Secret HistoryS


Microscope 1

DNA analysis finds evidence of matrilineal dynasty in ancient Southwest society

Sarah Pruitt
History
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
pueblo bonito new mexico
© Brad Branan/Sacramento Bee/Getty ImagesPueblo Bonito, one of the biggest archaeological sites at Chaco Culture National Historic Park, is seen from a cliff.
More than a century after the discovery of an ancient crypt loaded with turquoise and other riches in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, scientists have analyzed DNA from the remains of 14 people buried there. What they found is surprising evidence of a matrilineal society, where power and influence appear to have been passed down through the female line.

Archaeologists stumbled on Pueblo Bonito, the multi-story stone complex of 650 rooms located in what is now Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, back in the 1890s. Inside a small room they marked as Room 33, they found 14 sets of skeletal remains buried with a dazzling horde of treasures. The cache included more than 11,000 turquoise necklaces and beads and more than 3,000 pieces of shell jewelry, along with wooden flutes and the remains of several scarlet macaws, a type of bird that is not native to the region but to South America, thousands of miles away.
Read More...
Red Flag

Digital time machine: #1917Live storms Twitter as key figures from Nicholas II to Vladimir Lenin tweet their views


RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 13:50 UTC
#1917 live
With just days until the 100th anniversary of the February Revolution, RT is taking #1917LIVE - a unique project covering 1917 in Russia in real time - to a new level, with more tweets and 1917.RT.com, a dedicated website.

Every day since January 1st, dozens of key figures from the year that changed world history forever - from Nicholas II to Vladimir Lenin, as well as ordinary citizens - have been tweeting out their views and descriptions of their activities, as the Russian Empire hurtles towards its demise.

Their tweets, found under the #1917LIVE hashtag or collected at RT's earlier incarnation, the Russian Telegraph, produce a fascinating picture, where each actor contributes to the upheaval, yet none realizes the momentous impact of their actions.

Comment: See also: History as current news: #1917Live: Exhausted Russian army on verge of turning against Nicholas II

Read More...
Map

Second largest Maya jade found in Belize has unique historical inscription

Inga Kiderra
Phys.org
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 21:47 UTC
UC San Diego archaeologist Geoffrey Braswell holds a replica of the Maya jade pendant
© Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego PublicationsUC San Diego archaeologist Geoffrey Braswell holds a replica of the Maya jade pendant.
To say that UC San Diego archaeologist Geoffrey Braswell was surprised to discover a precious jewel in Nim Li Punit in southern Belize is something of an understatement.

"It was like finding the Hope Diamond in Peoria instead of New York," said Braswell, who led the dig that uncovered a large piece of carved jade once belonging to an ancient Maya king. "We would expect something like it in one of the big cities of the Maya world. Instead, here it was, far from the center," he said.

The jewel—a jade pendant worn on a king's chest during key religious ceremonies—was first unearthed in 2015. It is now housed at the Central Bank of Belize, along with other national treasures. Braswell recently published a paper in the Cambridge University journal Ancient Mesoamerica detailing the jewel's significance. A second paper, in the Journal of Field Archaeology, describes the excavations.
Read More...
Archaeology

Ancient mummies from Florida's Windover bog among greatest archeological discoveries in the U.S.

Kerry Sullivan
Ancient Origins
Tue, 27 Sep 2016 21:54 UTC
Windover archaeological site
© myfloridahistory.orgWindover archaeological site
It was only after the bones were declared very old and not the product of a mass murder that the 167 bodies found in a pond in Windover, Florida began to stir up excitement in the archeological world. Researchers from Florida State University came to the site, thinking some more Native American bones had been unearthed in the swamplands. They were guessing the bones were 500-600 years old. But then the bones were radiocarbon dated. It turns out the corpses ranged from 6,990 to 8,120 years old. It was then that the academic community became incredibly excited. The Windover Bog has proven to be one of the most important archeological finds in the United States.

In 1982, Steve Vanderjagt, the man who made the find, was using a backhoe to demuck the pond for the development of a new subdivision located about halfway between Disney World and Cape Canaveral. Vanderjagt was confused by the large number of rocks in the pond as that area of Florida was not known to be particularly rocky. Getting out of his backhoe, Vanderjagt went to investigate and almost immediately realized that he had unearthed a huge pile of bones. He called the authorities right away. It was only thanks to his natural curiosity that the site was preserved. After the medical examiners declared them ancient, the specialists from Florida State University were summoned (another brilliant move by Vanderjagt - too often sites are ruined because experts are not called). Deeply intrigued, EKS Corporation, the developers of the site, financed the radiocarbon dating. Once the striking dates were revealed, the State of Florida providing a grant for the excavation.

Read More...
Gold Coins

World's largest Celtic coin and jewelry hoard found in Jersey

Jason Daley
Smithsonian.com
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 17:44 UTC
The Catillon II Hoard
© Jersey HeritageThe Catillon II Hoard as it appeared before being separated.
Last Friday, conservators at Jersey Heritage finally completed separating and meticulously cleaning the largest hoard of Celtic coins and gold jewelry ever discovered. It took nearly three years of effort to go through the mass of treasure.

"This is a significant milestone for the team. It has been painstaking but thoroughly intriguing work, which has delivered some very unexpected and amazing finds along the way," Neil Mahrer, who led the conservation effort says in a press release. "There is still plenty to do and I am sure the Hoard will continue to surprise us as we clean and record the material."

According to the BBC, the treasure was discovered in 2012 by amateur metal detector enthusiasts Reg Mead and Richard Miles. But it was no accidental discovery; the pair had been searching the area for 30 years looking for it. They began their quest after a local woman told them that her father had discovered some silver Celtic coins in a pot in a field near her home in Jersey, a British island in the English Channel. She did not recall the exact location, and the owner of the field only allowed the pair to search the area once a year after he harvested his crops.
Read More...
Calendar

Early contact? Mayan calendar similar to ancient Chinese

Tara MacIsaac
Epoch Times
Thu, 07 Sep 2017 16:17 UTC
Mayan calendar
© VojtechVlk/Shutterstock
Ancient Mayan and Chinese calendar systems share so many similarities, it is unlikely they developed independently, according to the late David H. Kelley, whose paper on the subject was published posthumously in August.

Kelley was a Harvard-educated archaeologist and epigrapher at the University of Calgary in Canada. He earned fame in the 1960s for major contributions toward deciphering the Mayan script. His article, titled "Asian Components in the Invention of the Mayan Calendar," was written 30 years ago, but was only recently unearthed and published for the first time in the journal Pre-Columbiana.
Read More...
Dig

Putin on Lenin and Communism: 'WW1 and Bolshevik Revolution destroyed Russia'


Sott.net
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 12:37 UTC
putin USSR
Putin's critics often deride him for 'wishing to recreate the Soviet Union'. But is that really what he's thinking? In the following video, you'll meet a younger Putin denounce communist ideology and Lenin. The year was 1991, Putin had recently returned to newly reconstituted 'Russia' after being stationed during the 1980s in East Germany with the USSR's Foreign Intelligence service, and he was just getting started as an assistant to the mayor of St Petersburg.

The first part is a bit weird because it's Putin at a later date watching the relevant snippet from the earlier interview in '91, then asking him 'now' if he still held to those views. Check out what he had to say...

Read More...
Red Flag

History as current news: #1917Live: Exhausted Russian army on verge of turning against Nicholas II


RT
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 13:58 UTC
#1917 live

Comment: What a creative way to bring history alive - to tell the story as though it is current news using the up-to-date ways that such a story would be covered. Nice job, RT!


Poor logistics, high war casualties on the Eastern Front, and shortages of military equipment and food have left Russia's capital Petrograd dangerously unstable in the latest developments from #1917Live, RT's social media project in which we cover the events of 100 years ago in real time.

Last year's Brusilov Offensive brought Russia initial gains against the teetering Austro-Hungarian Empire, but petered out due to supply problems, adding around a million men to the casualty list. In all, more than a million men have died, and over four million have been wounded. 1.5 million deserted the army in 1916 alone.


Comment: Russia seems to have learned some lessons from its revolutionary years:

Read More...
Dig

Archeologists have discovered the first sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithra on the island of Corsica

Léa Surugue
International Business Times
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 14:08 UTC
Mithra sanctuary Corsica
© Denis Gliksman-InrapArchaeologists have found the first sanctuary dedicated to the God Mithra
A sanctuary dedicated to the god of an ancient and mysterious religion known as Mithraism has been discovered on the French island of Corsica for the first time. The structure was erected in the Roman city of Mariana, created around 100 BCE.

The local authorities were planning roadworks in the vicinity of this major site, so they called the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) to conduct excavations and make sure that no significant archaeological remains would be standing in the way.

A team, led by archaeologist Philippe Chapon, started working in Mariana in November 2016. It is thought that this little Roman town was at its peak in the third and fourth century and that it derived its strength from its commercial harbour, a point of contact for maritime exchanges with the whole Mediterranean.
Read More...
Archaeology

Discovery of a large labyrinth in Denmark, relic of Stone Age people?

Charlotte Price Persson
ScienceNordic
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 06:25 UTC
Field Denmark
© Danish Geodata Agency / Pernille Rohde SlothThe dark green dotted lines indicate where scientists have dug their trenches and excavated the site. The position of where the palisade is believed to have been is marked in red. The light green dashed line shows the lack of finds.
A series of Stone Age palisade enclosures have been discovered in Denmark in recent years and archaeologists are still wondering what they were used for. One of the latest additions is a huge construction, discovered by archaeologists from the Museum Southeast Denmark. The fence dates from the Neolithic period and seems to frame an oval area of nearly 18,000 square meters.

"It was actually somewhat overwhelming to experience that it is possible to reveal the traces of such a huge building from the Neolithic period. There are many suggestions for what they could've been used for, but to put it simply, we just don't know," says archaeologist Pernille Rohde Sloth who leads the excavation.
Read More...