The genetic analysis of ancient fossils found in Atapuerca in northern Spain, seems to have solved the mystery of the origin of one of the most enigmatic peoples of Europe. Basque
The genetic characteristics of this group of northern Spain and southern France and its unique language, have intrigued anthropologists for decades.
One of the prevailing theories is who came from a group of ancient hunters who had not crossed with other populations. That is, they were genetically linked to pre-agricultural populations.
But now, a study published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) said that descended from the first farmers who were associated with hunters local. And it was later that they were isolated for thousands of years
This means that the origin of the Basques is more recent than previously thought.. Goes back to 5,000 years
Descendants of farmers
The Basques have a unique language, Euskera, which is not related to any other European language, or indeed the world.
In addition, the Basques, inhabitants of a mountainous region on the Atlantic Europe, have a different from their neighbors in France and Spain genetic pattern.
Therefore, it was logical to believe they were representatives of an older group of people.
Mattias Jakobsson, a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, analyzed the genomes of eight farmers in El Portalón (Atapuerca) that lived between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago, after the transition to agriculture in the southwest of Europe.
The results of the study showed that the Iberian farmers primitive are the closest of the current Basque ancestors.
comparisons with other ancient populations of European farmers show that agriculture reached the Iberian Peninsula at the hands of the same groups that migration into northern and central Europe.
These pioneers spread from the Near East across Europe about 7,000 years ago, in the period known as the Neolithic.
Once these farmers settled, intermarried with the local hunter-gatherers, descendants of the populations that inhabited Europe during the last Ice Age.
Differences
The new study also explains some of the differences between the Basques and their neighbors in France and Spain.
After the hunter-gatherer populations mingled with the farmers, the ancestors of the Basques were isolated human groups that surrounded by a number of factors related to geography and culture .
“It’s hard to speculate, but we worked with Basque historians and is evident from the historical records that this area was very difficult to conquer,” Jakobson says the BBC.
This means that the Basque region was not affected by subsequent migrations that shaped the genetic patterns in the rest of Europe.
One of these migrations occurred in the Bronze Age, when populations of the continent’s eastern suburbs moved en masse to the west.
It is believed that this migration spread Indo-European languages in Europe, especially in the center and in the north and a little less in the south.
While the genomes of the French and Spanish have evidence of this genetic contribution of this, the Basques.
The other migration helped to widen the gap was the Muslim army in 711 AD, who crossed from North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula kicking an occupation that lasted more than 700 years.
it is possible to detect certain genetic traits of North African and sub-Saharan ancestors in Spanish, these features are missing in the Basques.
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