Ancient language found on 2,100-year-old bronze hand may be related to Basque
An inscription carved into a 2, 100-year- old hand-shaped amulet from northeastern Spain seems to be related to Basque and may be a rare example of an ancient language spoken in Europe more than 5,000 years ago. In a new study, published Tuesday (Feb. 20) in the journal Antiquity , researchers revealed that the inscription is the oldest and longest ever found in a Vasconic language , a group of language s that includes modern Basque. Until now, the only known ancient Vasconic texts were mainly from a few words written on coins from the region, the researchers said. Archaeologists unearthed the amulet in 2021 at the Iron Age site of Irulegi, in Spain's Navarre region. The first word of the inscription, which uses the Latin alphabet, is "sorioneku" or "sorioneke" — similar to the modern Basque word "zorioneko," meaning "good fortune." Because of this similarity, the researchers think the meaning of the words are the same, and that th...