Secret HistoryS


Microscope 2

Despite new findings, ancient 'Cheddar Man' Briton may not be dark-skinned

Colin Barras
New Scientist
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:02 UTC
cheddar man
© London Natural History Museum/Handout/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock/Channel 4/Plimsoll Productions
A Briton who lived 10,000 years ago had dark brown skin and blue eyes. At least, that's what dozens of news stories published this month - including our own - stated as fact. But one of the geneticists who performed the research says the conclusion is less certain, and according to others we are not even close to knowing the skin colour of any ancient human.

The skeleton of Cheddar Man was discovered in 1903 in a cave in south-west England where it had lain for 10,000 years.

Until a few weeks ago, he had always been depicted with pale skin. This makes some sense, given that people living at northern latitudes often have paler skins. The explanation may be that it allows more of the weak northerly sunlight into their skin, so they can make enough vitamin D. And it seems our species reached Europe 30,000 years before Cheddar Man lived, so his ancestors would have had plenty of time to evolve paler skins.

But the new DNA analysis suggests that Cheddar Man may have had dark skin. Most news stories said his skin was "dark to black".
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Christmas Tree

Wales: 1,000-year-old "pollard" oak tree on Offa's Dyke falls


BBC
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
Wales: 1,000-year-old
© @thetreehunterThe Buttington Oak had stood in a field outside Welshpool for 1,000 years
One of the oldest trees in Wales which was probably planted 1,000 years ago as a boundary marker along Offa's Dyke has fallen down.

The Buttington Oak was spotted collapsed in its field two miles from Welshpool in Powys by a man nicknamed the "tree hunter".

Rob McBride said he was sad to see such a significant tree grounded.

Comment: What is Pollarding? According to Wiki:
Pollarding, a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, promotes a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE.[1] The practice has occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined height.[2]
See Also:

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Dig

2,700-year-old clay seal found in Jerusalem bearing the name Isaiah

Cecile Borkhataria
Daily Mail
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 13:56 UTC
2,700-year-old clay seal found in Jerusalem bearing the name Isaiah
A piece of clay dating back to 2,700 years ago and bearing a seal of the name 'Isaiah' has been discovered in Jerusalem.
A 2,700-year-old clay seal found in Jerusalem may bear the 'signature' of the biblical prophet Isaiah.

Researchers believe the Hebrew script impressed into the clay once read 'Belonging to Isaiah the prophet.'

If it did, the clay would be the first direct evidence of the existence Isaiah outside of the Bible.

Archaeologists discovered the damaged clay seal during excavations at the Ophel, and area in East Jerusalem in between the 'City of David' archaeological site and the 'Temple Mount'.

Comment: So while there is absolutely no proof provided in this article that the find is related to any prophet, it is telling how eager they are to assume it could be; and whether this is due to their religious beliefs and political affiliations:

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Dig

Archaeologists find 7,000-year-old example of one of the world's earliest writing systems

Aristos Georgiou
IB Times
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
Archaeologists have found a 7,000-year-old example of one of the world's earliest writing systems
© TwitterVinča symbols can be seen on the ceramic tile
Archaeologists have discovered a new example of one of the world's earliest writing systems near Nova Zagora, a town in the south-eastern plains of Bulgaria, the Sofia News Agency reports.

In October 2017, researchers from Bulgaria's National History Museum and colleagues found a well-preserved ceramic tile, dating back to the 6th millennium BC, which features inscriptions of a set of symbols known as the Vinča signs.

"This plate is a high form of information transmission and is very complex," said archaeologist Tanja Kaneva.

Comment: See Also:

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Info

Neanderthals were painting and decorating at least 20,000 years before humans arrived

Andrew Masterson
Cosmos Magazine
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 03:35 UTC
Ancient Skulls
© J. Zihao120,000 year-old painted and pierced shells, fashioned by Neanderthals – proof, say researchers, that our distant cousins developed symbolic thought well before modern humans arrived in Europe.
Paintings found in Spanish caves have been found to be at least 68,000 years old, meaning they were made 20,000 years before the entry of modern humans into Europe.

The artists, therefore, say a team led by Dirk Hoffmann from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, were Neanderthals. The paintings - located in caves called La Pasiega, Maltravieso, and Ardales - are the subject of a paper published in the journal Science.

Hoffman is also lead author of a second study, published in the journal Science Advances, analysing a collection of 120,000-year-old painted and perforated seashells found in another Spanish location, called Cueva de los Aviones.

Dating evidence reveals that the artefacts, like the paintings, were fashioned many millennia before the arrival of Homo sapiens, meaning that they, too, were the work of Neanderthals.

Hoffman and colleagues note that similar finds in Africa, attributed to modern humans, have been uncontroversially accepted as proxies for symbolic behaviour.

With only a few contested exceptions, symbols - artefacts and paintings, for instance - have not previously been discovered in Europe dating to any earlier than about 45,000 years ago. Thus, it has been assumed that symbolic thought and language were the exclusive province of humanity.
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Family

Arrival of Beaker culture 4,500 years ago changed Britain's DNA for ever

Maev Kennedy
Guardian
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 11:39 UTC
beaker skeleton culture britain
© Dave Webb, Cambridge Archaeological UnitThe grave of a 16–18 year-old female and a 17–20 year-old male dating to c.2000-1950 BC. Both are buried with a fineware beaker.
The largest ever study on ancient DNA has shown that Britain was changed forever by the arrival of the Beaker folk, a wave of migrants about 4,500 years ago who brought with them new customs, new burial practices, and beautiful, distinctive bell-shaped pottery.

The very existence of the Beaker folk - whose ancestry lay in central Europe and further east to the Steppes - and Beaker culture has been questioned in the past. The actual beakers, striking clay drinking vessels with an elegant flared lip, were clearly among the most treasured possessions of the people who were buried with them, and have been excavated from graves across Europe for centuries. However, archaeologists could not agree whether they represented a fashion spread by trade and imitation, or a culture diffused by migration.

Comment: As noted in: Trojan War? New genetic study shows invaders may have ousted Stonehenge people

This Stonehenge study kinda supports Wilkens, "Where Troy Once Stood." The dates may be a bit different, though. For more on Wilkens' ideas see Laura Knight-Jadczyk's article, Where Troy Once Stood: The Mystery of Homer's Iliad & Odyssey Revealed. Here's an excerpt:
The interesting thing about the megalith builders is that the peoples who were able to perform these utterly amazing feats of engineering are still, in most circles, considered to be barbarians because they did not build cities, engage in agriculture, develop the wheel, or writing. Yet, they did something that clearly cannot be, and was not, done by "civilized" peoples who did all of those "civilized" things. They had some sort of "power" that we cannot replicate and do not understand. We also note that another of the famous megalithic arrangements is called "Carnac," suggesting that Karnak in what we now call Egypt is but an echo of an ancient reality, a name transferred by peoples on the move from their ancient homes following a catastrophe, perhaps a terrible war such as that recorded of Troy.
Also See:

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Archaeology

Siberia was a major centre of early skull surgery in ancient times

Kate Baklitskaya
Siberian Times
Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:00 UTC
Siberia was a major centre of early skull surgery in ancient times, say archeologists
© Tyumen Institute of Northern Development of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences'In other words, it was a craniotomy surgery, or trepanation - quite likely one of the first ones in this part of the world'.
A new find of remains of a child aged 8 to 10 dating from around the 5th century AD suggests a sophisticated knowledge of surgical skills.

The skull has an oval-shaped hole cut into the cranial bone sized at 52 to 57 millimetres which hi-tech analysis shows to be 'the result of a deliberate action performed to remove a portion of the skull bone. It was made by a very sharp tool, quite possible a knife, thin, narrow and with a very sharpened blade.

'In other words, it was a craniotomy surgery, or trepanation - quite likely one of the first ones in this part of the world'.

Comment: Elongated skulls have been found all over the world, whose origins or cause may be different; trepanation also seems to have been practised in many places too:

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Archaeology

Immense pyramids at Ecuador's Cochasquí archeological site provide evidence of a lost civilization

Alicia McDermott
Ancient Origins
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Cochasqui Ecuador pyramids
© Alicia McDermottPart of the Cochasquí archaeological site. (Santiago Martinez/ L. Ortiz) A mask found at the site.
The archaeological sites in Ecuador are often overshadowed by more popular locations in neighboring Colombia and Peru. However, archaeology enthusiasts have a wealth of options including more than just well-known Ingapirca to admire. Take for example the huge, 83.9-hectare site of Cochasqui, where pyramids and sacred animals patiently remind us that Ecuadorian archaeology holds more secrets than most people recognize. The debate is on: was Cochasquí a home for Quitu Cara elite, an astronomical observatory, a fortress, a sanctuary, or did it serve some combination of functions?

Architecture and Archaeology of the Site

There are 15 flat-topped pyramids constructed at Cochasquí. Nine of them have ramps. 21 large, circular funerary mounds have also been noted. This is not a small site!
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MIB

The Deep State and the history of the FBI: Federal Blackmail Investigation

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:36 UTC
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
It's hilariously naive how mainstream American news media feign an air of disdain concerning accusations of impropriety by the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the last presidential elections.

Allegations that senior ranks of the FBI were involved in "dirty tricks" to fix the 2016 presidential vote in favor of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton - potentially highly criminal conduct - are treated as if such allegations are scurrilous distractions thrown up by the Trump White House or Republican supporters.

When President Donald Trump has alluded to FBI collusion with the previous Obama Democrat administration to destroy his election campaign, or when Republican congressmen released a secret memo earlier this month also suggesting Deep State dirty tricks, there were gasps of disdain among major news media. Outlets like the New York Times and CNN affected a sanctimonious air that such allegations were contemptible slurs against the honor of the Feds - the nation's top law-enforcement agency.

"Don't dare impugn the reputation of our law officers," is the attitude. Former FBI director James Comey - who was fired by Trump - is held up as a paragon of civic duty and squeaky-clean conduct. So too is Robert Mueller, a previous FBI chief who is carrying out a probe into alleged Russian collusion during the last election.

Comment: John F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Organized Crime and the Global Village

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Ice Cube

During the Little Ice Age Empires collapsed while the Netherlands flourished

Dagomar Degroot
Washington Post
Mon, 19 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
To adjust to new weather patterns, the Dutch developed such inventions as the “sailing car” or ”land yacht,” which used wind power to haul people and goods along beaches.
© Rijksmuseum/RijksmuseumTo adjust to new weather patterns, the Dutch developed such inventions as the “sailing car” or ”land yacht,” which used wind power to haul people and goods along beaches.
We are changing Earth's climate with terrifying speed. In the past, natural forces provoked slower climate changes. We now know that they were still big and fast enough to shape the fates of past societies. Climate change then brought disaster to most societies, but a few prospered. Perhaps the most successful of all emerged in the coastal fringes of the Netherlands, and it has left us with lessons that may help us prepare for our warmer future.


Comment: Research has shown previous climatic shifts were not slow: Ice Ages start and end so suddenly, "it's like a button was pressed," say scientists


Based on glacial ice samplings, stalagmites, ocean- and lake-bed sediments, tree rings and other assessments, it's clear that sometime in the 13th century, Earth's climate cooled. Huge volcanic eruptions lofted dust high into the stratosphere, blocking sunlight just as the sun slipped into a less-active phase, sending less energy to Earth. Sea ice expanded, wind patterns changed and ocean currents shifted. In many regions, torrential rains alternated with unprecedented droughts.


Comment: All of those same signs can be seen today: Revision to 400-year sunspot record makes current solar cycle weakest in 200 years


A period called the "Little Ice Age" had begun, reaching its coldest point in the 16th century.

Comment: To read more about our real history, as hinted at in myth and legend, proven through research, and how those same events are happening today, see: Also check out our monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - January 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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