Secret HistoryS


Cow

Ancient skull suggests brain surgery on cows

Ancient Brain Surgery
© Fernando Ramirez RozziA cow skull showing evidence of cranial surgery.

Most people think surgery is a modern concept, but if the knife-handed skeleton discovered in Italy proves anything, it's that ancient medical tech can be surprisingly advanced (but no less terrifying).

Today, a new game-changing archaeological discovery just rewrote medical history: New evidence suggests that humans have been experimenting with brain surgery for a lot longer than anyone expected. A 5,000-year-old cow skull has been discovered in Vendée, France, that has a cleanly bored hole right through the bone, and it looks like humans were using it for practice.

Vendée is hypothesized to have been the site of an ancient trading hub during the Neolithic era, and two of the major commodities coming through were cattle and salt.

Info

Jackie believed that Lyndon B. Johnson had John F. Kennedy assassinated

Jackie and JFK
In the sensational tapes recorded by the First Lady months after the President's death, broadcast by ABC, Kennedy revealed her belief that Johnson and a cabal of Texas tycoons orchestrated the murder of her husband by gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy, who later became Jackie Onassis, claimed that the Dallas murder was part of a larger conspiracy to allow Johnson to become American President in his own right.

Johnson, who served as a member of Congress, completed Kennedy's term after the assassination and went on to be elected president. Leading historian Arthur Schlesinger Jnr recorded the tapes with Jackie Kennedy within months of her husband's death. They have been stored in a sealed vault at the Kennedy Library in Boston after orders from Mrs. Kennedy that they would remain secret for 50 years after her death.

Comment: Jackie Onassis was not far off. See: Former Nixon aide: Lyndon B. Johnson arranged John F. Kennedy's assassination

And for an even broader view of the JFK, RFK and MLK's assassinations, watch the stunning and comprehensive video Evidence of Revision: The Assassination of America

Evidence of Revision



Magnify

Bay of Pigs: The CIA's unlearned lesson in failed regime change operations

cuban tank bay pigs
© Prensa Latina / ReutersA tank of the Cuban Armed Forces near the site of the Bay of Pigs invasion, 19 April 1961
The looming end of the Castro era in Cuba coincides this week with the 57th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion - a failed attack by the CIA that greatly catalyzed the Castro approach to resisting American encroachment.

On Thursday, Raul Castro, the 86-year-old brother of the late Fidel, will step down as the president of Cuba. For the first time in almost 60 years, the island will not be led by a Castro, although the man who is widely assumed to take the post next, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has vowed to stay on the path of Fidel's revolution.

Two days prior to this, however, the island marks the day when, in 1961, Fidel and his forces beat back an assault which, it was then hoped in Washington, could unseat the leader and nip Cuba's communist dream in the bud.

The Bay of Pigs invasion (or the invasion of Playa Giron, as it is known in Cuba) was a staple of American regime-change tactics. Orchestrated, prepared, planned, bankrolled, and combat-supported by the CIA, it was fronted by defectors from Castro's Cuban revolution who had earlier fled to the US. Warplanes were painted in Cuban Air Force colors, ships were procured from a Cuban-owned company, and political asylum was granted to combatants - all for the sake of "plausible deniability." It was hoped that a small force of returning exiles would sound a wake-up call for Cubans to rise up and topple Castro.

Comment: The deeper story on the Bay of Pigs fiasco, covered in David Talbot's excellent book The Devil's Chessboard, was that the CIA Director at the time, Allen Dulles, hated JFK so much that he intentionally planned the invasion to fail by staffing it with inexperienced agents and then flying to Central America on the day of the invasion to spread even more chaos. Dulles wanted the operation to fail and for Kennedy to be eviscerated by the public and in the history books. But JFK was not notified of the Dulles' plans and once he was, he ordered the air cover to stay on the ground since the Cubans were ripping the American planes that were already in Cuba to shreds.

Interested readers might also want to watch the below interview with author and former high-level military man Fletcher Prouty, where discusses some of the above and more on the Bay of Pigs fiasco:




Hearts

Evidence found in the Americas of dog as man's best friend for over 10,000 years

dog 10,000 year americas
ANCIENT PAWS New radiocarbon evidence has identified three dogs excavated in Illinois, including this pooch, as the oldest canines in the Americas. These human companions lived around 10,000 years ago, about 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.
A trio of dogs buried at two ancient human sites in Illinois lived around 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest known domesticated canines in the Americas.

Radiocarbon dating of the dogs' bones shows they were 1,500 years older than thought, zooarchaeologist Angela Perri said April 13 at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The previous age estimate was based on a radiocarbon analysis of burned wood found in one of the animals' graves. Until now, nearly 9,300-year-old remains of dogs eaten by humans at a Texas site were the oldest physical evidence of American canines.

Ancient dogs at the Midwestern locations also represent the oldest known burials of individual dogs in the world, said Perri, of Durham University in England. A dog buried at Germany's Bonn-Oberkassel site around 14,000 years ago was included in a two-person grave. Placement of the Americas dogs in their own graves indicates that these animals were held in high regard by ancient people.

Comment: From: Genetic study confirms 4000 years ago Indians landed in Australia
The dingo has always been an enigma. No one really knows how or why it ended up in Australia. We know it probably exterminated the Tasmanian Tiger on Mainland Australia (apart from the dingo-free island known as Tasmania) and we know it didn't originate here. The dingo has a striking resemblance to wild dogs found in India and so may have travelled with the first Indian settlers to our Island. However, there are similar looking dogs found in New Guinea and South East Asia.



Info

Six of the oldest human remains found in the US

Excavation
© Wikimedia CommonsPhotograph of the second excavation of "Minnesota Woman" in 1931.
We recently shared some of the more amazing examples of ancient archaeology in the United States. This week, we travel even farther back in time to learn about some of the earliest known inhabitants of our country.

1. Minnesota Woman

Pelican Rapids is a quiet town nestled along the Pelican River in west central Minnesota, and it was here, back in 1931, where construction workers renovating U.S. Route 59 unearthed the skeletal remains of a teenage girl. Deteriorated shells coated the otherwise pristine skeleton. Buried close to the body was a conch shell pendant and a dagger made from the horn of an elk. The remains were eventually turned over to Dr. Albert Jenks from the University of Minnesota, who analyzed the skeleton and dubbed it "Minnesota Man," despite recognizing the remains were those of a woman. Subsequent analysis over the ensuing decades concluded that the remains were roughly 8,000 years old, and that the girl was a proto-indian who likely drowned in the glacial lake which once submerged much of the area. She was rightfully renamed "Minnesota Woman" in 1976.

2. Spirit Cave Mummy

The skeleton of 10,600-year-old man shrouded in a rabbit-skin blanket and reed mats is the oldest known mummy ever found in the United States. Strewn about the Nevada cave where the mummy was discovered were numerous artifacts, along with the cremated remains of three other individuals. The mummy may have more to tell us, but alas, his story and fate have been controversial. After decades of legal battles, the mummy was repatriated to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in 2016 for reburial.

Treasure Chest

King Bluetooth treasure trove: Amateur archaeologist and sidekick unearthed 1,000yo coins & jewels

King Bluetooth treasure trove
© Stefan Sauer / DPA / AFPA collection of artifacts found at the site.
An amateur archaeologist and his teenage sidekick have unearthed a trove of silver artefacts thought to have belonged to Danish King Harald Bluetooth - the royal inspiration for the technology of the same name.

René Schön and 13-year-old Luca Malaschnitschenko found the hoard while searching northern Rugen Island with their metal detectors in January. A much more expansive dig undertaken in recent days revealed necklaces, pearls, brooches and up to 600 chipped coins that may have belonged to Harald Gormsson, better known as 'Harry Bluetooth.'

Sherlock

Ancient Indus Valley civilization was wiped out by a 900 year drought

Indus civilisation
A painting of the Indus civilisation.
The Indus Valley civilisation was wiped out 4,350 years ago by a 900-year-long drought, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp) have found. Evidence gathered during their study also put to rest the widely accepted theory that the said drought lasted for only about 200 years.

The study will be published in the prestigious Quaternary International Journal by Elsevier this month.

Researchers from the geology and geophysics department have been studying the monsoon's variability for the past 5,000 years and have found that the rains played truant in the northwest Himalayas for 900 long years, drying up the source of water that fed the rivers along which the civilisation thrived. This eventually drove the otherwise hardy inhabitants towards the east and south, where rain conditions were better.

Comment: See also:


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Sardinia's mysterious annual "exorcism" ceremony

Sardinian mamoiada
For thousands of years, the men of a tiny Sardinian town have transformed into monsters-and no one knows why
No one dares to speak as smoke from a massive bonfire billows and twirls into a thick haze in the remote mountain town of Mamoiada. Flaming logs crack open, echoing through central Sardinia's rugged massifs and twisting valleys, shooting sparks toward a solemn mass of spectators. We're huddled together on a piercingly cold January night, bracing for something wild in the darkness that's lurching ever closer.

I peer through the smoke, searching for any signs of life beyond the glow of the blaze when I see several mothers suddenly pull their children in close. Just then, Ruggero Mameli, a lifelong Mamoiada resident who had invited me to come witness this event, whispers, "They're coming."

Within seconds, a distant rattling sound shakes the night awake, building slowly with each heavy step until it erupts into a deafening clatter. The sea of spectators parts, I see them, and a chill runs up my spine. Twelve menacing figures in jet-black masks with jutting, ghoulish features and dark sheepskin tunics are inching toward me, weighed down by up to 65 pounds of cowbells strapped to their backs. Their hunched frames slowly drag forward in two rows, eyeing the crowd as they heave themselves into a series of synchronized convulsions that cause the sheep bones inside their copper bells to clang in a thunderous chorus.

Comment: While it may be an amalgamation of traditions, one does wonder what it's original meaning may have been:


Cloud Grey

Volcanic eruptions during Roman times blocked out the sun plunging Eurasia into hunger and disease

A subfossil tree trunk being lifted out of a lake.
© Samuli Helama / Natural Resources Institute FinlandA subfossil tree trunk being lifted out of a lake.
A recent study published in an esteemed academic journal indicates that volcanic eruptions in the mid-500s resulted in an unusually gloomy and cold period. A joint research project of the Chronology Laboratory of the Finnish Museum of Natural History and Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) suggests that the years 536 and 541-544 CE were very difficult for many people.

An extended period of low light makes survival difficult. Food production, including farming and animal husbandry, rely on solar energy. Humans, meanwhile, become more prone to disease if they are not exposed to enough sunlight to produce vitamin D.

"Our research shows that the climate anomaly, which covered all of the northern hemisphere, was the compound result of several volcanic eruptions," says Markku Oinonen, director of the Chronology Laboratory. The aerosols that were released into the atmosphere with the eruptions covered the sun for a long time.

Comment: For more on the incredible happenings during that period, see: Also check out SOTT radio's:


Microscope 1

Oxford University genetic study finds Britons still live in 7th century tribal kingdoms

A new genetic map of Britain shows that there has been little movement between areas of Britain which were former tribal kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England
© David Cheskin/PAA new genetic map of Britain shows that there has been little movement between areas of Britain which were former tribal kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England
Britons are still living in the same 'tribes' that they did in the 7th Century, Oxford University has found after an astonishing study into our genetic make-up.

Archaeologists and geneticists were amazed to find that genetically similar individuals inhabit the same areas they did following the Anglo-Saxon invasion, following the fall of the Roman Empire.

In fact, a map showing tribes of Britain in 600AD is almost identical to a new chart showing genetic variability throughout the UK, suggesting that local communities have stayed put for the past 1415 years.

Many people in Britain claim to feel a strong sense of regional identity and scientists say they the new study proves that the link to birthplace is DNA deep.

Comment: Laura Knight-Jadczyk in Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls writes:
Until that point in time, the Britons had held control of post-Roman Britain, keeping the Anglo-Saxons isolated and suppressed. After the Romans were gone, the Britons maintained the status quo, living in towns, with elected officials, and carrying on trade with the empire. After AD 536, the year reported as the "death of Arthur", the Britons, the ancient Cymric empire that at one time had stretched from Cornwall in the south to Strathclyde in the north, all but disappeared, and were replaced by Anglo-Saxons. There is much debate among scholars as to whether the Anglo-Saxons killed all of the Britons, or assimilated them. Here we must consider that they were victims of possibly many overhead cometary explosions which wiped out most of the population of Europe, plunging it into the Dark Ages which were, apparently, really DARK, atmospherically speaking.
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