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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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Like the Etruscans, it seems there are instances of male incursion of IE groups into the Iberian peninsula in which non-IE language was maintained. This was the case with the Etruscans and seems to be the case with the Basque people as well, who have something like 90% haplogroup R1b (IE haplogroup), in contrast with Sardinia where the EEF haplogroups dominate. I read some research indicating that some Celtic IE Bell Beakers were basically assimilated into the Basque people, they do retain IE heritage, at least much more than Sardinians. The Estonians likewise have very high IE admixture.

I think it's more likely the case that the general rule is IE introgression events were usually associated with a conversion to IE language, but there are some cases where the tribe retained a non-IE language. The key here is a non-IE language is not decisive evidence against IE genetic introgression, as in the case of the Etruscans, Basque people, Estonians, and Finns.