...it appears that the Basques' closest ancestors are early Iberian farmers who were descended from that first wave of Neolithic farmers, which then mixed with the local hunter-gatherers. The researchers think that the Basque people's unique characteristics survived in isolation as, after this first initial mingling of hunter-gatherers and farmers, the Basque people became separated from subsequent waves of farmers, first from the East then from the South, and continued instead to mix further with the local hunter-gatherers.
