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DNA study traces origins of modern Japanese to Paleolithic man

Tetsuya Ishikura
The Asahi Shimbun
Fri, 02 Jul 2021 19:50 UTC
Minatogawa man
© Illustrated by Teruya Yamamoto and provided by the National Museum of Nature and Science, TokyoAn artist’s rendition of what a Minatogawa man looked like.
Modern Japanese appear to be genetically descended from the Paleolithic Minatogawa people, according to DNA analysis of human remains in Okinawa Prefecture dating from 20,000 years ago.

According to current mainstream theory, Japanese have mixed origins in the Jomon people known for their distinctive pottery culture (c. 14500 B.C.-1000 B.C.) and the Yayoi people with their own pottery culture (1000 B.C.-A.D. 250).

The latest study indicates the origins of Japanese can be traced to a more distant past.

Minatogawa refers to people whose remains were unearthed in Okinawa Prefecture in 1970. Named after the site where the bones were discovered, the Minatogawa people are among the few Paleolithic humans whose remains have so far been discovered in Japan.

They were small in stature, standing around 150 centimeters. Narrow-shouldered, they had a sturdy lower-body skeletal build, which experts believe made them suited to running on barren land.

DNA analysis and other studies support the theory that modern Japanese have mixed origins in Jomon hunter-gatherers who inhabited broad areas of Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa between 15,000 and 3,000 years ago and the Yayoi farming people, who arrived later from the Asian mainland.

What remained a mystery was the relationship with the Minatogawa people, who lived thousands of years before the Jomon people.
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Info

Rare 51,000-year-old bone carving suggest Neanderthals were artists

George Dvorsky
Gizmodo
Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:00 UTC
The rare bone carving was unearthed at a cave entrance in northern Germany.
The Neanderthal bone carving.
© V. Minkus/NLDThe Neanderthal bone carving.
Patterns deliberately etched onto a bone belonging to a giant deer is further evidence that Neanderthals possessed the capacity for symbolic thought.

Neanderthals decorated themselves with feathers, drew cave paintings, and created jewelry from eagle talons, so it comes as little surprise to learn that Neanderthals also engraved patterns onto bone. The discovery of this 55,000-year-old bone carving, as described in Nature Ecology & Evolution, is further evidence of sophisticated behaviour among Neanderthals.

"Evidence of artistic decorations would suggest production or modification of objects for symbolic reasons beyond mere functionality, adding a new dimension to the complex cognitive capability of Neanderthals," as Silvia Bello, an archaeologist at the Natural History Museum in London, explained in an associated New & Views article.

The carving was found at the Einhornhöhle archaeological site in the Harz mountains of northern Germany, and it features a line pattern consisting of six etchings that form five stacked chevrons. The "parallel and regularly spaced engravings have comparable dimensions and were very probably created in a uniform approach suggesting an intentional act," according to the study, led by archaeologist Dirk Leder from the State Service for Cultural Heritage Lower Saxony in Hannover, Germany.
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Black Magic

Canada Day special: How a 'synthetic nationalism' was created to break the US-Russia alliance

Matt Ehret
The Canadian Patriot
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:57 UTC
trudeau diefenbaker
As a Canadian author associated with a Canadian geopolitical magazine and a book series rooted in the thesis that Canada is still under the dominance of the British Empire to this very day, the July 1st holiday known as "Canada Day" is a bit of a strange thing to celebrate.

As I have recently written in my articles "The Missed Chance of 1867" and the "Truth of the Alaska Purchase", July 1st, 1867 was the day the British North America Act was established creating for the first time a confederacy in the Americas devoted to "maintaining the interests of the British Empire" (as our founding constitution makes explicit).

The motive for this 1867 confederation was driven by the British Empire's burning fear of losing its valuable possessions in the Americas during the course of the Civil War when Britain's "other confederacy" operation against Lincoln's union was obviously going to fail. The fact that the U.S.-Russian alliance that saved the Union in 1863 and led into the sale of Alaska in 1867 would also usher in an inevitable growth of rail development through the Bering Strait connecting both civilizations was a prospect devoutly to be feared by the City of London.
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Blue Planet

No sign of foreigners in Turkey's Bronze Age Alalakh burials despite it being 'international age'


Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Wed, 30 Jun 2021 12:00 UTC
Alalakh
© Ingman et al., 2021. PLOS ONE.Map showing location of Alalakh in Turkey.
A new study published in PLOS ONE reports genetic and oxygen and strontium isotopic data for individuals buried at Alalakh, finding little evidence for the foreigners mentioned in texts.

The Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean has long been considered by researchers to have been the 'first international age,' especially the period from 1600-1200 BC, when powerful empires from Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt set up large networks of subordinate client kingdoms in the Near East. These empires fought, traded, and corresponded with one another, and ancient texts from the period reveal rich economic and social networks that enabled the movement of people and goods.

Comment: Meanwhile in Bronze Age Germany: Why are adult daughters missing from Early Bronze Age German cemeteries?

See also:

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Archaeology

Ancient carved snake found in Finnish neolithic dig site, Järvensuo


Source
Wed, 30 Jun 2021 18:35 UTC
snake carving finland excavation
© snSatu Koivisto et alBetween earth and water: a wooden snake figurine from the Neolithic site of Järvensuo
A pair of researchers from the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki, respectively, both in Finland, has found a well-preserved ancient carved snake at Järvensuo 1, a dig site in south-west Finland. In their paper published on the Cambridge University Press site Cambridge Core, Satu Koivisto and Antti Lahelma describe where the artifact was found, its condition, its age and its possible purpose.
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Info

Ornate stone carving discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall


Vindolanda Charitable Trust
Mon, 28 Jun 2021 21:01 UTC
Archaeologists search for clues to identify a mystery horseman after carved relief uncovered at Roman Vindolanda, Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall

A beautifully carved sandstone relief which depicts a naked male figure holding a spear stood in front of a horse/donkey has been uncovered during the annual excavations at the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland. The complete stone measuring 160mm by 315mm would have originally been fitted into a recess.

The stone was uncovered on 20th May, only inches under the topsoil by two Vindolanda volunteers from Newcastle, who have both been making their annual pilgrimage to assist with the excavations for over 15 years. Richie Milor and David Goldwater had been assigned to uncover a flagged floor inside a 4th century building of the ancient fort. They quickly realised the rugged stone that lay face up amongst the larger smooth flag was something special. David noted that "I saw one of the legs of the horse first and then the pointed top of the relief ", Richie said "we are just absolutely elated, very proud to be part of this discovery, it was actually very emotional. Whether you find something or not we love coming to this site, playing our small part in the research that takes place, but finding this made it a very special day indeed."
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Blue Planet

World's first-known plague victim was hunter-gatherer who died 5,000 years ago in Latvia


South China Morning Post
Wed, 30 Jun 2021 04:35 UTC
Latvia plague
© Dominik Goldner / BGAEU, Berlin / AFPThe skull bones of a man buried in Rinnukalns, Latvia around 5,000 years ago.
The plague has ravaged humanity for thousands of years, wiping out as much as half of Europe's population in the Black Death, and scientists have long puzzled over its origins and evolutionary history.

Researchers said on Tuesday they had found its first known victim: a hunter-gatherer who lived 5,000 years ago in what is now Latvia, whose remains carried the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes the disease.

"The analyses of the strain we identified shows that Y. pestis evolved earlier than thought," Ben Krause-Kyora, head of the aDNA Laboratory at the University of Kiel in Germany, said.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Who was Jesus? Examining the evidence that Christ may in fact have been Caesar!

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Attention

Bolivian ex-Minister of Defence plotted a second coup using US mercenaries

Lawrence Blair, Ryan Grim
The Intercept
Thu, 17 Jun 2021 06:00 UTC
Arce/Morales
© Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty ImagesBolivian President Luis Arce • Former President Evo Morales
26th anniversary celebration of the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo Party
La Paz, Bolivia • March 29, 2021
A top official in the outgoing Bolivian government plotted to deploy hundreds of mercenaries from the United States to overturn the results of the South American country's October 2020 election, according to documents and audio recordings of telephone calls obtained by The Intercept.

The aim of the mercenary recruitment was to forcibly block Luis Arce from taking up the presidency for Movimiento al Socialismo, or MAS, the party of former Bolivian President Evo Morales. The plot continued even though Arce, a protégé of Morales, trounced a crowded field, winning 55 percent of first-round votes and eliminating the need for a runoff election.

In one of the leaked recordings, a person identified as the Bolivian minister of defense said he was "working to avoid the annihilation of my country." The armed forces and the people needed to "rise up and block an Arce administration. ... The next 72 hours are crucial."

Disagreements between ministers and divisions within the armed forces, strained under the weight of Arce's convincing victory on October 18, 2020, appear to have undermined the plan. It was never executed, and several top officials of the outgoing government have either fled Bolivia or been arrested on separate charges linked to corruption and their alleged role in the 2019 coup.

Comment: See also:

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Blue Planet

Dragon Man: Large ancient skull from China could be new human species

Katie Pavid
National History Museum
Fri, 25 Jun 2021 12:00 UTC
Dragon Man china homo
A huge cranium found in the Songhua River in China represents a new sister lineage for Homo sapiens. It dates to at least 146,000 years old.

A team led by Prof Qiang Ji at the Hebei GEO University described the skull in a new paper published in the journal The Innovation.

The skull is almost complete and provides important evidence for understanding the evolution of humans and the origin of our species.

It is so distinctive in shape that some of the team have suggested declaring the skull as a new species of the genus Homo, and it has been dubbed Dragon Man, or Homo longi. The name is derived from the Long Jiang, or Dragon River, in the Heilongjiang province of China.

Chris Stringer, a human evolution expert at the Museum, studied the skull alongside Ji and their team.

Comment: This comes on the heels of a related discovery in Israel: Nesher Ramla Homo type - a prehistoric human previously unknown to science

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Video

Documents reveal CIA support for anti-Iranian propaganda film Argo, butchering of history

Tom Secker
Press TV
Tue, 22 Jun 2021 01:09 UTC
ARGO-CIA
© Press TV
The 2012 spy comedy-drama Argo was a massive critical and commercial success, and while the CIA's support for the film was an open secret, until now the details on how and why the Agency helped to make Argo were hard to come by. In response to a FOIA request made in 2012, the CIA recently released over 200 pages of documents about their role in the making of Argo, providing a glimpse behind the curtain of why the CIA is working with Hollywood.

Argo tells the story of six US State Department employees who fled the US embassy in Tehran during the 1979 revolution, and were hiding out in the city. The CIA's Tony Mendez came up with the idea of pretending they were a Hollywood film crew, so he could sneak them out of Iran. The CIA, with the help of assets in Tinseltown, set up a fake production company and bought the rights to a sci-fi script, titled Argo, before Mendez traveled to Tehran and exfiltrated the six government employees.
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