© Jonathan Blair/National GeographicHundreds of sheep walk up cloud-veiled mountain with herder following in the Basque region.
"Through detailed DNA analysis of samples from the French and Spanish Basque regions, the Genographic team found that Basques share unique genetic patterns that distinguish them from the surrounding non-Basque populations," Genographic said in a news statement. The Genographic Project seeks to chart new knowledge about the migratory history of the human species and answer age-old questions surrounding the genetic diversity of humanity.
The project is a nonprofit, multi-year, global research partnership of National Geographic and IBM with field support by the Waitt Family Foundation. At the core of the project is a global consortium of 11 regional scientific teams following an ethical and scientific framework and who are responsible for sample collection and analysis in their respective regions.
Published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, the Basque study was led by Lluis Quintana-Murci, principal investigator of Genographic's Western European regional center. "Our study mirrors European history and could certainly extend to other European peoples. We found that Basques share common genetic features with other European populations, but at the same time present some autochthonous (local) lineages that make them unique," said Quintana-Murci. "This is reflected in their language, Euskara, a non-Indo-European language, which altogether contributes to the cultural richness of this European population."
© National Geographic
The news release added:
Genographic Project researchers studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which has been widely applied to the study of human history and is perhaps best known as the tool used to reveal 'Mitchondrial Eve,' the female common ancestor of all modern humans who lived in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago. It has also been used to study regional variation both within and outside Africa, providing detailed insights into more recent migration patterns.
"This Genographic study tells a realistic story of gene and language continuity in a defined region that nevertheless was also subject to repeated gene flow. It is a perfect example of why insisting and persisting on accuracy and the deepest possible phylogenetic analysis is a standard to be followed. We simply could not detect the signal in a lower level of resolution - it may have even led us to a completely opposite conclusion," said Dr. Doron Behar, a population geneticist and co-author of the paper, based in the Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
The Genographic Project, launched in 2005, enters its eighth year this spring. Nearly 75,000 participants from over 1,000 indigenous populations around the world have joined the initiative, along with more than 440,000 members of the general public who have purchased a testing kit online, swabbed their cheeks and sent their samples to the Genographic lab for processing. This unprecedented collection of samples and data is a scientific resource that the project plans to leverage moving forward.
Genographic Project Director and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Spencer Wells noted, "The Basque research is a wonderful example of how we are studying the extensive Genographic sample collection using the most advanced genetic methods. In some cases, the most appropriate tool may be mtDNA, while in others the Y-chromosome or autosomal markers may be more informative. Ultimately, the goal of the project is to use the latest genetic technology to understand how our ancestors populated the planet."
Members of the public can participate in the Genographic Project by purchasing a public participation kit from the Genographic Web site, where they can also choose to donate their genetic results to the expanding database. Sales of the kits help fund research and support a Legacy Fund for indigenous and traditional peoples' community-led language revitalization and cultural projects.
This post was based on news materials released by the National Geographic Society.
Basque people (we call our relatives Baszk, you can pronounce Bask) originated from those Hun(garian) warriors who were sent by the great Hun lord ATILLA (not Attila, that is forgery) to push back the moor conquest in the Hispanic peninsula. There numbers are not known exatly, but taking into account, that 1/3 of His army was sent, that could mean 300-400.000 warriors.
The timeline of the "known" history should be put into its place correctly. No "western" sources are available but our scientist made this information available in Hungarian language.
Those famous genetic studies ( like [Link]or [Link]) proves nothing. The Hun warriors, who settled down in the Iberian peninsula after finishing their job (there were other reasons: after Atilla's death a war broke out between Atilla's two sons, Aladar=Alarik and Csaba) were all man. No women! Warriors!
The warriors do not have oocyte, so they could not have mithocondrial DNA either.
However, there are more then enough proof for the origin of the Bask people.
1. The muslim chronics always call the Hungarian as "Baskir" and our country Baskiria
2. The Grammar of the Bask and Hungarian language are almost identical. Not the language the GRAMMAR of the language.
3. Our music are very similar, pentatlon.
4. We have almost 100% identical folk dances, that no other nations of the Earth has. Only Baskirian (=Hungarian).
Without setting the timeline of the history, it is not possible to discover the truth. Illig was almost correct with the appr. 300 years insertion in to the history. However, it is much more possible, that Jesus was born in 293, so A.D 0 = T.C. 293 (TC=Time Counting, that is supposed to be identical with AD 0, but it is not)
To understand the history is not easy, since almost every dogmatic "knowledge" should be swept out. Jesus was a parthian, the roman church was based on saulist teachings. Even the basis of St. Peters chuch is a lay, since Peter never ever had been to Rome! Work for the knowledge!
Anyway, the blood is not water. Our Bask relatives loves the freedom, like we all love. Remember the Rakoczi freedom fight, or 1848, or 1956.