THE BASQUENESS OF THE BASQUES OF ALAVA - A REAPPRAISAL FROM A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE

The genetic and linguistic peculiarity of the Basque population is wel l known. Analysis of the studies published to date on the Basque popul ation reveals that these studies refer basically to the provinces of V izcaya and Labourd, both in the Northern part of the Basque Country. M ultidisciplinary information indicates that the landscape differences of the Basque Country could have conditioned differential population b iodynamics in the Atlantic and Mediterranean parts of the Basque area. In order to evaluate this possibility, this study focuses on the gene tic constitution of the Basque population of Alava (in the South of th e Basque Country) through the analysis of several red-cell systems. Th e data obtained in this genetic study and those from archaeology, ling uistics, ethnography, and skeletal biology suggest that within the ''B asque population'' there may be at least two distinct groups: an ''Atl antic'' group and a ''Mediterranean'' one, divided mainly by the water shed. This geographical feature could have led to a greater genetic is olation of the Northern slopes, with the South more open to population contact. This is reflected nowadays in the different dine distributio n detected for most systems in the Alava Basques in comparison with ot her Basque and Iberian Peninsula series studied to date. (C) 1996 Wile y-Liss, Inc.