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What is Ukraine?

Vladislav B. Sotirović
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:48 UTC
German troops in Kiev, 1918
German troops in Kiev, 1918.
The German occupation forces were those who have been the first to create and recognize a short-lived state's independence of Ukraine in January 1918 during the time of their-own inspired and supported anti-Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917−1921. As reoccupied by the Bolshevik Red Army, the eastern and southern parts of the present-day territory of (a Greater) Ukraine joined in 1922 the USSR as a separate Soviet Socialist Republic (without Crimea). According to 1926 Soviet census of Crimea, the majority of its population were the Russians (382.645). The second largest ethnic group were the Tartars (179.094). Therefore, V. I. Lenin has to be considered as the real historical father of the Ukrainian statehood but also and as of the contemporary nationhood.

The territory of the present-day Ukraine was devastated during WWII by the Nazi German occupation forces from 1941 to 1944. During the war the Ukrainian nationalists of S. Bandera (1900−1959) committed a genocide against the Poles, Jews and Russians [on Stepan Bandera, see: Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist. Fascism, Genocide, and Cult, Stuttgart, ibidem, 2014]. The Jewish holocaust in Ukraine was one of the most terrible in the whole of Europe. For instance, the Ukrainian militia (12,000) directly participated in the 1942 holocaust of some 200,000 Volhynian Jews together with 140,000 German policemen. The Ukrainian mass killers learned their job from the Germans and applied their knowledge as well on the Poles [Timothy Snyder, Tautų rekonstrukcija: Lieuva, Lenkija, Ukraina, Baltarusija 1569−1999, Vilnius: Mintis, 2009, 183].
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Palette

Researchers say oldest known cave paintings were created by 'sophisticated' Neanderthals


RT
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 13:52 UTC
neanderthal art
© H.Collado/ University of Southampton
More sophisticated and closer to modern humans than previously thought, Neanderthals were the world's first artists, according to new research which has uncovered cave art in Spain thought to be some 65,000 years old.

The incredible discovery calls into question previous assumptions about the archaic humans and suggests they may have had an artistic sense similar to our own. Neanderthals have long been dismissed as inferior to humans and it was originally proposed they should be called Homo stupidus - the stupid human.

However, a new study, led by the University of Southampton and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, shows they are more human-like than previously thought. The team of international archaeologists found three caves in different parts of Spain with paintings created more than 64,000 years ago - 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe.
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Dig

Treasures of Andalusia: The ancient megalithic tombs of Málaga, Spain

Natalia Klimczak
Ancient Origins
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 21:16 UTC
Dolmen de Viera Antequera Málaga
© CC BY-SA 3.0Dolmen de Viera Antequera Málaga
Thousands of years ago, a series of megalithic tombs were built in the breathtaking landscape of Malaga in Spain. The magnificence of the constructions attracts thousands of tourists every year. The stone-made tombs still hide many secrets, including the origins of what is now Antequera province. These prehistoric megalithic constructions allow modern people to step into a unique atmosphere of ancient mystery and intrigue dating back 5,000 years.

The dolmens were officially discovered and recorded between 1903 and 1905 by the brothers Antonio and José Viera from Antequera, a province of Malaga. The distance between the Dolmen of Viera and Dolmen of Menga is only 70 meters (230 ft). Although the two tombs were made during different millennia, the monuments reveal a clear continuation of religious and ritual thought since prehistoric times.

Like most of the tombs dated back to the same period in Iberia, both dolmens are oriented 96° south east. This location is inspired by the summer solstice, but the surprising precision of the technology they used still confounds experts. Moreover, the dolmens from Malaga reveal the heritage of people whose story can only be told by the constructions they left behind.
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Biohazard

US extensive use of biowarfare in North Korea exposed in long-suppressed official report

Jeffrey S. Kaye
Insurge Intelligence
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
bio weapons
Written largely by the most prestigious British scientist of his day, this official report, containing hundreds of pages of evidence about the use of US biological weapons during the Korean War, was effectively suppressed upon its original release in 1952.

Courtesy of researcher Jeffrey Kaye, INSURGE now publishes the report in text-searchable format for the first time for the general public, with an exclusive, in-depth analysis of its damning findings and implications.

The report provides compelling evidence of systematic violation of the laws of war against North Korea through the deployment of biological weapons - a critical context that is essential for anyone to understand the dynamics of current regional tensions, and what might be done about them.

Download the full report here.

Comment: The US never stopped developing its capacity and intentions to use bioweapons. See also:

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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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