History
Aquitanian and its related descendant, Basque, are commonly thought to be a remnant of the languages spoken in Western Europe before the arrival of Indo-European speakers. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza's studies of the genetic history of Europe identified a cline of genes with highest frequencies in the Basque country, and lower levels beyond the area of Iberia and Southern France. Cavalli-Sforza describes this weakest of the five patterns he obtained as isolated remnants of the pre-Neolithic population of Europe. It corresponds roughly to the geographical spread of rhesus negative blood types. The conclusion that the Basques are a genetic isolate has become a widely discussed but also controversial conclusion. Aquitanian origins may be traced more or less directly to the Chalcolithic culture of Artenac. Basque itself appears to be a language from the age of metal, while other leads point to a Paleolithic origin, e.g. aitzurra 'hoe', aizto 'knife' with a probable root (h)aitz 'rock, stone'.
Read more about this topic: Aquitanian Language
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