Publisher's Synopsis
The village of Irulegi (Navarre, Aranguren Valley) was inhabited between the middle of the Bronze Age (15th Century B.C. to the 11th Century B.C.) and the end of the Iron Age (1st Century B.C.). It burned to the ground during a war between two Roman factions, and its inhabitants had to abandon their homes and leave all behind.
More than two thousand years later on June 18, 2021, an excavation took place and a bronze hand was discovered. The find was made public on November 14 of the following year. The most amazing part of the piece was the inscription that was found engraved on the hand. The transcription of the text to the Latin alphabet resulted in a word recognizable in the Basque language we know today: Sorioneku (one who has good fortune). This was a very important discovery because it is the oldest Vasconic text found to this day and it demonstrates that Basque was spoken in Irulegi as early as the first century, B.C.
