Secret HistoryS


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Missing link in Indo-European languages' history found

New insights into our linguistic roots via ancient DNA analysis.
Photo of Remontnoye
© Natalia Shishlina (co-author of "The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans").Photo of Remontnoye (3766-3637 calBCE), with a spiral temple ring, which later would be one of the consistent artifactual attributes of Yamnaya graves, but her pose contracted on the side was like Maikop, not Yamnaya, and she has about 40% Maikop-like genetic ancestry. Interesting image because of the mixture of traits.
Where lies the origin of the Indo-European language family? Ron Pinhasi and his team in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna contribute a new piece to this puzzle in collaboration with David Reich's ancient DNA laboratory at Harvard University. They analyzed ancient DNA from 435 individuals from archaeological sites across Eurasia between 6.400-2.000 BCE. They found out that a newly recognized Caucasus-Lower Volga population can be connected to all Indo-European-speaking populations. The new study is published in Nature.

Indo-European languages (IE), which number over 400 and include major groups such as Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Indo-Iranian, and Celtic, are spoken by nearly half the world's population today. Originating from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language, historians and linguists since the 19th century have been investigating its origins and spread as there is still a knowledge gap.

The new study published in Nature, also involving Tom Higham and Olivia Cheronet from the University of Vienna, analyzes ancient DNA from 435 individuals from archaeological sites across Eurasia between 6400-2000 BCE. Earlier genetic studies had shown that the Yamnaya culture (3.300-2.600 BCE) of the Pontic-Caspian steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas expanded into both Europe and Central Asia beginning about 3.100 BCE, accounting for the appearance of "steppe ancestry" in human populations across Eurasia 3.100-1.500 BCE. These migrations out of the steppes had the largest effect on European human genomes of any demographic event in the last 5.000 years and are widely regarded as the probable vector for the spread of Indo-European languages.

The only branch of Indo-European language (IE) that had not exhibited any steppe ancestry previously was Anatolian, including Hittite, probably the oldest branch to split away, uniquely preserving linguistic archaisms that were lost in all other IE branches. Previous studies had not found steppe ancestry among the Hittites because, the new paper argues, the Anatolian languages were descended from a language spoken by a group that had not been adequately described before, an Eneolithic population dated 4.500-3.500 BCE in the steppes between the North Caucasus Mountains and the lower Volga. When the genetics of this newly recognized Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) population are used as a source, at least five individuals in Anatolia dated before or during the Hittite era show CLV ancestry.

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1.4 million-year-old jaw that was 'a bit weird for Homo' turns out to be from never-before-seen human relative

The newfound species belongs to the genus Paranthropus, whose nickname is "nutcracker man."
Jaw of the putative newfound species
© Lazarus KgasiPhotos of the jaw of the putative newfound species, Paranthropus capensis.
A 1.4 million-year-old fossil jaw belongs to a previously unknown human relative from southern Africa, a new study finds.

The extinct human relative is from the genus Paranthropus, whose nickname is "nutcracker man" because of its massive jaws and huge molars. However, the newfound Paranthropus species has a more diminutive jawbone and teeth, indicating that the nutcracker moniker might not be so apt after all.

At the time Paranthropus was alive, the world had several hominins, or species on the evolutionary branch more closely related to humans than to chimps. Our genus, Homo, emerged at least 2.8 million years ago, while our species, Homo sapiens, dates back to at least 300,000 years ago. So early Homo species overlapped with Paranthropus. Until now, scientists knew of three Paranthropus species — P. aethiopicus, P. boisei and P. robustus — which lived between about 1 million and 2.7 million years ago.

In the new study, researchers examined a 1.4 million-year-old jaw dubbed SK 15. The bone was originally unearthed in 1949 in a cave at a South African site known as Swartkrans, alongside other Paranthropus fossils and a few early Homo specimens.

"Swartkrans is thus a key site to uncover the extent of hominin diversity and understand the potential interactions among various hominin species," study lead author Clément Zanolli, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Bordeaux in France, told Live Science.

Initially, scientists thought SK 15 belonged to a never-before-seen species they called Telanthropus capensis. However, since the 1960s, researchers suggested it actually belonged to the relatively slender early human species known as Homo ergaster.

Book 2

Flashback Children and young criminals in Soviet cities (1923)

Stree kids group
© UnknownStreet kids group
Boris Cederholm was a Finnish diplomat who travelled frequently in Soviet Russia. Cederholm was later arrested and interrogated by the CHEKA and detained in the gulag system. He wrote about these experiences in a 1929 book. Here, Cederholm reflects on the orphans, street children and young criminals he observed in Soviet cities in 1923-25:

"Petrograd, and still more Moscow, astonish the newly arrived foreigner by their swarms of hooligans and uncared-for children. In many public places in Soviet Russia, placards are hung up bearing the words: 'Children are the flowers of our life'. From time to time a sentimental, moving article is published in the Soviet papers, inviting people to subscribe [donate] to children's colonies and refuges. All this is humbug, pretty fancy, theory. As if people could possibly be expected to subscribe when the whole population has been impoverished! There are many children who are uncared-for because they have no parents.

Comment: One can argue about the perspective taken by the author, but what he observed, orphaned children and groups of dangerous youth gangs, has happened elsewhere since then and could become even more common also in locations where it was not seen for a long time. Besides, many modern parents have little time to look after their children.

The image for the reposting was found in this article from Top War:
Russia in the Mist: 1921-1923 Years through the Eyes of Western Press Photographers

It should be noted that many efforts were undertaken after the Russian revolution to reduce the problems of uncared for children. One outstanding example is described in this article from Gateway to Russia: This woman defeated crime in one of Leningrad's most dangerous districts by Yulia Khakimova, Oct 15 2022.

While the article describes a history that is already a hundred year old, there are trends seen in modern society:
'Epidemic' of violence against women and girls in UK is getting worse - report
Crime 'spiralling out of control' in stores, warns British Retail Consortium
EU country to allow police to wiretap children which has:
According to police, many teenage contract killers are very young and are being recruited from abroad. Around 600 criminals targeting Sweden live abroad, police data shows.

Sweden's national police chief Petra Lundh said, as quoted by Politico, said:
"We see 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds carry out horrific violent assignments as if they were extra jobs. The assignments are communicated completely openly on digital marketplaces. Crime is often controlled by gang criminals who are abroad."
Officials say that Sweden's gang crime is highly organized and complex, with leaders operating from abroad through intermediaries who use encrypted messaging platforms such as Telegram, Snapchat, and Signal to recruit teenagers under 15, the age of criminal responsibility.
A difference between 2023 and now is that there might be an increasing percentage of the population, whether children or adults that embody, or are instruments for a kind of evil that it will be difficult, even impossible to rehabilitate. What to do in such cases?


Palette

A long-lost van Gogh may have surfaced at a Minnesota garage sale

lost van gogh painting elimer
© LMI Group InternationalExperts believe they may have identified a previously unknown Vincent van Gogh portrait of a fisherman.
At a garage sale in Minnesota, an antiques collector bought a thick impasto oil painting of a fisherman for less than $50. Now, some experts believe, it may be a long-lost van Gogh.

The painting in question, titled Elimar (1889), would have been created while the artist was at the Saint-Paul psychiatric sanitarium in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, into which he checked himself, between May 1889 and May 1890. During that time, he painted some 150 canvases, including such masterpieces as Almond Blossom (1890), Irises (1889), and The Starry Night (1889).

Elimar depicts a fisherman with a white chin-beard and a round hat holding a pipe in his mouth transfixed as he repairs his net along a desolate shore. The word "Elimar", presumed to be the man's name, is scrawled in the lower righthand corner. It measures 18 by 16 inches.

Pyramid

Pyramidal structure discovered in Chupacigarro, Peru

Pyramid Structure
© Ministry of Culture, Peru
Archaeologists excavating the Chupacigarro archaeological site have discovered a previously unknown pyramidal structure.

Chupacigarro is part of the Caral Archaeological Zone, located just one kilometre west of the Sacred City of Caral in the Supe valley of Peru's Lima region.

Caral was the main city of the Caral civilisation, a complex Pre-Columbian people that flourished between the fourth and second millennia BC. Caral is considered one of the oldest urban centres in the Americas, which many archaeologists attribute as the model for the urban design adopted by various Andean civilisations that followed.

Situated in a small ravine, Chupacigarro was part of a larger network of settlements in the Supe Valley, serving as a key point along a communication route that linked the valley to the Huaura coast, enabling trade and resource exchange.

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World's oldest arrow poison discovered in South Africa, dating back 7,000 Years

Poisoned arrow
© Bradfield, J., Dubery, I. A., & Steenkamp, P. A. (2024).A 7,000-year-old multi-component arrow poison from Kruger Cave, South Africa.
In a groundbreaking discovery, archaeologists excavating Kruger Cave in South Africa have identified what may be the oldest confirmed multi-component arrow poison in the world, dating back 7,000 years. The femur bone of an unspecified antelope, found during a 1983 excavation, contained three modified bone arrowheads embedded in its marrow cavity.

After lying in storage at the University of the Witwatersrand for nearly four decades, renewed archaeological investigations in 2022 prompted scientists to re-examine the femur and its contents. A team from the University of Johannesburg, led by Associate professor Justin Bradfield focused on organic materials, conducted a detailed analysis of the chemical matrix surrounding the arrowheads.

The research revealed a complex recipe combining at least two toxic plant ingredients, including cardiac glycosides known to disrupt heart function. Notably, digitoxin and strophanthidin were identified, alongside ricinoleic acid, a by-product of the toxic lectin ricin. The presence of these compounds suggests that ancient peoples were adept at mixing various plant toxins to create effective hunting poisons.

Interestingly, none of the plant species containing these toxins are native to the Kruger Cave area, indicating that the ingredients may have been sourced from distant locations or through established trade networks. This finding challenges previous assumptions about the movement of non-domestic plants in southern Africa during this period.

Recent findings have revealed that the long-distance transport of non-domestic plants in Africa may have occurred much earlier than previously thought. While researchers have long known that the transport of seashells as ornaments and currency was common throughout the continent well before 7,000 years ago, the movement of non-native plants at such an early date was unexpected.

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$1 Million to anyone who can decipher this 5,300-year-old Indus Valley script

Stamp seals in the Indus Valley script.
© Good News NetworkStamp seals in the Indus Valley script.
An Indian state governor has offered a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove definitively they've deciphered the script of the Indus Valley Civilization.

One of the oldest urban societies in history, the Indus Valley, or Harappan people began building settlements in the Indus River Valley in Pakistan/India 5,500 years ago.

They left behind a script and language that have yet to be deciphered, and M.K. Stalin, the Chief Minister (equivalent to a US governor) of Tamil Nadu, has offered a massive bounty to any codebreakers who are able to do so.

Mr. Stalin announced the prize after a recent scientific publication linked a variety of graffiti marks found on ancient Tamil pottery to the Harappan script, and believes there may be a connection with these two ancient lands.

If there were, it would be almost as remarkable a discovery as the ability to read the various seal stamps and symbols on Harappan artifacts, as Tamil Nadu is the southernmost state on the Indian subcontinent, thousands of miles away from the Harappan heartland.

Numerous efforts by linguistic scholars have been made to try and gain some understanding of how to read the language, but all have failed. According to the BBC, many modern IT workers and AI pioneers are contacting the government of Tamil Nadu claiming they have cracked to code, so to speak, but scholars are doubtful machine learning and algorithms alone can make any headway.

The total research base is around 4,000 inscribed or stamped artifacts of pottery, sandstone, and copper, consisting of around 68 symbols. Most of these bear only very brief inscriptions — between 5-6 characters — with the single longest measuring 34 symbols.

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Remarkable underground city discovered beneath historic Yazd homes in Central Iran

Underground City 1
© IRNA
A remarkable 'underground city' was discovered under five historical houses in the ancient town of Abarkuh in Yazd province in central Iran.

Abarkuh is located in Yazd Province, Iran. The city is situated approximately 140 kilometers southwest of Yazd. It holds a significant historical and cultural position, lying within a "golden triangle" formed by the cities of Shiraz, Yazd, and Isfahan. This strategic location has made Abarkuh an important settlement throughout history.

Investigations are ongoing, with the potential for more underground structures to be found throughout the historic fabric of Abarkuh, including a newly discovered waterway made of carved stones.

These underground structures provide valuable insights into ancient construction techniques, water management, and daily life practices. Additionally, the findings emphasize the need for further research and preservation of Abarkuh's historical fabric.

Hossein Hatami, the governor of Abarkuh, announced the find in an interview, noting that the "underground city" was likely designed for ease of access, security, water transfer, and daily living. According to old aerial photographs of Abarkuh and subsequent investigations, it appears that in the past, residents built their homes and important places on rocky foundations.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Friday night, "Hossein Hatami" stated that the spaces between these rocky foundations were transformed into gardens by the ancestors. They had designed pathways beneath these rocky sections for ease of access, security, water transfer, and daily life.

Hatami emphasized that the presence of small stone chambers in the historic houses of Abarkuh, located beneath the rocky foundations, indicates functional significance in the past This has led to ongoing research and investigations, resulting in the discovery of an underground settlement.

Attention

Nazi fan and NATO lover: This man came to power through a coup and doomed Ukraine to disaster

Yushchenko
© RT/RTViktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko launched the process of total Ukrainization, advocated close ties with NATO and a definitive break with Russia.

Two decades ago, on January 23, 2005, Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated as president of Ukraine. He was the first Ukrainian leader to rise to power through mass protests - this happened after the Western-backed 'Orange Revolution', which shook the country in November 2004. Yushchenko had initially lost the presidential election, but his supporters set up a tent city in central Kiev and blocked the government district.

Foreign NGOs played a significant role in these events. The direct orchestrators of that color revolution included the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its affiliates, the Soros Foundation, the International Republican Institute, the Eurasia Foundation, and several other foreign entities.

NGOs that directly supported Yushchenko and were involved in monitoring elections in Ukraine were foreign funded. In 2003, the International Renaissance Foundation, financed by Hungarian tycoon George Soros, spent nearly $1.5 million on projects related to the presidential election. Some of them successfully conducted exit polls and effectively presented to the public the idea that the victory of then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich had been the result of widespread election fraud.

Those who seized the government district in the capital were demanding the annulment of the election results. In response, the authorities accused the protesters of attempting a coup. With neither side willing to compromise, Yanukovich ultimately agreed to a third round of voting, which resulted in Yushchenko's victory. Ukrainian society was divided in two, and Yushchenko's policy laid the groundwork for a significant political crisis and the eventual war.

Comment: How it all began reveals why it all unravels.


Question

Should we condemn or not the glorification of Nazism?

Banderamonument
© UnknownMonument to Stepan Bandera in Teropil, Ukraine
Russia intervened militarily in Ukraine to denazify the country. But, according to Westerners, there are no Nazis in Ukraine. Russia wants to invade and annex this country. This mutual incomprehension caused the Russian special operation to degenerate into open war. However, several identical facts, which have occurred in the Baltic countries since 2005 and in the European Parliament since 2016, demonstrate that this is not a misunderstanding, but a deliberate NATO strategy.
This mobilizes 53 states to oppose the adoption by the United Nations of a traditional resolution against the glorification of Nazism.
At the Liberation (that is to say at the end of the Second World War), Westerners were aware of the suffering caused by the ideologies according to which Humanity was divided into distinct races hierarchically arranged among themselves. Everyone understood that the assertion that these "races" could not mix and have fertile offspring was contradicted by the facts and had only been able to prevail thanks to intense propaganda.

From the creation of the United Nations and throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union and France ensured that each year the General Assembly adopted a resolution prohibiting Nazi propaganda and the glorification of this ideology. This ritual was forgotten with the dissolution of the USSR. Surprisingly, as of 2020, it has not been possible to reform consensus around this issue. Thus, 53 States opposed the last resolution to this effect, on December 17, 2024, and 10 abstained.