Secret HistoryS


Info

Aboriginal Australians 'genetically isolated for 50,000 years'

Steve Connor
The Independent, UK
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 21:03 UTC
Aboriginal Australians
© GettyAboriginal Australians on the Tweed River, New South Wales, Australia, circa 1880.
Aboriginal Australians have been genetically isolated from the rest of humanity for 50,000 years with no direct evidence that they had ever intermarried with South-East Asians about 4,000 years ago, as some scholars have suggested, a DNA study has revealed.

A detailed analysis of the male Y chromosome from 13 Aboriginal men found no traces of DNA from other ethnic groups, such as people from the Indian sub-continent who were thought to have migrated to Australia about 2000BC.

Geneticists have calculated from mutations present in the Aboriginal Y chromosome that the first inhabitants of Australia had separated from other members of Homo sapiens living elsewhere in the world about 50,000 years ago - probably long before our species had arrived to live in Europe.

The findings of the study, however, fail to explain the arrival of the dingo wild dog in Australia, which is not a native species and was almost certainly brought by humans to the continent from other parts of south-east Asia.
Read More...
Info

'Oldest Muslim burial site in Europe' from eighth century AD discovered in France


RT
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 15:50 UTC
Ancient Muslim burial in France
© 2016 Gleize et al
French anthropologists believe they have discovered the oldest Muslim burial in Europe by far, dating back to the eighth century AD. It's the first time scientists get archaeological proof of Islamic presence in Europe at this historic period.

A rare discovery described by a team of French archaeologists in an article in PLoS One was made near French city of Nimes: archaeologists dug up a burial site of three people, allegedly of Muslim origin. The radiocarbon analysis showed that remains date back to the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The unique finding corresponds with Muslim presence in the south of France around 720-760 AD, described in historic texts.

Previously found Islamic graves in Europe date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
Read More...
Info

Mysterious icon found at Bethlehem's Nativity church


Ma'an News Agency
Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:43 UTC
Nativity Church
© Ma'an News AgencyA photo of the Nativity Church taken from the Bethlehem municipality's website
A valuable iconic painting was found during renovations of the Nativity Church in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, a Palestinian official said on Saturday.

Ziad al-Bandak, a Palestinian presidential advisor for Christian Affairs, told Ma'an on Saturday that an icon of great religious and historical value made of gold, brass, silver, shells and stones was found about two months ago. Photographs of the icon were not yet available.

Al-Bandak, who chairs a committee in charge of the renovation process, highlighted that the Nativity Church, built where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born, had not undergone major renovation in centuries.

The renovation project, done in collaboration between Palestinian and foreign archaeologists, came to protect and uncover the historic and religious "treasures" still hidden inside the church.
Read More...
Pharoah

Discovery of the 21st century? Hidden chamber in Tutankhamun tomb may be full of treasures

April Holloway
Ancient Origins
Mon, 22 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
king tut mummy
© Nasser Nuri.The stone sarcophagus containing the mummy of King Tut is seen in his underground tomb.
The Tourism Minister of Egypt Hisham Zaazou may have slipped up during a recent visit to Spain when he revealed startling information about the investigations into a hidden chamber in Tutankhamun's tomb ahead of official press announcements due to take place in April. Zaazou said that the hidden chamber has been found to be full of treasures and will be the 'Big Bang' of the 21st century.

According to the Spanish National daily newspaper, ABC, Zaazou made the sensational claims during a visit to Spain a few weeks ago.
"We do not know if the burial chamber is Nefertiti or another woman, but it is full of treasures," said Zaazou [via ABC] ... "It will be a 'Big Bang', the discovery of the 21st Century".

Comment: Scan of King Tut's tomb points to secret chamber, maybe Queen Nefertiti's mummy

Read More...
Binoculars

Ancient Easter Island populations were successful and lived sustainably until arrival of Europeans

Jack Phillips
Epoch Times
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
easter island
© Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
The ancient civilization that inhabited Easter Island wasn't destroyed by warfare, according to a recent study, contrary to what some researchers believe.

Researchers from Binghamton University analyzed spear-like blades of obsidian, known as mata'a, that were scattered about the island. They found that the mata'a were not used for violence, saying the shapes are inconsistent and different from other recovered weapons. The mata'a were more likely all-purpose tools, the study found.

"We found that when you look at the shape of these things, they just don't look like weapons at all," Carl Lipo, professor of anthropology at Binghamton University, said in a statement.
Read More...
Magnify

Exploring the rich tomb of a mysterious Celtic princess

Natalia Klimczak
Ancient Origins
Sat, 20 Feb 2016 18:42 UTC
Celtic princess
© Source: CC BY NC 2.0"Isolde" (1911) by Gaston Bussiere. Isolde, an Irish princess, and her lover Tristan are the principal characters of a famous medieval romance story that was based on a Celtic legend.
Celtic princesses are almost mythical in today's modern culture. They are often considered as women with mystical talents and hidden stories. A grave discovered beside the Danube River brings much information about a woman who was perhaps a real Celtic princess.

A large burial which contained the skeleton of a Celtic noblewoman was discovered in 2009 beside the Danube River near Heuneburg, in the south of Germany. It is the oldest known wealthy grave of a Celtic woman. The grave was quite well preserved by the water-sodden soil of the region. The burial chamber of the tomb was wooden, the oak of the floor was intact, and it was possible to put an exact date on it. The oak trees used in the tomb were felled 2,620 years ago. With this discovery, one can determine that the woman buried in the tomb died in 609 BC.
Read More...
Gold Coins

Amazing treasures - and macabre slaughter - in Siberia's Valley of the Kings

Olga Gertcyk
The Siberian Times
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:33 UTC
9,300 decorative gold pieces
© Vera SalnitskayaIn all, some 9,300 decorative gold pieces were found here, not including the 'uncountable golden beads'.
Pictured: the gleaming riches no-one was meant to see belonging to an ancient nomad potentate, and his queen...or was she his concubine?

The royal tomb known as Arzhan 2 in the modern-day Republic of Tuva - to many, the most mysterious region in all Russia - is some 2,600 years old but its valuables match any trove from any era anywhere in the world.

Here inside a mound 80 metres wide was buried a warrior tsar with a sway that plainly reached over a vast territory of mountains and steppes, and whose magnificent possessions indicated close contacts with other civilisations.

Forget the notion of barbaric Siberian nomadic tribes in this epoch: well, don't quite forget. These ancient warriors used the skulls of their vanquished foes as drinking cups, according to no less an authority than Greek historian Herodotus.

And this queen or concubine was almost certainly sacrificed to that she could be buried beside the dead ruler. And yet, as the pictures show, their exceptional artwork predates the influence of the Greeks, and displays a high degree of sophistication.
Read More...
Penis Pump

Historians claim to have found medical records showing Hitler had an embarrassing little secret

Kate Scanlon
The Blaze
Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:14 UTC
Hitler
© Heinrich Hoffmann/Keystone Features/Getty Images
Two historians have claimed that they have proof that German dictator Adolf Hitler suffered from an embarrassing secret medical condition, according to The Telegraph.

In their new book, "Hitler's Last Day: Minute by Minute," historians Jonathan Mayo and Emma Craigie claim that they have discovered medical records proving that the fascist dictator had a condition known as hypospadias, which results in abnormally small and deformed genitalia, sometimes referred to as a "micro-penis."

"Hitler himself is believed to have had two forms of genital abnormality: an undescended testicle and a rare condition called penile hypospadias in which the urethra opens on the under side of the penis," Mayo and Craigie wrote.

Recently, a German historian also claimed that he has evidence that Hitler only had one testicle.
Read More...
Health

The Midol of the 19th century: Opium soaked tampons

Urvija Banerji
Atlas Obscura
Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:40 UTC
opium stamp
© Public Domain/Wikipedia CommonsMedicinal use of opium was widespread in the United States by the latter half of the 19th century.
On display at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum is an item that you won't find in the women's aisle of your local drugstore today. Among pharmaceutical oddities such as leeches and tinctures, the museum houses a box of early tampons soaked in opium and belladonna.

What's more, these products were in fact prescribed to women back in the 19th century. "The opium was to relieve pain, and the belladonna was to dilate and relax the vagina," Elizabeth Sherman, the museum's executive director, tells The Guardian.

The tradition of lacing women's products with opiates goes back even further than that, though. In fact, since the tampon's first documentation, it has been associated with opium. In The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethics of Medicine, it is revealed that ancient Romans used "wool tampons soaked in a variety of substances, including: opium, poppies, bitter almond oil, boiled honey, sea onion, ox marrow" - the list goes on.
Read More...
Books

Portable libraries kept lighthouse workers sane

Natalie Zarrelli
Atlas Obscura
Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:09 UTC
lighthouse
© Boston Public Library/flickrA postcard showing Gay Head Lighthouse, Martha's Vineyard.
From the vantage point of a 19th century lighthouse, a small, slow ship would appear every few months on the horizon. A woman, her husband and their children might look out at the glistening sea in anticipation from their tower: the shipment was finally here. They'd haul supplies from the boat; cleaning rags, paint, milk, and possibly the most awaited item: a thick wooden carrying case with brass hinges, filled with books.

Portable lighthouse libraries, distributed across the United States in the 19th century, were a common but important part of life for families living under the constant work and near-isolation of the lighthouse watch.

The life of a lighthouse keeper sharply vacillated between dullness and danger. "You know what they say about pilots—hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror? There's something to that," says Bonnie Stacy, chief curator at the Martha's Vineyard Museum, which leads tours through local lighthouses and holds extensive records of historic lighthouse life.
Read More...