>On Wed, 23 Jul 1997, Brian D Williams wrote:
>
>> I remember reading that the Basque
>> people have genetic markers
>> unlike any other known group of H. Sapiens.
>> Since they occupy a
No, just unlike any *nearby* H. Sapiens.
>I believe there is excellent correlation
>between linguistics and genetic
>analysis, promoting mere linguistics to
>puissant palaeolinguistics status
>(it may have been a SciAm article).
>Particularly the Basqs seem to be able
>to having preserved their identity since
>the last glacial, as their
>language shows strong similiarities to
>certain Central African dialects
>(sorry, no refs, my neurons are dying busily).
Yes, that was a SciAm article, but the linguistic similarities were to
Athabascan languages, which are a group of Amerind languages in North America
separate from the main group and due to an invasion of related peoples across
the Bering strait or landbridge significant after that which created the main
group of Amerind cultures. I think there were two isolated Siberian
languages related to them as well. I remember these details because I was so
struck that they found the relatives of the Basques (which had been a mystery
for centuries) and even more struck by who the relatives turned out to be.
Small world, indeed.