The ETRUSCANS' Origins Might Surprise You! NEW DNA Evidence 

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Student of ancient non-IE languages in Europe & near-Asia here. Lots of holes in the arguments quoted, but well presented in an engaging manner which prompts further study. Subscribed.

As an Italian, I really loved this video and appreciated your great work. Best regards from Rome

My parents’ village was an Etruscan village before becoming a Roman settlement. Wherever they dig to build homes they find Etruscan tombs and Roman ruins. Everyone knows about these ruins but no one wants to publicise them as tourism and attention would upset the peace in the village. Notoriety really doesn’t matter to the inhabitants; we are fully aware that our glorious heritage is written all over our faces and in everything we do. And that’s all that matters to us.

I just discovered this channel and I think it's great. I live in Italy and I recently went to a museum in Ferrara about the ancient city of Spina, en etruscan settlement where people lived among water channels. I have always been fascinated by this ancient culture. Where once was Spina now there is a small marine town called Comacchio, where they also live among water channels and their dialect is so unique and different from those around. I wonder if some etruscan is still present in some of their words.

The profoundness of your statement that genetics, linguistics, & culture don't always go hand-in-hand is a real eye opener. Similar to something I learned years ago about how writing systems weren't necessarily invented by the language currently using them. Same with counting or arithmetic systems.

Steppe people = Hungarian, Kipchak, Pecheneg, basically Turkic. Just compare Etruscan Runes to Hungarian Runes to Turkic Runes to Scandinavian Runes. 1 man read them all. Research Kazim Mirsan. He was born near the Caspian Sea, spoke all Turkic dialects, 11 to be specific, educated in Turkey as an engineer he went to Germany for post graduate studies in engineering, lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland as an engineer. He speaks fluent German, fluent English, fluent Russian and learned Latin, Greek and Italian, enough to pursue his research. He did this all as an independent researcher interested in finding the roots of the Orkhun alphabet. He even read Scandinavian runes. He figured out some of the runes scattered around the steppe on stones all the way to Scandinavia are basically location markers for those hunting hunting and scouting parties in the vastness of the steppe and the tundra so they can find their way back to their tribe/village. Kazim died I. 2016 at a the ripe age of 97. He was a walking encyclopedia.

In East Europa, in Russia-Siberia there are the same kind of graves and juwelery found as those from the Etrusk people.

I just found this channel today. Very high quality documentation and well presented.

My favorite ancient civilization and this is truly groundbreaking and the kind of information that remained elusive until now! My first question is, was Etruscan language a relic preserved by a distinct migrating steppe culture, or was it an aboriginal language adopted by settling steppe nomads? The brief mention of Etruscan divination reminds us that their practices of consulting the gods for everything and of reading signs in nature has affinities with Siberian and steppe shamanism and animistic worldviews. Perhaps the Etruscan progenitors were a separator Eurasian culture, conservative of language and lifeways, that got caught up in the westward migrations spearheaded by the Indo-Europeans. Or perhaps they spearheaded them. The beautiful Etruscan chariots from the Classical period reveal the Rasna were not unfamiliar with horse culture.

Excellent segment on a fascinatingly complex topic with beautiful landscapes, architectures, layers of history, wonderful people, endless tomb worlds and insanely tasty grub and drink!

What do you think of this - based on the research of the origin of the Etruscan language of Italian linguist Mario Alinei?

Elisabeth Hamel ("Das Werden der Völker in Europa", Berlin, 2007) suggests that the Basques, whose language is also non-indoeuropean, but is well documented, are survivors from the pre-ice age era. Southern Europe remained habitable throughout the ice age, so the Etruscans could like the Basques also be a pre-ice age people. The Celts colonised Europe only after the ice age (from 10.000 BC).

Actually Etruscan writings has been deciphered by Kazım Mirşan in 1965 and published in 1970 and was discovered that Etruscan language was a branch of Proto Turkish and Etruscans are Proto Turkic people, who came from Anatolia, settled first in Glozel (Austria) and then in Umbria in 13th BC.

Great video. How to explain their incredible building skills? We find gigantic polygonal walls all over Tuscany and Lazio. It is still unexplained and so fascinating.

Great Summary about Etruscans Origins. One remark Lydians were Indo-european tribe wchch Invaded Anatolia maybe in the thimes or Trojan war (1200 BC) and native people from Lemnos and Troy may have different origin (Pelasgians or some else). Colonization from Lemnos to Etruria could be very old (Minoan times?). NGL Hammond in his History of Greese writes a few words about pree-Greek population of Greece (before 2000 BC) who had trade contacts with Italy. Because genetics is not allways connected with language, the correct hypothesic sould be as follows: There was colonization from Aegean to Italy in Minoan or Mycenian Times. Then around 1500-1200 BC Italy was conquered by stepe warriors from Pannonia (Hungary) - Italic tribes. Those Italic warriors dominated over local population in most of Italy giving coquereg people a new Italic languages but in some regions (Liguria, Etruria) local languages survived. However DNA was mixed and maybe finally couquerors adapted the language of local population. Of course other hypothesis are still valid. Dan Davies podcast about history of Terramare culture is quite interesting in this conext.

Thanks Laura, interesting video, plenty of food for thought. I wonder if the Etruscans were one of the Sea Peoples from the Late Bronze age collapse, maybe the Teresh? Maybe the origin of their language was like in Corsica and Sardinia?

That was really interesting. Thanks. I spent many, many years in Emilia Romagna and was fascinated by the excavations of the Etruscian settlements.

Vivo e lavoro a Cerveteri. Non capisco l'inglese quindi non riesco a capire cosa stai dicendo. Mi fa molto piacere che parli e sopratutto ami la civiltà etrusca. Una civiltà magnifica completamente diversa dai romani. Ciao da Cerveteri.

I studied a bit of archaeology on my own. Thanks for filling in white spots on my maps. It was very professional.

So many text is understandable for a modern Hungarian! Such as the Latin alphabet origin is get clear if you put the Scythian / Hun / Székely alphabet Etruscan and Latin. Every single letter speaks a lot! Acrophonic connections... hieroglyph connections...

As a son of Lazio fascinated by history and DNA this video spoke directly to me. Thank you, MegalithHunter.

Fascinating! I’ve often wondered about the Etruscans/Tusci/Tyrrehennians and of their origins. This latest inroad into their origins also raises the question about the Basques west of the Pyrenees, across Spain and France. Could their story be similar, given that their language also appears as an isolate, with no links to any of the surrounding languages?

There's a huge gap in your explanation... Populations aren't either Steppe or Anatolian, but a mix of both (excepting Sardinia, Basque, Crete perhaps).

I'm always interested in the pre-Roman civilizations of Europe. Your video was enlightening. Thanks.

You have good points here like genetics, language and culture don't always go hand in hand. About the Etruscans, what if their ancestors were the sea people, groups of seafarers which we know invaded Anatolia, Syria, Cyprus and Egypt at the end of the Bronze Age in the 13th century BCE. It is said that they disappeared from history, but they were looking for new land in order to establish a country and an identity. They were assimilated, they did not disappear. So, there may be a possibility that the Etruscans were of such origin as their language and culture was so different from the Italic cultures in the region.

My take is that the Etruscan relict language may have come from the pre-existing population and may have survived because of the copper mineral deposits that were found there which gave the indigenous population a great deal of power. A large number of steppe people migrated into the region - mainly herders and farmers - mainly poor - who would have traded with and intermarried with the native Etruscans, which would have diluted their DNA, but their control of copper mining would have made then wealthy and powerful and hence their language and culture dominated in Tuscany. In history, the influence of nobility and the powerful seems trump language and culture even if their numbers are small - just look at the replacement of Gallic languages with Romance languages in France and Spain, and by Anglo-Saxon in England.

I came across your excellent channel for more information on the Etruscans people. I found it to be very educational and full of interesting material. Thank you for your hard work and wonderful video and channel. Four years ago, I did my maternal DNA and advanced mtDNA and found that I'm 9.3% Tuscany Italian. I was totally astonished. Most of my ancestors were Scandinavians, Russians, Irish, French, British Isles, German, and Slavic. My Advanced mtDNA went as far as 38 thousand years ago. The results came with a history mapping of my ancestors' migration. It is a fascinating history.

Let's keep in mind that the Raetians are also a people "not fitting in" whose origin and language already was a mystery to Roman historians. Some theorised they were "feral Etruscans" or the Etruscans were "civilised Raetians". The Rasenna were most likely native to their Tuscan homeland but held on to their proto-indoeuropean language for much longer than their neighbours because it was their identity as a people (like for example the Swiss are proud to mainly speak a wide variety of more or less "archaic" German dialects despite being right next to Germany) while their culture was influenced by both their neighbours as well as their maritime trade partners.

Etruscan has for over 100 years been completely deciphered, that is there is a way to interpret the values of the letters of their alphabet. What is unknown is the meaning of the readable words.

Thanks for sharing this very interesting video on the origins of the Etruscan people. Probably it will never be known because because they have left too little traces of their writing but also hardly any witnesses or comments on how they were talking, a common attitude of most civilizations. The Greek was somewhat was based on moralism as they were shocked that the women were allowed to eat together with the men but were surprised how religious they were and how they were obsessed with divination which also the Romans took over this aspect among other things. Fact is that the Etruscans have been always been rather different from their neighbouring people much seen from the paintings and artifacts they have left with their orientalism leaning despite absorbing much Greek influences. Again thanks for the update on "my ancestors" and looking forward to see your new videos 👍 👍👍

Fascinating info on the topic. Than you so much.

I see an analogy in what I learned while living on Guam. The female segment of the original inhabitants preserved what came to be known as the Chamoro language, despite intermarriage with European, other Pacific Island peoples, and native peoples of the New World Spanish Empire. Women, as the child bearers and rearers, pass along significant elements of the culture they know. One couple I came to know were the most physically attractive people I have ever personally met. Their looks could have blown away anything that Hollywood or the modelling industry could produce.

How fascinating! I have also read about the Etruscans that they interpreted lightning. Could this practice perhaps help to indicate more about these people? The Etruscans had a very sophisticated society when the Romans first appeared on the scene and taught them law and government. Mika Waltari's book "The Etruscan" is an excellent read on this subject. Lars Porsenna was an Etruscan king who fought the Romans and the book tells of this period. I loved it!

This is a remarkable lecture with linguistics and anthropology. Thank you. I studied Latin 2 years. I still like to read and translate in Latin. Now i speak 7 languages and am learning Korean. What latin does for your mind in organizing language learning is remarkable. Slavic and Chinese must be like this too? The pace is really fast in speaking. Slower speed is nice to learn so much beauty too to savor in broken up units of many this great talk 🦜 Italy, Tuscany? 😅 Thank you Rex H. How lucky we are to haben sie da you here. I speak Latin, Spanish, Italian, Armenian (east Anatolian) German Norwegian, Korean, English,

Maybe Proto- Slavs? Words. letters are similar to Vincha culture . Who knows?

... I visited the village of Pontremoli just because of its Etruscan past ... ... ... it's a lovely place with a museum displaying Etruscan art ... 💙💙💙

10:05 The steppe ancestry is not necessarily of Indo-European language. If the steppe ancestry gets _anywhere_ close to that of Hungarians, people may have spoken Old Hungarian's proto-proto-language in the Kurgans ... I am of course biassed as a fan of Alinei.

Note: First, I've had a hypothesis for about 10 years that, "specifically for the Basque: the indigenous Iberians, aka (the area of Spain and France), had first migrated East (South and North), then later West. 🔹My hypothesis gained support through DNA studies that identified Phoenicians as Basque. 🔹 The Etruscans having been identified as Indigenous, to Italy, is so exciting. They too may very well fit my Basque Hypothesis Model. Anatolia also shows up in Basque description, although it had yet to be realized that they had to migrate East to have acquired the marker value identified by the DNA as a location of affiliation I'm taken with the Etruscans, as they were a most positive Civilization. I'm quite interested in gaining more information on the Etruscans, as it becomes available. I'm not of Italian Orgin or lineage, rather I'm "Irish, of Basque/Iberian Orgin", rather than the later (Germanic, the Viking, Anglo, Saxon, Jutes, Normans, Roman, British.) The Modern Italians largely have one or both the Etruscan + Admix or Roman ie: Germanic + Admix. The Admix being largely and a varied influence of Greek, Phoenicians whom were also Basque, Basque/Iberian, Sardinian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Sicilian. "Mainstream Academics/Archaeologists" have been noticeably slow to add the value of facts revealed by Geneticists and DNA Researchers, and we can expect the entire "Mainstream Academic Model and Paradigm" to shift as "DNA, strong in validity" through lab based technology, revealing for example, that "Modern Humans are a result of Intervention rather than merely just a Linear Evolution" (Gregg Braden, Summary of Peer Reviewed Findings reported in the Journal of Science, as I recall.) BTW, those whom adhere to the "Standards of Science and Research", which prohibits using a Theory as Fact, are the "Authentic Academics", and they also establish a habit of being "Conscious in Thought" + "Applying Higher Mind", where all our Positive Thought Energies and Wisdom reside. Higher Mind aka Mature Mind supports the "Standards of Science and Research", (Mind fully Open free of any predetermined Beliefs, Theories, Opinions, and allowing the Research Methodologies to extract the greater facts."). This also respects and supports"Freedom of Thought", which is necessary for imagination, and to Explore and Discover. I welcome this Model of Academia, as it will also represent Ethics, Integrity, and a most desirable atmosphere for student and professional works, promoting a far more accurate and more consistently updated "Story of History". It will also resolve circumstances where findings that don't support a Theory Based Model, are no longer a threat to the Researcher. In the past, young professionals experienced a serious resistance to their findings and several had their careers destroyed. Heartbreaking experiences that had no foundation of justification, and these represent the Human Lower Mind traits cc Lower Mind. The future holds most positive opportunities, tended by Higher Mind's. Cooperation and Desirable scenarios of works. Beth Bartlett Sociologist/Behavioralist and Historian

Has there ever been a study comparing what we know of Etruscan with Basque? There is at least a superficial resemblance between Euskara - the Basque name for themselves and Ascanius the Trojan refugee. Perhaps Ascanius was a legendary founder of "the people" later woven into Roman/Trojan legend.

Interesting. Thank you. A bit more on steppe origins. Also could you please take a look at the 'recent' genetic data on Otzi and link it in layman's terms to the steppe origins mentioned.

I would be interested in seeing some older DNA evidence. If the Lydian migration occurred around the time of Troy, then we should be looking at DNA from around 1150 BC. 350 years can mask a lot of origin data.

The mystery of the Etruscan culture, language and origin was primarily caused by the decision of the Roman Senate in the First Century BC to forbid the use of the Etruscan language and to direct the complete eradication of all inscriptions in that ancient language. Thus for the next 20 centuries the world forgot all about that ancient civilisation until the 19th Century. Despite plenty of their magnificent artworks being uncovered ever since it was a lack of any surviving substantial Etruscan text that hindered the definition and classification of that language. The longest such text has been found on the shroud of an Egyptian mummy in Zagreb. But no direct connection could be established with the Ancient Greek, Roman or Fenician languages. Which lead some researchers, including Laura, to declare it to be non-Indo-European language. However, prof. Vasić from the University of Belgrade, who tried to decipher the Vinča script in the 1980s, was later struck by its similarity with the Etruscan script when he accepted the appointment at the University of Genova. Thus the two languages and scripts are most closely related if not even the same language. The ancient Vinča culture was located in the Central Balkans or a halfway between Etruria and the Aegean Sea and Anatolia. The settlement of Vinča is actually located near Belgrade on the banks of Danube, the major thoroughfare of pre-Roman Europe, when there were no roads through thick forests. The archeologists and scholars from Cambridge and Oxford have now given the new name to the Vinča culture - that of the Danubian Civilisation, or the very first European Civilisation. It was actually predated by the Starčevo Culture and the Lapenski Vir (9,000 BC) - all located on the banks of the river Danube. Other archeological teams from Oxford and Cambridge have established that the earliest large scale metallurgy was located in Central Balkans (about 250km south of the Danube) near the place of Pločnik, at least 1000 years before Anatolia and Mesopotamia. BobFilip

I'm only a history lover, not a scholar (my English is not good, I hope I can be clear) but in this theory (that of the Etruscans as a people of the steppes) there is something who is not explained and questioning the theory itself: the Etruscans method of burial. The two groups of peoples who, at different times, arrived on the Italian peninsula (after the Etruscans anyway) ie the Latino-Faliscan and the Osco-Umbrian (which it's now established by most scholars came from the Danubian area) cremated their dead, the Etruscans instead buried them. So at this point there are two very important (fundamental?) differences: the non-Indo-European language and the method of burial. How would scholars explain that? Maybe the Etruscans (who arrived long before the Latins and Osco-Umbrians) changed their tradition and started burying the dead because that was how people who already inhabited that land did it? But there was the Villanovan culture that cremated the dead in that land, this means that they started burying the dead with the arrival of the Etruscans (ie are their who changed the burial method to the Villanovans, not the opposite). So the two points written earlier are back: how is possible Etruscans came from the same geographical area of Latins and Osco-Umbrian if they had a distinct language and method of burial? This theory doesn't convince me much, but again, if there are Etruscologists who think so, I have no qualification to refute it (surely there is an explanation to the two questions I've asked).

Interesting presentation. As to the non-indo- european language aspect of the Etruscans is it possible that like Anglo- Norman French in the middle ages where a small elite dominated the written vernacular while the underlying language and genetic remained Anglo-Saxon and Celtic?

Regarding an Etruscan language, it was deciphered in 1968 by Svetislav Bilbija. Later, sometime in 1980-ies, professor Chudinov, without knowing about Bilbija's work, did the same. True history is far more interesting than official one....

The combination of irregular reverb and pronunciation make this very difficult to follow. I didn't retain any of that. You said something about Lydians?

Hello Laura! I was returning from Egypt yesterday. It took 30+ hours of continuous travel to get back where I belong in North America. 🙄 Egypt is absolutely amazing though. I had a complete ball climbing around inside pyramids. Ha! Anyway, I love to hear anything about the mysterious Etruscans. I always think of the lost ancient secrets that could be hidden in their language. Thanks for all you do! 😊

I am in the camp that the Etruscans were refugees from Troy and that the language they spoke is a form of proto-Hebrew. Proto-Hebrew was brought to Troy by a group that immigrated from Goshen (pre-Exodus) from the Tribe of Judah. Look up Darda, son of Zarah, grandson of Judah. Also, the relation to steppe people has to do with migrations of the ancient nation of Israel that was conquered by the Assyrians circa 740bc and subsequently migrated to the steppes.

Hello there. An independent research conducted in 2013 (by Tassi , Ghirotto and others) showed that Etruscans were autochthones (indigenous) to the Italian Peninsula. They examined DNA from ancient, medieval, and modern Italians . " According to the study, ancient Etruscan mtDNA is closest among modern European populations and is not particularly close to Turkish or other Eastern Mediterranean populations. Among ancient populations based on mtDNA, ancient Etruscans were found to be closest to LBK Neolithic farmers from Central Europe" -this after a brief online research from my part. In that case, science justifies Dionysius the historian from Halicarnassos. Thank you for the video!

Super interesting! As a biologist, i would agree in that the topologies of genetic, cultural and linguistic phylogeny may differ wildly. Cultural or tribal identity are much more about who you feel you belong to than about who your grnadparents were. Didn´t the people of the Bayuvares originate from a wild mixture of celtic and germanic populations who just developed a distinct identity? So maybe, the first wave of neolithic migration was not a sudden wave, but more of a trickle, the newcomers met members of relic populations, learned their language one by one, as the came, and because it worked, they stuck with it, even after the original relic population was totally assimilated into a genepool that was by now completely dominatetd by "newcomer alleles", whereas other migration events consisted of huge groups of people that brought their language with them? I think, language might be way more conservative than genomes, because communication within the population has to work at any time, and also a language can give identity, whereas all humans can always interbreed.

Etruscan language was decoded by serbian priest Svetislsv Bilbija. Original etruscan toponimes can be explained lingustcally even by modern day serbian language. And, please, can you tell to us what are etruscan DNA codes ( for example I1A2 or so on).

So what about DNA studies from the 2nd millenia BC? The mixing of original etruscan with Latin and antolian had already take place mostly by 1rst millenia BC. Are the original etruscans descendants of an Atlantis-ish culture?

Who was there before the Indo Europeans (future Etruscans) arrived from the Steppe? Was it the descendants of Neolithic farmers that had come from Anatolia, who themselves had mostly replaced the Paleolithic hunters? Maybe the Neolithic farmers came, brought a language then when they mixed with the Western Hunter Gatherers created a hybrid language that evolved over ..what like 3-4,000 years (however long the agriculturalists occupied the area before the Indo Europeans from the steppe arrived.) and then a population or branch of steppe people immigrated in and adopted the language in the area...or maybe created a new hybrid language and culture? I'm just guessing, is there some possibility something like this happened?

Brava! The Etruscans are the most real Italians there are ever in the world.

Okay this just me as a layperson speculating, but it does seem like then that Lemnos was an Etruscan outpost settled sometime during the Bronze Age. So when the Greeks started sailing around the Mediterranean after coming out of their dark ages, they made contact with the Etruscans and noticed their language was similar to Lemnian spoken in the Aegean (and possibly the Anatolian coast).They then falsely assumed the Etruscans had come from there, instead of the other way around.

Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte and his servant spoke a unique language. Then there are the Basque in Spain who speak Euskera and finally there is the Linear A script of Ancient Crete. I have often wondered if there are any connections between these ancient groups, languages and people. Linear B has links to Ancient Greece and so does the Etruscan script. Whether these mysteries will ever be solved or not, the topic is fascinating.

Very interesting. I found a rather fascinating link between some other agglutinative language isolate groups which may provide another dimension to the Etruscan (Rasna or Rasenna) backstory. *_A Possible Link to Other Agglutinative Languages_* While some cultures may have persistent phonemes across time, as in the Indo-European language groups, others may have had attitudes which changed their languages more dramatically over time. Borrowing from the example we all learn early in our studies -- what is perhaps the sentimentally favorite words in any culture: *_mother_* and *_father_* -- I looked at these two words across several agglutinative languages. In Etruscan, the word for mother was "ati" and for father was "apa." Curiously, the same in modern Basque is "ama" and "aita," respectively. I say, "curiously," because these seem similar, but gender swapped. I almost missed the next clue, but while looking over the Etruscan pantheon, I discovered the name of a pair of gods which was the Etruscan equivalent of Roman Janus (source of January) -- Ana and Aita, goddess and god of beginnings and endings. Notice how these names are a near-perfect match for the Basque words for mother and father, and no longer gender-swapped. *_Past Matriarchies?_* Could it be that a common cultural root had been matriarchal and when the societies switched to patriarchy, some kept the word with the role instead of the gender? So, in Etruscan, mothers had been the rulers at the beginning, but then men became the new "mothers" in the end. *_Untested Hypotheses_* There is a popular hypothesis amongst linguists that words for mother and father were frequently from infant babbling. While this is a possibility, it has never been fully tested. *_Beyond Myth and Legend_* Another agglutinative language, modern Georgian (the current version of the language of Colchis, land of the golden dragon and Golden Fleece) has a similar anomaly. Their word for mother is "deda," while their word for father is "mama." Did men become the new "mothers," there, too? Perhaps this could help explain why Medea would become so dissatisfied with her own men, and sufficiently fascinated with Jason to betray her own people. And later, when Jason betrayed her, and after her second husband banished her, she was seen flying away on a golden dragon. One version has her going back to Colchis to find her uncle had deposed her father. Did Medea become so fed up with men that she invoked the old legends and created a society of women warriors named Ama-Atlan -- mother Atlantis (Amazon)? *_Dangerous Evidence_* Though these hypotheses need a great deal of testing (or merely waiting for new evidence, if it still exists), we already have a great deal of evidence which re-opens the topic of Atlantis, like 5 facts which correlate strongly on the story. * A sudden worldwide warming which ended the Younger Dryas (~9620 BC). * A moderately large trace of volcanic debris starting 9620.77 BC and extending over the next two years (GISP2). * A sudden drop in sea level of between 2-7 meters right at the end of the Younger Dryas (~9620 BC). * The genetic split between mtDNA haplogroup X from the western Eurasian branch (Basques, Druze) and the North American branch (Ojibwe, Sioux) about 12,000 years ago. * Plato's story of a massive tectonic collapse right where we could reasonably expect such a collapse to take place, and with geological evidence to back up this thesis. There is much more on this topic -- enough to fill my largest book, *_Mission: Atlantis_* (700+ pages). 😎♥✝🇺🇸💯

Something this video does not address is the percentage of steppe ancestry, which is dissimilar to other populations and Europe, and while steppe ancestry is present in the Etruscan, and Italic genomes, is also very varied in its percentages across different populations. (From what I understand) Likewise, the the genome for Italy formed in the middle ages would have had at its core the genome from the ancient population at its core, and this is something that lines up with the history - immigrations and invasions into the the peninsula were additive to the local population, not one population replacing another.

Independent researcher Alan Wilson claimed he could decipher Etruscan using a Welsh-English dictionary, once the phonetics of the Etruscan alphabet had been determined. He has written extensively on the subject. AFAIK he is still alive living in the north of England. Using the same technique he also deciphered inscriptions in Turkey and other places. Perhaps you could contact him or his co-author Baram Blackett.

You should please have a look at the works of Kazim Mirsan, hes a very knowledge full man. Has deciphered many never read before Pelasgian, Sumerian, Egyptian and yes even Etruscan texts!

Here in New Zealand, many are resisting any tendency for the language of the European incomers to be affected by the language of the Polynesians who were already here. When I was a child my younger brother was taught at school to count from one to ten in Maori, and even that was a bit controversial. Even without formal tuition, I have absorbed a rudimentary vocabulary. Did you know that in Maori the word for love but not erotic is "aroha" and is equivalent to the ( also Polynesian) Hawaiian greeting "Aloha"?

And there is a megalithic connection as well! Think of the Etruscan and the Pelasgian walls, the nuraghi (all pre-indoeuropean cultures) and other (megalithic) cultures like in Malta, in Celtic regions

Hmm, when you think about it it makes sense that Etruscans were called foreigners - It often happened in history when a new group settled on the land and became more powerful than the locals they'd create myths about how they were the real ancient natives and the actual local group just later migrants. Victors really do write the history.

Etruscan language would be an example of a language surving (for a while) a sudden genetic discontinuity : Examples of such phenomenons are the Basques and Hungarians. A preceding culture and language might survive a progressive population replacement or a sudden overtaking by an aristocracy remaining in demographical minority. Invaders, when they are mostly males, might progressively acculturate and mix into to the host culture of an invaded population, which over time retains the former cultural framework (tansmitted by mothers) and language. Anopther situation is conquering invaders in relatively small numbers, not mixing genetically on a broad basis but brutally establishing a ruling aristocracy imposing its authority and language over a conquered land, resulting in a poputation genetically remaining conform to its former culture but adopting a new language and civilization framework

The language and the people have to be kept separate. DNA analysis has shown German Bell Beaker ancestry in part, but Bell Beakers were probably originally Indo-European speakers. Etruscan as a language could have been local, and it could have been brought in from outside - it's just not known yet. But the people themselves aren't mysterious - their genetic stock comes from outside the region as a mix. What is pretty certain by all the evidence that they weren't colonists from Anatolia - the Lydian thing was a story that kept getting picked up over time and repeated. So you don't have multiple independent sources - you just have authors playing tag with each other, repeating each other's mistakes. The Greeks favored the story because they knew Anatolia - it was right next door to them, so their readers would be familiar with Anatolians.

At one minute in - "Bet she's going to say they originated from the diverse lands of Woketardia"... ...by the end, She's so legit that YT might cancel her. How jaded I've become to expect "re-imagined" history at every turn.

Were they known as the sea people who the Egyptians mentioned in their hieroglyphs?

This is an excellent, succinct presentation regarding the Etruscans. I’m curious if you’ve ever heard of the Cetina Culture that was centered in the western Balkans (eastern Adriatic) and also spread throughout much of Italy around 2200 BCE? This is turning out to be a much more influential group than previously thought, especially since the advent of ancient DNA sequencing. There is a bit of a mysterious Y DNA lineage that dominated much of the Cetina sphere called J2b L283. They have been found throughout Cetina burials (stone cist burials underneath tumuli) dating to about 2000 BCE in the western Balkans. They have also been found in Mycenaean cist burials in Achaea, Greece around 1600 BCE. Beyond, that there are J2b L283 ancient remains found amongst Illyrians (western Balkans), Picenes and Daunians in Italy, and even Nuragic era skeletons from Sardinia and Etruscan ancient remains, too. I hope one day you consider making one of these videos about the Cetina Culture and Cetina related finds and ancient links between the western Balkans and Italy. You would do an excellent job, no doubt about it.

Great presentation and thanks for the hard work. Shared on Facebook and please keep doing what you love. Chris

Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

They have been called (by others, of course) Etruscans, Thyrrenians and Tusci, but the most astonishing fact is that they called themselves Rasenna. No one found any ethimological link to this word?

When steppe people are mentioned, only one thing comes to my mind: Turks! What we call today's race or nation is the spoken language, not DNA. For example, if a person speaks Italian, he is Italian, just as no one can look at his DNA and say that you have Arab genes, you are Arab, you are not Italian... I think agglutinative languages, even if they are isolates, represent the same common cultural ancestor, and this is definitely not an Indo-European cultural ancestor! What I have learned so far and the idea I have formed in my mind is this: modern Turks, Basques, Cretans, Sumerians, Finns, Hungarians, Mongolians, Japanese, Koreans, etc. They have a common language ancestor. The question is what to call this ancestor. So far they have been called Turkish, which is one of the branches, this is where all the discussions come from. However, Turks are just one of the branches of this family. If another name were found, all these discussions would actually end; The problem comes from the prejudice against the word Turk and it leads to thousands of nonsense Indo-European theories in order not to say Turk....

What seems consistant in the Etruscan narrative is they identified first as a displaced people. Displaced in their time but as Laura accounts through Herodetus displaced from their heritage, An entitled noble people. This would explain their fierce ability to claim and defend their new territory Etrusia. A people of stong binding distinct language will also practice their faith and ritual excluding any extra-tribal marriage and assimilation, at least for the first 2 or 3 generations. After the first 100 years you have a demarked parimeter and established tribal existence. Such a strong people of their own identify would have supported their own commerce by most likely becoming a seafairing mecantile people. These Curly Haired people of the sea that seem speak their own language. Are these the origin of the Phoenicians?

You could use the ancient Khumric alphabet of Coelbren to decifer the Etruscan as Wilson and Blacket have shown.

It is fascinating how genetics may help history and archeological interpretation of findings.Even so cultures and languages can' t be reducted to genectics as people come and go, migrate, cultures mix and change! That is fabulous! I am so proud of being a historian.❤

Etruscans were probably like the Basques who managed to preserve an old language despite heavy Indo-European genetic contribution. Perhaps they were a matrilineal society in the beginning with Children following the mothers culture instead of the fathers (whose genetic lineages appear to be Indo-European)

Unlike many other discussions of human origins that are based exclusively on genetics, only analyses of the subject like the present one are scientific because it combines genetics, linguistics, culture, AND HISTORY

The early Etruscans had Asian-like facial features. It is quite possible that in the early Bronze Age they began migrating from beyond the Black and maybe even beyond the Caspian Sea. They could have been cousins of the forerunners of the Skythians. By the late Bronze Age they could have settled on Lemnos and been major contributors to the population of Ilios (Troy), before moving west with other Peoples of the Sea to occupy northeastern Italy.

@MegalithHunter is it so reliable to pick results from todays dna's? 2 milleniums and more passed away and many cultures and dna's mixed, many migrations happened reverse or visa versa. Therefore those results mentioned are not too reliable and still the ancient scripts about them are more reasonable to believe.

I assume the language was a native relic from the original pre Indo European inhabitants

The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, Rasna or Raśna. The Greeks knew them as the Τυῤῥηνοί Turrhēnoi or Tyrsenians, Ionic: Τυρσηνοί Tursēnoi; Doric: Τυρσανοί Tursānoi. The Homeric hymn to Dionysus features pirates (understood as non-Greeks and criminals) "Tyrsinians" (meaning unknown) kidnapping Dionysus. So people who didn't come from the Adriatic, but from the other side of the Italian peninsula, from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in fact. The Umbrians knew them as 'Trusci' or 'Tursci' or 'Tusci'. On an inscription on a bronze tablet there is the writing "Turskum"... this word is derived from "Tursci", but without a clear meaning. One hypothesis of the origin of the word is that it derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *trh₂- meaning 'to cross'. Another hypothesis, which derives from τύρσις túrsis, which means "tower" in Greek, later used by the Latins in 'tŭrris' tower. Another hypothesis is that the Rasenna Rasna or Raśna are Venetian, given that their writing is similar to Venetic, the Greeks called them Οὐένετοι or βένετοι (the Greeks do not have the 'v' or the 'w'), known in the north like the Wendish... see Vindobona Wien, and also the house of Windischgrätz, an Austrian aristocratic family from Lower Styria etc.

The language of the Etruscans may have been the agglutinating language of Neolithic farmers. Just like the language of the Hungarians. Which could have developed long before the expansion of the Bronze Age Indo-European shepherds. Professor Mario Alinei: Etrusco: una forma arcaica di ungherese, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2003

Definitions for Discernment Hoary: (reference to his hair) White, Silver, Platinum, (Was it Platinum Blonde or a Premature Gray)? Sagacity: depth of insight, like Wisdom.

Good analysis based on the facts, evidences, and reasoning based on these two. Just one observation. At the beginning you mentioned that the art, monumental tombs, and metallurgy was deistically advanced in comparison to other groups in Italian peninsula. And this fact was not included as a factor in concluding about the origin of Etruscans. In addition to DNA analysis, historical evidences of people migrations, cultural heritage also can be considered when contemplating the origin of people. Ok, one more observation. When factoring the language into this equation, we have to be careful, as this might not a reliable source for digging into people's origin. History is full of examples when entire nations forcefully changed their spoken language by their cruel rulers.

Really nice to hear from a real, live human being

Interestingly I have come across this connection between the Pelasgians and Macedonia before. In lower Macedonia there is Pella. In upper Macedonia there is the ancient city of Bela (Pela) Zora. And there is a large fertile valley called Pelagonia. As for Vinca, there is a town called Vinica, so idk, maybe. The Pelasgians are mysterious.

If you look at the Etruscan letters and Nordic runes, there is a striking similarity. What is the explanation for this?

The ancient historian Strabo has a report that the Etruscans considered themselves to come from the area of Troas (Troy) and called themselves Rasenna. One of the tribes of the Rets, related to the Etruscans, the same Strabo called the RusAntae. Some historians have linked the Etruscans and the Veneti. It is no secret that the official ancestors of the Slavs were the Antae and the Veneti. Getting into the Etruscan halls of museums, any Russian's heart is squeezed, because they see native familiar ornaments, decorations, headdresses, etc.

Good stuff. I would point you the work of two researchers, who, come at the matter from very different fields. Peter Dawkins of the Francis Bacon Research Trust, and Dr. Eberhard Zangger, a Stanford geoarchaeoligist. That plus the Anglo-Norman Brut Chronicle. Basically it suggests that Brutus, great-grandson of Anaeas, sailed to Britain with freed Trojan slaves and founded New Troy -- London. Thus, the original British folks, the Welsh or Cymry came directly from Anatolia. Not only that, but Dr. Zangger realized that Homer and Plato were both writing about the same war with the Achaeans in the late Bronze Age. That Atlantis was always the same as Illium. Long story. But truly Occum's Razor is vindicated again. All that is to say, cross reference your info with the Cymry and it may yield something interesting.

It's good to see Hesiod treated as a serious and valuable source of historical facts.

I suppose someone has already thought to compare the Etruscan language with other isolates like Basque, Turkish or Hungarian, though, I've never encountered any such studies.

Tyrrhenian, Tarcon, Tarquinia, are all names related to Turks, names don't lie, ancient texts neither, Anatolians had also origins in the steppe, they were the same people as Troyans, remember that the Turks had a runic alphabet just as Hungarians and Germanics did, so the Rasenna did also.

Loved this presentation. Adjusting to slightly different pronounciations of some names but acceptable. Glad I found your site. Thank you.

Thank you for the research and nice summary provided on the information available. Let me please add that not only the language, but also the education, dress code, dances, music and other cultural characteristics are hellenistic features of the period. Etruscans are Ancient Greeks.

It’s a very old type of approach when people continue to say group a emigrated to/ conquered place b. I saw one the other day where someone assumed a mass immigration of Franks into Gaul and a massacre of the native population. It just never happened. These mass movements of tribes (always tribes) who conveniently massacre the inhabitants are incredibly scarce. There’s no reason to think the Etruscans weren’t autochthonous. There was something about Tuscan cattle having links with Asia Minor a few years ago based on bovine DNA, but that honestly could be medieval.

I always believed the Etruscans were related to the Trojans in some way. The Romans called them Trusci which sounds similar to Trojan. The same could also be said of the Thracians who lived just across the Hellespont from ancient Troy. Or even the Phrygians of Anatolia. Coincidence? Who can say?

Very interesting and quite well done. Just the right amount of information and well paced. I’m looking forward to the next video.

I sure do love reading the insanity people can write in the comments.

I would check the stamps on their envelopes.