The first whole genome sequences of the ancient people of Uruguay provide a genetic snapshot of Indigenous populations of the region before they were decimated by a series of European military campaigns. PNAS Nexus published the research, led by anthropologists at Emory University and the University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay.

"Our work shows that the Indigenous people of ancient Uruguay exhibit an ancestry that has not been previously detected in South America," says John Lindo, co-corresponding author and an Emory assistant professor of anthropology specializing in ancient DNA. "This contributes to the idea of South America being a place where multi-regional diversity existed, instead of the monolithic idea of a single Native American race across North and South America."

The analyses drew from a DNA sample of a man that dated back 800 years and another from a woman that went back 1,500 years, both well before the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. The samples were collected from an archeological site in eastern Uruguay by co-corresponding author Gonzalo Figueiro, a biological anthropologist at the University of the Republic.

The results of the analyses showed a surprising connection to ancient individuals from Panama — the land bridge that connects North and South America — and to eastern Brazil, but not to modern Amazonians. These findings support the theory proposed by some archeologists of separate migrations into South America, including one that led to the Amazonian populations and another that led to the populations along the East coast.

"We've now provided genetic evidence that this theory may be correct," Lindo says. "It runs counter to the theory of a single migration that split at the foot of the Andes."

This is Part 4 to a five-part series. [Refer here for Part 1 and Part 2, the latter which goes over how the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement Post WWII was Bought and Paid for by the CIA. Part 3 is essential reading prior to this paper, which discusses key elements of NATO's Operation Gladio.]

Operation Underworld & the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)

Charles "Lucky" Luciano (1897-1962) was the most powerful and successful gangster in American history. He is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for having established The Commission in 1931. In 1936 Luciano was convicted for compulsory prostitution and running a prostitution racket. He was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison, but during WWII, the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) made him an offer.

Luciano was promised eventual liberty in return for delivering the southern Italian Mafia as the fifth column backing the Allied cause against Mussolini. This would be the seed that would generate the powerful Mafia families of southern Italy, assigned by the United States to act as praetorian guards within the stay-behind armies.

Meyer Lansky, head of the Jewish mob, became the liaison between Luciano and ONI and Operation Underworld was born. Luciano ordered his men to obey Lansky who became essentially the head of a large portion of the Italian-American Mafia.

Thomas Dewey (then Governor of New York), although responsible for putting Luciano in prison, pardoned him in 1946 due to his service towards the Allied cause and Luciano was deported to Italy along with some of his lieutenants, however, not before he met with agents of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services).

In the historical chronicles of each state there are pages that it is customary to be proud of. Only everyone has their own pride. In Estonia, for example, they prefer to honour nationalists and veterans of Hitler's troops, turning a blind eye to their bloody crimes, which do not have a statute of limitations by definition. They say that History gives a lesson twice: first in the form of a tragedy, then a farce. Estonians don't seem to have learned the first lesson...

A lot of historical research has been devoted to the topic of Estonian collaboration. Hundreds of archival documents, thousands of testimonies, irrefutable historical facts of the period of the Great Patriotic War - and with all this, in our time, Estonia does not hesitate to hold parades of SS veterans, busily getting rid of Soviet heritage. Something happened to the compass of historical memory and historical conscience, if living under the boot of a Hitlerist cut-throat was nicer - and now it's nicer under NATO...

What were the motives of the Estonian "patriots" who gathered under Nazi flags or went to the "Forest Brothers" detachment? It is known that by the end of 1941, a whole army of "Omakaitse" numbering over 40,000 was put together from nationalists, radicals and former military men, whose actions were supervised by an SS Sturmbannführer by the name of Sandberger. Throughout military science, the organisation was clearly structured, following the orders of Hitler's officers. They were engaged in escorting prisoners, guarding camps, roundups and executions. Now some "experts" are trying to claim that many Estonian citizens found themselves in the ranks of murderers involuntarily - although a lot of documents and evidence suggests the opposite. Moreover, the SS themselves were sometimes shocked by the cruelty that the "slaves" showed at the time of punitive operations.
In the period from 1942 to 1943, Jewish families taken from Germany, France, the Czech Republic and other states of "civilised" Europe were destroyed in the Estonian town of Kalevi-Liiva. However, Nazi minions operated not only on their own territory. It is already known that the 36th Estonian Auxiliary Police Battalion is directly involved in punitive operations in the vicinity of the Belarusian city of Novogrudok: the liquidation of the Novogrudok ghetto is a blood-curdling story.

The remains of Neolithic buildings were found on the island of Ghagha.
Archaeologists have discovered the oldest structure ever found in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — the remains of a building that may be 8,500 years old.

The structure, which dates to the Neolithic period, was found by archaeologists on on the island of Ghagha off Abu Dhabi.

An analysis of carbon isotopes, or versions of carbon, within charcoal fragments from the site show that the structure is 500 years older than any structures found before in the UAE, according to a February statement from the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). Previously, the oldest structure found was on the island of Marawah.

"These archaeological finds have shown that people were settling and building homes here 8,500 years ago," Mohamed Al Mubarak, the chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said in the statement.

The uprising in a breakaway region was a monument to human stupidity and idealism

The current crisis in Ukraine, in which Russia has recognized the rebel republics in the Donbass, looks unusual, but this is not a new story for the post-Soviet space. Something similar to the events happening in the Donbass today took place in 1992, and the enclave that then arose still exists.

The unrecognized territory, formally part of Moldova, was formed as a result of a short war, which was simultaneously absurd and cruel. That war contains many parallels with the current conflict - including even the personal stories of many of its participants.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by a series of armed conflicts. Some have gone down in history as examples of insane, unbridled violence, comparable only to conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. However, a strange little war in the Transnistria region stands out among them.

For 65,000 years, Bininj - the local Kundjeihmi word for Aboriginal people - have returned to Madjedbebe rock shelter on Mirarr Country in the Kakadu region (in the Northern Territory).

Over this immense span of time, the environment around the rock shelter has changed dramatically.

Our paper, published last week in Quaternary Science Reviews, uses ancient scraps of plant foods, once charred in the site's fireplaces, to explore how Aboriginal communities camping at the site responded to these changes.

This cooking debris tells a story of resilience in the face of changing climate, sea levels and vegetation.

A 2,000 year old Roman artifact that a Texas woman purchased at a thrift store for only $35 will be sent back to Germany after an investigation into its origins.

Back in 2018, Laura Young went to an Austin, Texas, Goodwill store and picked up a bust of a Roman that cost $34.99. Little did she know it was an ancient artifact that historians believe Allied soldiers took in Germany during World War II.

"I got it outside in the light," Young said, reflecting on when she first purchased the statue. "He had chips to the base. He had clear repairs. He looks old. I've been to museums. I've seen Roman portrait heads before."

After Russia's Foreign Minister said that Hitler had Jewish blood, Israeli leaders have condemned him angrily, with the Prime Minister saying he was justifying "the oppressors of Israel." Wait, when did this become about Israel?

There's a major brouhaha going on, with harsh condemnations from the Israeli top political leaders, about what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday:

"I believe Hitler also had Jewish blood."

New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe - revealing that the rodent colonised the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods.

The study - led by the University of York along with the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute - is the first ancient genetic study of the species (Rattus rattus), often known as the ship rat.

By analysing DNA from ancient black rat remains found at archaeological sites spanning the 1st to the 17th centuries in Europe and North Africa, the researchers have pieced together a new understanding of how rat populations dispersed following the ebbs and flows of human trade, urbanism, and empires.

Archaeologists in southern Mexico have discovered 30 carvings depicting capital I-shaped ballcourts cut into rocks. These carvings may have been used in ceremonies involving water and "ritual bloodletting," new research finds.

The carvings, in the ancient settlement of Quiechapa, are badly weathered, but small features in a few cases can be made out, such as one carving that appears to show a bench in the ballcourt.

"Ballgames were of great significance to people throughout ancient Mesoamerica," study researcher Alex Elvis Badillo, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Systems at Indiana State University, wrote in an article published Jan. 11 in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.