Secret History

Recolonisation of Europe after the last ice age started earlier than previously thought

Estonian Research Council
Heritage Daily
Wed, 21 Apr 2021 19:48 UTC

© G. Oxilia
A study that appeared today on Current Biology sheds new light on the continental migrations which shaped the genetic background of all present Europeans.

A study that appeared today in Current Biology sheds new light on the continental migrations which shaped the genetic background of all present Europeans. The research generates new ancient DNA evidence and direct dating from a fragmentary fossil mandible belonging to an individual who lived ~17,000 years ago in northeastern Italy (Riparo Tagliente, Verona). The results backdate by about 3,000 years the diffusion in Southern Europe of a genetic component linked to Eastern Europe/Western Asia previously believed to have spread westwards during later major warming shifts.

"By looking into the past of this particular individual, who was one of the first settlers of the southern Alps after the Last Glacial peak, we found evidence that the previously documented genetic replacement which changed the makeup of Southern European Hunter Gatherers started at least 17,000 years ago," said lead author Eugenio Bortolini (University of Bologna), "much earlier than we previously thought, and in a very different scenario."

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Diets of Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples on the Great Hungarian Plain revealed in new study

Eotvos Lorand University
Heritage Daily
Thu, 22 Apr 2021 19:45 UTC

© Miaow Miaow
The territory of the GHP in Hungary. The lifestyle and eating habits of human groups that have lived for thousands of years can be examined by tooth.

An international research group analyzed the prehistoric findings of the Neolithic Age. In addition to providing knowledge about the lifestyles of people who lived in prehistoric times, a novel study of tooth remains paved the way for other methods previously not used. This study applies the complementary approaches of stable isotope and dental microwear analyses to study the diets of past people living in today's Hungary. Their joint results were published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

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As Cuban chief Raul Castro leaves office, declassified CIA files expose how Washington planned to assassinate him

Kit Klarenberg
RT
Mon, 19 Apr 2021 16:47 UTC

Covert attempts by the US to take out renowned revolutionary Fidel Castro by way of exploding cigars or poisoned seashells are now well known. But one contract that spies took out on his brother has remained secret... until now.

On April 16, Cuban leader Raul Castro announced his intention to resign and pass leadership to a younger generation "full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit." Having taken over power from his brother Fidel in 2008, his departure marks the seeming end of a dynasty that has ruled Cuba since 1961.

To mark the historic occasion, the National Security Archive released a number of previously classified US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents that expose how Washington had well-developed plans to assassinate Raul.

A general overview of the plot is provided by a January 1975 memorandum, prepared for the CIA Inspector General, with a stated subject of "questionable activities." It noted that Jose Raul Martinez Nunez - "a Cuban national and ranking Cubana Airline pilot" - was "developed and recruited" by the Agency at some point in 1960.

MindMatters: Phillip Barlag: The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar

Harrison Koehli, Elan Martin, Adam Daniels
Sott.net
Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00 UTC

Power-hungry despot. Dictator for life. Vain ladies' man. Murdered by his peers for aspiring to be king. That was Julius Caesar, at least according to his critics and modern interpreters. But countless portrayals of the most famous Roman - in histories, novels, plays and films - omit what were quite likely his greatest features: his multifaceted genius, unparalleled leadership skill, and, remarkable for the times in which he lived, his humanity. Those skills - and their relevance for leadership today - have gone mostly unnoticed.

So this week on MindMatters we discuss The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar with author Phillip Barlag. This examination of Caesar's accomplishments not only brings a fresh perspective on who Caesar was, but also hones in on the qualities that made him an exemplary leader of ancient Rome and what lessons we can draw from the accounts of his life and character. What emerges is an alternative reading of Caesar, not as a wholly self-serving tyrant, but a politically skilled reformer, man of the people, and all around exceptional human being.

Preorder Phillip's new book here

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Archaeology in the ashes of Notre Dame

Maxime L'Héritier
Sapiens
Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:00 UTC

© Aurélia Azéma/Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques
The Notre Dame fire was devastating but has opened the door to research on building materials now available for study.

Two years ago, a fire devastated Paris' iconic Catholic cathedral. An archaeologist outlines the unprecedented research scientists are now undertaking to make the most of the disaster.

The night of April 15, 2019, brought unimaginable tragedy to Paris' iconic medieval Catholic cathedral. I was on the metro at the time, when I got a phone call from a colleague: "Notre Dame is burning." When the train crossed the Seine a few minutes later, I saw it with my own eyes, from a distance, helpless. The fire caused the cathedral spire to collapse, most of the roof was destroyed, and its upper walls were severely damaged.

The first time I could access Notre Dame was in December 2019, more than six months after the fire. I pulled on a mandatory protective suit and powered respirator to protect me from lead emissions, and was taken up to the top of the southern transept. From there, I gasped at the site of the northern great rose window through the wide hole where the spire had totally collapsed. I was speechless. The vaults were a total mess of carbonized wooden and metallic pieces.

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Ancient DNA hints at complex social groupings in Neolithic Anatolia

University of Liverpool
Wed, 14 Apr 2021 18:32 UTC

Genomes from University of Liverpool excavations of burials around some of the earliest houses in history contributed to a major study by an international team of geneticists, anthropologists and archaeologists, revealing more about the remarkable diversity of kinship types in ancient human societies.

The first villagers in history were Middle Easterners who adopted a sedentary lifestyle roughly 12,000 years ago. These people not only built houses, but also buried their dead, young and old, within and around these buildings, while they continued living in them.

Although this subfloor burial tradition is well-known, the underlying social relations among these co-burials have remained a mystery. Many assumed these burials were biological family members, while others suggested that households and their burials represented more complex social groupings, organized through non-biological forms of kinship.

Senior co-author, Hacettepe University's Professor Füsun Özer, said: "Social kinship types are well-documented in many pre-industrial societies.

"What we show in this study is that both sides may have been right, at least in the case of the Neolithic Middle East".

Ancient 'untouched and highly unusual' tomb discovered on Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

Seán Mac an tSíthigh
RTE
Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:49 UTC

The tomb was uncovered in recent days during land improvement works being carried out by a farmer

An ancient tomb, described by archaeologists as "untouched" and "highly unusual" has been discovered on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry.

The tomb was uncovered in recent days during land improvement works being carried out by a farmer.

The National Monument Service has requested that the location of the structure should not be disclosed in order to prevent the possibility of disturbance.

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New research reveals multipurpose nature of Australian boomerangs

Carley Rosengreen
Griffith University
Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:43 UTC

If you thought all boomerangs were used solely for throwing and - hopefully - returning then think again, because new research by a team of Griffith University archaeologists suggests that Aboriginal Australians employed the traditional curved wooden objects for so many more purposes.

The team from Griffith's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) analysed microscopic traces on the surfaces of 100 boomerangs from across each state and territory curated by the Australian Museum in Sydney.

The findings constitute the first traceological identification of hardwood boomerangs being used for shaping stone tools in various Aboriginal Australian contexts and have been published in Journal of Archaeological Science - Reports.

PhD candidate Eva Martellotta worked with ARCHE's Dr Michelle Langley (also Forensics & Archaeology, School of Environment and Science), Professor Adam Brumm and Dr Jayne Wilkins to examine microscopic marks on the surface of the boomerangs using a traceological method.

By using this method, the researchers were able to more clearly see what tasks the boomerangs were used for by Aboriginal Australians in the past.

Extreme weather - such as drought and floods - signals looming wars, warns medieval Korean manuscript

Svetlana Ekimenko
Sputnik
Wed, 14 Apr 2021 12:54 UTC

Amid increasing concerns voiced by some scientists that climate change is fraught with dangerous implications for the Earth's natural ecosystem and the world economy, there may be other links to altering weather conditions that are no less threatening, claims a new study.

When extreme weather conditions manifest themselves in the form of droughts or excessive rainfall, it may be a sign of impending wars, claims new research.

As a team of scientists led by Santa Fe Institute External Professor Rajiv Sethi (Barnard College, Columbia University) and Tackseung Jun of Kyung Hee University in South Korea discovered the link as they pored over the oldest surviving document recording Korean history - the Samguk Sagi, or History of the Three Kingdoms.

Comment: Not only that, the apparent coupling today of society's psycho-social demise with the increase in extreme weather fluctuation suggests that wars and other destructive human behaviours cause (or at least positively correlate with) 'climate change'.

Sexual division of labor in Europe evident at advent of farming

Popular Archaeology
Wed, 14 Apr 2021 21:44 UTC

A new investigation of stone tools buried in graves provides evidence supporting the existence of a division of different types of labor between people of male and female biological sex at the start of the Neolithic. Alba Masclans of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on April 14, 2021.

Previous research has suggested that a sexual division of labor existed in Europe during the transition to the Neolithic period, when farming practices spread across the continent. However, many questions remain as to how different tasks became culturally associated with women, men, and perhaps other genders at this time.

Comment: Notably the article only speculates on 'other genders', because, as the skeletons will likely attest, there are only 2: Sex differences in immune responses to viral infection

Comment: It's likely that as long as there have been humans, divided by biology into males and females, certain jobs have been gender specific. And there's a reason that these farm related gendered roles didn't change much over thousands of years, and that's because, usually, when your survival depends on it, the job goes to the most capable:

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DeliciousTears

If the cop let the black girl in pink get stabbed there would've been riots for gross indifference and neglect towards the protection of black...

sbc

Finally waking up and putting a brake on "wokism" a self devouring cancer investing the body of liberalism I like the expression supporting "free...

Lobogris

Hah!....it's probably way more than that in the U S as well... these false-flag/ hoaxes are in the end always about financial fraud, just like all...

Fewtile

Dear China, We tried to call you, You ignored our calls. Then you enacted bans on Imports that hasnt really impacted Australia as much as you...

Oldfart

Secret History

Recolonisation of Europe after the last ice age started earlier than previously thought

Diets of Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples on the Great Hungarian Plain revealed in new study

As Cuban chief Raul Castro leaves office, declassified CIA files expose how Washington planned to assassinate him

MindMatters: Phillip Barlag: The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar

Archaeology in the ashes of Notre Dame

Ancient DNA hints at complex social groupings in Neolithic Anatolia

Ancient 'untouched and highly unusual' tomb discovered on Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

New research reveals multipurpose nature of Australian boomerangs

Extreme weather - such as drought and floods - signals looming wars, warns medieval Korean manuscript

Sexual division of labor in Europe evident at advent of farming

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