aquitanian and its related descendant, basque, are commonly thought to be pre-indo-european languages, a remnant of the languages spoken in western europe before the arrival of indo-european speakers. it may be possible to trace the aquitanians more or less directly back to the chalcolithic culture of artenac, but the age of the aquitanian language, and of the basque language, is uncertain. some contend that basque dates to the age of metal; others, claiming the derivation of words for "knife" ("aizto"), "ax" ("aizkora") and "hoe" ("aitzur") from the word for "stone" ("haitz"), conclude that the language dates to the stone age or neolithic period, when those tools were made of stone. this derivation, however, has been called into question: see the "aizkora" controversy.