The main task of the recent symposium held in the year 2002, entitled Ancient Settlers of Central Europe, was to increase our knowledge of the ancient population settling this region. Some new data and arguments were reviewed and it becomes more and more clear how to explain the significant similarity between the Basque and Slovenian languages. These similarities could mean a similar, but not necessarily the same origin at a time before the last glacial period. During that period the population of the whole region was quite homogeneous, in particular as concerns their language, which was essential for their communication. This can be apparently explained by the greater migratory mobility of the inhabitants. There are some important new data from Germanic sources which were up to the present kept in the background. These sources clearly point out that the original population of the presently Germanic territories was Slavic and that the Germanic tribes were conquerors, who pushed out the original Slavic population. This population was eventually expropriated, assimilated and often also systematically Germanized. Evidence in favour of this conclusion are recent results of genetic studies on various European nations, and in particular for the Slovenians. The results of comparative linguistic studies are also significant since languages are quite durable and their influences only slowly fade away.
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