For those who missed it:
It really seems A.E. Mourant’s paper reveals a belief that the Neanderthals did turn into the Basques.
We were interested in discovering where Rh-negative may have originated. We therefore drew up a “weather-map” of the genic distribution of Rhnegative. The resulting isogenic map led us to conclude that Rh-negative originated in Southwestern France. We conjectured the period at about 50,000 years, and the population probably a Neanderthaloid-like (!) one.
THE BLOOD GROUPS OF FHE PEOPLES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA by A.E. MOURANT
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Makes sense to.me, l know from my mum’s side that her family are likely where the Basque Rhesus Negative bloodline in me originates, because the Basque travelled to England and Ireland, and her dad was Irish. But her mum was from an immigrant living in Ipswich from a very large family Sadly, my discoveries came after she had died, and she never knew her Christian name was not gifted to her by her Irish dad, as she believed, it came from that Basque region, and was given to every first born daughter in her family line. I found this out when a cousin l’d never met, found me online via Ancestry site, of which we are both members.. But more intriguing is my maiden name (dad’s surname) was French long ago, and came over to England with the Norman Conquest. My dad’s father’s mother’s side were seriously English Quakers, and l believe served a king at court. They were also dairy farmers and very wealthy. Way, way back before the Norman invasion of our shores, and before the Domesday Book was written, his mum’s side were English cabinet makers. (Furniture makers). I don’t think mum’s AB Neg and my A Neg blood types came from anywhere but the Basques.