The Basque - where are they from?

[djoser-xyyman]

The Basques in the Genetic Landscape of Europe

by

Copyright 2009



Craniometrics, the anthropometry of head shape, has a somewhat shady history in physical anthropology, as these measurements were first used to define various races (Closson 1897). Of particular interest was the cephalic index, a ratio of the width of the skull relative to its length (measured front to back). The two extremes of the head shape continuum were brachycephalic (broad, rather short skulls, with an index of 85 or greater) and dolichocephalic (skulls relatively longer than they were wide, with an index of 71-75). Measurements taken on fossil skulls led to the assertion that the Upper Paleolithic inhabitants of Europe, including Cro- Magnon, were of the dolichocephalic type (Broca 1878).



In 1864, 96% of a sample of 60 contemporary Basque skulls from Guipuzkoa 96% were reported as dolichocephalic, although the mean cephalic index for this sample was 77.7, outside Broca’s defined dolichocephalic range. In the same letter to the Anthropological Society of London, only 12% of 26 fossil skulls from a Bronze Age cave deposit in the Basque country were described as dolichocephalic (Broca 1864). These facts did not prevent the association of Basque with Cro-Magnon based on cephalic index, however, or the assertion that this “race” may have come from North Africa where similar cephalic indices had been reported.



71). A more recent multivariate analysis of 20 craniometric variables in 13 Iberian populations demonstrates the unique position of Basques in the Iberian Peninsula (Fox et al. 1996). Regardless

[djoser-xyyman]

As I said. mtDNA H/V is NOT European. And they knew that over two decades ago. Europeans are an amalgam of first OOA and recent African Neolithic migrants(EEF).

Read more on ESR -- -

An mtDNA Analysis in Ancient Basque Populations


The absence of haplogroup V in the prehistoric samples analyzed CONFLICTS with the hypothesis proposed by Torroni et al., in which haplogroup V is considered as an mtDNA marker for a major Paleolithic population expansion from southwestern Europe, occurring ∼10,000-15,000 years before the present (YBP).


On the basis of analysis of the frequency and extent of variation accumulated within haplogroup V, these authors suggested that this haplogroup is most likely to have originated 10,000–15,000 years before the present (YBP) in a region covering the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula and the southwestern part of France. Similarly, they proposed that haplogroup V might constitute a marker of a major Paleolithic expansion from southwestern Europe, which took place after the Last Glacial Maximum. Thus, the Paleolithic population of southwestern Europe would have contributed extensively to the mitochondrial gene pool of all central and northern European populations, including the Saami and the Finns.


At the genetic level, one of the main difficulties is the estimation of mutation rates, which vary considerably in different regions of the mitochondrial genome (Howell et al. 1996; Mumm et al. 1997; Parsons et al. 1997).


Thus, despite the great many recent theoretical advances in population genetics (Slatkin and Hudson 1991; Rogers and Harpending 1992; Harpending et al. 1993), the possibility of extracting and characterizing DNA from the remains of prehistoric humans themselves constitutes a unique and highly valuable contribution to the debate on the origin of the genetic diversity of human populations

[djoser-xyyman]

Therefore, the date of origin of haplogroup V might be MORE RECENT than that proposed by Torroni et al. (1998), which would account for its absence in ancient samples and would cast doubt on the idea that these authors have proposed with regard to the Paleolithic expansion.

3. The last explanation that could be used to account for the discrepancy between the described frequency for haplogroup V in modern Basques and its absence in prehistoric samples is that immigration of people bearing haplogroup V occurred <4,000 YBP (i.e., the age of the youngest site analyzed in the present work [Pico Ramos, Bizkaia]).



In light of the presently available data on the distribution of mtDNA haplogroups in extinct and extant human populations, mutation rates and archaeological findings (references here cited), a plausible explanation for the genetic data here reported might be that genetic drift is responsible for the significantly different FREQUENCIES described for haplogroup V in the different samples from the Basque Country that have been analyzed, with the figure for Gipuzkoa (20%) being one of the highest in Europe. In this context, this mutation’s rise to significant frequency must have taken place at a time when the effective population size was small enough to allow genetic drift to have a significant effect. This would date to pre-Mesolithic periods (∼11,000 YBP), because from then onward there is a considerable widening of the settled areas in the Basque Country, along with both a diversification in the subsistence patterns and a climatic amelioration, leading to a substantial demographic change versus earlier periods (de la Ru´ a 1995). This point of view is compatible with the attributed date for the origin of the mutation that defines haplogroup V (4577 NlaIII), but it does not need to resort to migrationist models to explain this mutation’s distribution in Indo-European populations.

[djoser-xyyman]

Table 2.

What are the 2 "other"? It is not Caucasian so what is it? It was never disclosed. Is it East Asian? LOL!

[djoser-xyyman]