 Since the Etruscan language was a non-Indo-European language, it was not closely related to Lydian, which was a part of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages.Research into the genetics of, respectively, ancient human and animal remains from northern Italy and western Anatolia have been somewhat contradictory.A 2013 study suggested that the maternal lineages – as reflected in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – of western Anatolians and the modern population of Tuscany had been largely separate for 5,000 to 10,000 years (with a 95% credible interval); the mtDNA of Etruscans was most similar to modern Tuscans and Neolithic populations from Central Europe.