque have retained their unique non-indo-european language and dialects ayushkara as well as their own cultural and regional identities as the surrounding populations of europe have shifted over the ages again and again the basque people remain known today by its inhabitants as euskadi pais bosco the basque country has become a region famous for its cuisine and wine of ancient grapes such as tempranillo of traditional fishing villages and picturesque cities tourism has replaced much of history's strife but defining usgaleria is as difficult as defining the word heria itself in ayushkara its root heady can mean everything from village to population to nation a uscaleria is the collective identity of this ancient people prehistoric basque country the franco-cantabrian region was an oasis of life during the last glacial maximum one of the most densely populated glacial refugia in europe yet this land is dense not only in flora and fauna but history itself basque country has been the setting of countless significant historical events from pre-history to the present day and the home of crucial archaeological discoveries including neolithic dolmens and burial sites and famously the oldest known european cave paintings such as the depictions of paleolithic megafauna in the caves of lasko the first evidence of modern humans arriving in the northern iberian peninsula is from circa 40 000 bce neolithic stone tools and pottery reveal many details of their lives the discovery of geometric micro lifts such as small hefted blades chart the spread of homo sapiens in this case from france into spain yet they were not alone neanderthal populations in the southern iberian peninsula at this time are well documented specifically south of the ebro river but strangely enough there have been no discoveries of modern humans south of the ebro until thirty four thousand to thirty two thousand bce six to eight thousand years after they arrived in the region the river seems to have formed a natural boundary dividing homo sapiens from homo neanderthalensis for millennia imagine living in a world where a broad river divided your people from an entirely different species or subspecies of humans in the memory of your people it had always been that way there had always been the other and that world persisted for thousands of years what kind of territorial behavior did that shape in our ancestors waves of early humans claimed the region keeping it as densely populated as ever we know a small but ever-growing amount about these early peoples most are named for their industries primarily stone tools and the various ways they created them in succession this region saw peoples referred to as mustarians and oreg nations who emerged from elsewhere and introduced their technologies to the iberian peninsula but other peoples who originated in this region such as the soya train and azillian spread their contributions far and wide especially the nomadic magdalenians who emerged circa 17 000 years ago and covered nearly all of europe according to some archaeological discoveries agriculture and animal husbandry appear to have taken a late hold in basque country arriving around 8000 bce the first animals found in their burials are companion dogs but the remains of oxen pigs and varieties of sheep and goats have been found in later excavations as well hundreds of dolmens and megaliths cover the landscape many on hilltops and ridgelines some are massive burial sites others appear to have religious significance and still others do not they may only be for storage or shelter some also denote boundaries delineating the territory of different tribes a 2004 dna study published in oxford academic inferred past admixture processes in the european population from genetic diversity at eight loci including autosomal mitochondrial and y-linked polymorphisms this study attempting to characterize the larger european genetic families needed comparison samples from pre-modern peoples they found that the basques could be used as a modern genetic stand-in for neolithic populations along with a few other isolated populations from north africa sardinia and the near east in 2013 a mitochondrial dna study published in plos one tracked the female genetic lineages of the franco-cantibrian region and found that 35 percent of them were pre-neolithic which suggests that the autonomous populations currently inhabiting this region show perceptible signals of genetic continuity with mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups that took refuge in the franco-cantabrian fringe during the last glacial and postglacial periods of europe a 2015 dna study published in proceedings of the national academy of sciences addressed the origins of eight human skeletons found in el portalon cavern in atapuerca in northern spain they were neolithic farmers who lived between 1500 to 3500 bce but their genes were mixed with those of local stone age hunters this unique mixture was compared to populations of modern europeans and matched most closely the basque population of today but that only caused more debate the findings contradicted the evidence that agriculture got a late start in basque country as these authors suggest that basques and their language may actually be linked with the initial spread of agriculture across europe the authors were also surprised to learn of the similarity between early iberian farmers and the basque because it challenged the consensus that the basque have existed unchanged since neolithic times their language a supposed relic of the pre-agricultural diversity of languages found in ancient europe are they not quite as isolated as we have thought this leads to several possible scenarios first that indo-european languages may have come earlier or later depending on whether the competing linguistic anatolian or step hypotheses may be true second that indo-european languages may have come into western europe more than once with a second wave coinciding with the yamnia and corded ware cultures and third if the basque are truly the descendants of these iberian farmers it is possible that their language might be distantly related to sardinia where a possible connection to the pre-roman language paleo sardo was spoken archaeologists have discovered sardinian artifacts in basque country but that is all the evidence apart from some tantalizing linguistic commonalities that exists 2017 dna study published in plos genetics brought this idea into even greater focus they found that the step invaders and migrants who reshaped the rest of europe throughout much of its history in succeeding waves happened far less on the iberian peninsula portuguese and basque samples were found to be virtually unchanged from neolithic times as the authors noted unlike further north a mix of earlier tongues and indo-european languages persist until the dawn of iberian history a pattern that resonates with the real but limited influx of migrants around the bronze age basque culture and language basque country has historically comprised of settlements located along the western edge of the pyrenees currently organized in seven provinces on the southern side of the pyrenees and superhero la purdie and nafarawa the northern side euskara has five main dialects a non-indo-european language isolate with no close relationship to any other extant language euskara is spoken by nearly 30 percent or three-quarters of a million basques the vast majority are in the spanish region only seven percent are in the french portion the french dialects are navares la portien and sulatan and the spanish dialects are upper navares biscayne and gipuskowon these dialects are sometimes mutually incomprehensible especially in the case of sulatan studies suggest that these dialects branched from a unified basque language sometime during the middle ages and developed according to geographical cultural political and administrative reasons although structurally unlike any indo-european language the official euskara bachua today contains many loanwords from romance languages up to 40 percent of its vocabulary and a modified latin script the mystery of euskara's long linguistic isolation has led to many theories of its origins and possible related languages most of these hypotheses are very tenuous such as basque iberic comparisons based on fragments of extinct variations of vasconic aquitanian and iberian tongues or they are based on coincidence and pseudoscientific speculation ranging from the popular assertion that the basques are descended from old testament patriarchs to the folk beliefs that basques are related to the distant kartvalian populations of caucasus georgia to a slightly more plausible relation to the ancient chechen language neighbors of the georgians whose language structure appears closer to ayuskara these models of danae caucasian language families might mean that the basque and their ancestors originated from the caucasus but only the latest genetic studies of modern basque samples have reached clear conclusions we'll get to them in a minute earliest documents the spanish anthropologist and author julio karo baroja described the basque land as divided in two a mountain area and a flat area for him ancient historians and geographers clearly believed that the territory of the basques comprised two very different parts in the south by the river ebro there was the flattest land suitable for growing cereals which in a text by titus livius at least is known under the name of aguer vasconum but apart from this area which is the first known and referred to by the romans where there were several major population centers the basques occupied a completely different territory known as saltos vasconum the word saltus gives an idea of a land of woods pastures forest and to some extent monstrous areas thus the basques were present in an area between the banks of the river ebro through the agar to the shores of the ocean and up to the snowy summits of the pyrenees through the saltus which was the biggest part waves of migrants mostly celts invaded and settled in the iberian peninsula over time including the belgae as julius caesar called them and the ancestors of the gauls many of them became known as celt iberian tribes and they were described by classical authors in great and sometimes contradictory detail livies is the earliest record who mentions the tribes while otherwise describing the sartorian war of 76 bce he tells of departing the city calagurus nasika and crossing the ebro river to enter the upland regions of the vascones tribe from there they accessed the territory of their neighbors the baroness the vascones lived on the slopes of the western pyrenees and among the lowlands of the bay of biscay where stand the current day cities of aragon navarre and northeastern la rioja their name vascones evolved into the word basque although the basque are not uniquely of the vascones and there is no direct proof that the vasconus themselves were related to present-day basques nor that the language they spoke is related to euskara many other major and minor tribes make up the entirety of basque country most importantly the tribe to the north of the vascones the aquatani caesar tried to classify the distinction between the kelt iberian tribes and the aquatani all gaul is divided into three parts one of which the belgae inhabit the aquitani another and in the third those who call themselves celts and we call gauls all these differ from each other in language customs and laws the river garonne separates the gauls from the aquatani the romans called the land of the aquatani novem papulania or the land of the nine tribes and soon expanded it to include twelve the capital elusa modern oz oversaw their presence in the region for four centuries they called the land of the vascones wasconia other major tribes included the varduli charistiai atriganese tarbelli and cantabri strabo the greek gave the atriganies their name in his geography he called them alotrigonis a word based on the greek for strange people this might be an indication for how unique and contrary the proto-basque people were the vasconus name itself suggests rude origins either the mountain people or frontier people although some prefer the interpretation of pointed leaves or the tall ones before their conversion to christianity these tribes worshipped their own gods including a goddess named mari and her consort sugar there were likely many more in their pantheon but few details have survived their mythology was rich with witches who were often priestesses of mari lamiak nymphs in the rivers the mairu and gentile giants who built the dolmens along with pestering imps and wild bear men of the woods the persistence with which the basque resisted the demands of their roman christian and islamic rulers may give an insight into the success of their historic isolation even the visigoths at the height of their power who claimed basque country in the 5th century ce could not hold it they and their successors the franks placed wardens on the borders to at least guard against the basque they could not conquer these became the duchy of cantabria in the south and the duchy of vasconia in the north neither remained loyal to the visigoths or the francs for any sustained amount of time it finally took a concerted effort by charlemagne beginning in 768 ce to forcibly convert the pagan basques centuries after most of europe had already taken up the cross yet umayyad accounts from the same period described the basques on the northern frontier of al-andulus as pagan magi who still worshipped many gods so it seems charlemagne's success was limited in the most famous myth associated with his reign it was at the pass of roncesvales that roland perished fighting the basque tribes of the mountains as charlemagne's court biographer einhardt related in his vita caroli magni while he was vigorously pursuing the saxon war almost without a break and after he had placed garrisons at selected points along his border charles marched into spain in 778 with as large a force as he could mount his army passed through the pyrenees and charles received the surrender of all the towns and fortified places he encountered he was returning to francia with his army safe and intact but high in the pyrenees on that return trip he briefly experienced the basks that place is so thoroughly covered with thick forest that it is the perfect spot for an ambush charles's army was forced by the narrow terrain to proceed in a long line and it was at that spot high on the mountain that the basques set their ambush the basques had the advantage in this skirmish because of the lightness of their weapons and the nature of the terrain whereas the franks were disadvantaged by the heaviness of their arms and the unevenness of the land eggie hard the overseer of the king's table anselm the count of the palace and roland the lord of the breton march along with many others died in that skirmish but this deed could not be avenged at that time because the enemy had so dispersed after the attack that there was no indication as to where they could be found many outsiders have tried to grasp the heart of the basque people and their country but there remains an inherent elusive mystery to them that millennia of conquerors have failed to vanquish they've remained stubbornly unknown unbowed even when they are not free keeping their language and culture alive now with modern historical and historiographical tools along with archaeological discoveries and new technologies such as these dna and isotope studies the origins of the basque people are at last coming into clearer focus it is now accepted in both the historical and scientific records that the basque have been living a solitary existence in their land for millennia yet it leads to that other more compelling question how as every other nation has risen and fallen and nearly every other tribe and nation has come and gone or at least been subsumed and admixed into larger genomic populations how have the basque and nearly the basque alone retained their territory identity and language a new study according to genetic origins singularity and heterogeneity of basques published in current biology it is the ayushkara language itself that might be the key to their permanence wading into what they call a lively debate on the population history of the basque the authors analyzed the genetics of the basque in relation to their language their geography and the internal divisions of their dialects and provinces their study is the latest in an investigation that began with a study in 1945 which discovered a high percentage of basque people belonged to a rare rhesus negative blood group this led to more investigations over the years that have further identified the genetic uniqueness of the basque population but modern authors have been no less contradictory than the classical ones some early studies suggest the basque populations are no more unique than any other european other studies show a genetic difference between spanish basques and french basques while other studies find none but these were all partial studies done with incomplete populations and insufficient techniques such as the limits of uniparental genomes and allele frequencies of classical genetic markers in this latest effort conducted through the basque country of both france and spain 190 genetic samples were taken from a variety of people in different provinces many of whom spoke different languages they sequenced these genomes to characterize six hundred thousand different markers making their genetic survey the most detailed exploration yet of the basque genome by comparing these genomes with neighboring populations of modern europeans they were able to create a much higher resolution picture of basque genetics they discovered that the basque are indeed genetically unique and distinctly separate from other european populations the genetic samples of the basques are the least similar to north african samples yet still remain on the periphery of european haplotypes finding notable similarity with none other than sardinia but these similarities may not mean the basque and sardinians are related it may only mean that in similar insular isolated populations the results of inbreeding that these genetic markers suggest may lead to similar outcomes but the data from the populations known as the peribasques yields its own insights these are the populations living at the periphery of basque country whose ancestors are a mixture of basque and other western european haplotypes as the authors write basques share haplotypes exclusively with the internal groups in the franco-cantabrian region peribasques mainly share haplotypes internally with the groups in the region but also with the non-franco-cantabrian spanish and french groups acting as a buffer zone between basques and the surrounding external populations the data suggests gene flow between the franco-cantabrian region and these external groups during the medieval to renaissance eras at two very specific dates one involving a small transfer of dna and one large at these two points sometime between the 11th and 16th centuries ce an event might have occurred that mixed these populations to a degree not seen before nor since estimates of effective population size based on these findings give the basques low and stable values while the spanish and french populations boomed starting around a thousand generations ago what these results indicate is a pattern of isolation and continuous inbreeding among the basques this study also then compared modern basque dna with ancient samples the basques matched most closely pre-neolithic hunter-gatherers and european neolithic farmers as in the 2015 study but also indicated a connection to post-neolithic step herders of the pontic caspian step yamnia ancestry both basque and peribasque samples matched the least with samples from the levant and iran but shared a bit more with anatolian farmers but their models did not show a clear basque genetic identity before the iron age this suggests that demographic influences in the relatively recent past such as during the roman and islamic periods may have been the defining events for the basque identity but it wasn't the invasions of those people who changed the basque the genetic records of the parabask show the shocks done to them from those events the conflicts between the islamic troops and the christian kingdoms to maintain their territories in the iberian peninsula expanding from the alleged battle of covadonga in 718 until the end of the iberian islamic rule with the fall of the nasrid kingdom of granada in 1492 but for the basque themselves the result was the opposite they withdrew somehow into themselves it was the unique ability of the basque to resist that external pressure that crystallized their language culture and genetics and that resistance the answer to the question how might be found in their unique ayushkara language analysis revealed a remarkable microgeographical genetic structure and clustering of the basque groups in each little village and town across basque country the authors discovered a tremendous breadth of diversity and heterogeneity within the basque genome they write this genetic substructure is more complex than the northern southern orographic and administrative limits between the present-day spanish and french territories separated by the pyrenees mountains instead haplotype-based methods enabled us to accurately define a central basque cluster plus western and eastern basque and peribasque genetic clusters clarifying previous results that barely suggested this pattern in the franco-cantabrian region by using classical markers and in each of those towns and villages a different version of euskara is spoken conclusions the model that seems to work best is one where the euskara language acts as a cultural barrier against the spread of new languages and cultures the romans were unable to get the tribes to speak latin in much the same way that first the umayyads and then the nasrids were unable to get them to speak arabic the language diversity matches the areas of greatest basque identity meaning that these impenetrable local dialects kept a global language from overtaking them but within their culture itself remains an unbroken demand for independence whether this is a greater fire burning in their hearts than people of other tribes and nations or if they are just the random survivors of history who increased their luck by retreating into the mountains again and again will never truly be known yet they still make their mark on history it was basque separatists in december 1973 who assassinated admiral carrero blanco with a car bomb one of the key events that led to the end of fascist spain and the continuing basque separatist movements of today what still remains unknown however is what makes this particular language and people so resistant to outsiders dna analyses and linguistic models can correctly describe the coming and going of populations and the physical actuality of events the how but for now at least the why the basque have remained isolated when so many others have not must remain a mystery ooh

Channel: Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Views: 554,733

Rating: 4.8711948 out of 5

Keywords: basque history, Basque DNA, Basque Language, Basque Origins, Ancient Iberia, Ancient Europe, Medieval Iberia, Medieval History, Ancient History, Neolithic, Neolithic Europe, Basque Country, Basque Mythology, Basque Religion, Basque Independence, Indo European, Ancient DNA, Basque Mystery, Iberian History, Ancient Rome, Roman Empire, Celtic, Ancient Celts, Celtic Iberia, Celtic Europe, Euskara, Visigoths, european history, Paganism, vascos, Cro-Magnon, DNA, Haplogroup R-DF27

Id: Un1QtE5swEU

Length: 30min 46sec (1846 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/pastanagas]

I liked it, good job. I would have liked if you mentioned the latest research about Iberian language, or that the Aquitanians were basically Basques ethnically speaking, not only the Vascons. Also for your information there is two types of Basque mythology, the one you mention is from the oral tradition, and then there's a different one from the altars from Roman times that were found in the Pyrenees that have Vasconic names on them.