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The elongated skulls of Paracas in Peru caused a stir in 2014 when a geneticist that carried out preliminary DNA testing reported that they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”. A second round of DNA testing was completed in 2016 and the results almost as controversial – the skulls tested, which date back as far as 2,000 years, were shown to have European and Middle Eastern Origin. It was claimed these surprising results would change the known history about how the Americas were populated. But did they? Paracas is a desert...

The number of people using Gaelic has increased across Scotland despite a decline in the language's heartland, according to the latest census data. Experts say the increase in Gaelic medium education (GME) accounts for the rise. However, Gaelic is now a minority language in the Western Isles - while 52% reported speaking Gaelic in 2011, the figure in 2022 was 45%. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes told BBC Scotland that Scottish Gaelic was part of a "modern, diverse Scotland". Ms Forbes – who is also minister for Gaelic – said she was “extremely optimistic” about the future of the language....

Welcome to the party, Koleken inakayali, we'll clap for you. La Colonia Formation continues to deliver the new dinosaur goods. Image credit: © Gabriel Díaz Yantén Behold, the tiny arms of a new species of abelisaurid dinosaur, Koleken inakayali. Retrieved from La Colonia Formation in Patagonia, it dates back 70 million years and has an impressively miniature set of arms. Think T. rex’s were mini? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The new tiny-armed species looks similar to the iconic “meat bull” Carnotaurus, made famous from Jurassic World and that love scene in Prehistoric Planet. Koleken is different, however, both in...

Explore subterranean Rome! This ancient site in Rome is a sort of time elevator! Descend with Darius underneath the medieval church of San Clemente to discover the early Christian church and below that the imperial level remains of a domus (house) with a mithraeum and a next door horreum (warehouse), and much more!0:00 Introduction and overview1:55 Imperial house (with Mithraeum) and warehouse5:18 Late Antique house and early Christian church8:21 The 12C church that stands todayExplore Rome's Best Underground Site | 10:38Darius Arya Digs | 26.2K subscribers | 35,050 views | February 26, 2024

The last surviving Triple Ace pilot from World War II is gone. Brigadier General Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson of Auburn died at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, daughter Kitty Burlington confirmed Saturday in a call with the Auburn Journal. Anderson decided two weeks ago to stop dialysis treatment, Burlington said. Anderson earned Triple Ace status in World War II with 16¼ kills, two probable kills, two damaged aircraft and one enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground. Over 116 combat missions, Anderson’s two “Old Crow” P-51 Mustangs were never hit by even a single enemy bullet. “He’s kind of a...

This is a story of conspiracy and betrayal, of a lust for power and a lost allegiance; the story of the man who killed King Richard III. In this documentary we set out to prove that the Welshman Sir Rhys ap Thomas, master of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, killed King Richard III, changing the course of British history. We uncover what drove him Rhys ap Thomas to betray not only his master but a King – and we reveal his remarkable story; from a childhood embroiled in the War of the Roses and exile to the continent, to a determined...

Leprosy, one of the oldest recorded diseases in human history, remains prevalent in Asia, Africa, and South America, with over 200,000 cases every year.1,2 Although ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches on the major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, have elucidated the disease’s evolutionary history,3,4,5 the role of animal hosts and interspecies transmission in the past remains unexplored. Research has uncovered relationships between medieval strains isolated from archaeological human remains and modern animal hosts such as the red squirrel in England.6,7 However, the time frame, distribution, and direction of transmissions remains unknown. Here, we studied 25 human and 12 squirrel samples from two...

These figures are a rough estimate of the death of non-Muslims by the political act of jihad. Africa Thomas Sowell [Thomas Sowell, Race and Culture, BasicBooks, 1994, p. 188] estimates that 11 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic and 14 million were sent to the Islamic nations of North Africa and the Middle East. For every slave captured many others died. Estimates of this collateral damage vary. The renowned missionary David Livingstone estimated that for every slave who reached a plantation, five others were killed in the initial raid or died of illness and privation on the forced march.[Woman’s...

It’s difficult to comprehend within our limited, double-digit life spans, but Earth is a dynamic planet that is constantly changing. The continents have crashed together and separated a handful of times now (Pangaea is the latest supercontinent, but not the only one), and the planet’s atmosphere, oceans, and orbit are all temporary and movable. Take, for instance, Antarctica, arguably the most inhospitable place on the planet. Not long ago (geologically speaking), the icy continent wasn’t frozen at all. In fact, it was filled with temperate rainforests teeming with life. Some 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period — the...

The Anunnaki gods were worshipped by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia long before the Greeks praised the Olympian gods or the Egyptians prayed to Osiris. While Zeus and the rest of the Greek gods resided at the top of Mount Olympus, and Osiris was the god of the earth and the underworld, the Anunnaki were winged deities who lived up in the heavens and came down to Earth to decide on people’s destiny. The Sumerians had many myths involving the Anunnaki gods passing judgment on humans. The gods were described as children of the Earth and sky. This indicates they...

Nearly half of the world's language families are found in the Americas. Although many of them are now thought extinct, historical linguistics analysis can survey and compare living languages and trace them back in time to better understand the groups that first populated the continent.In a study published March 30 in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Johanna Nichols, a historical linguist at the University of California Berkeley, analyzed structural features of 60 languages from across the U.S. and Canada, which revealed they come from two main language groups that entered North America in at least four distinct waves.Nichols surveyed...

31 pyramids in Egypt, including the Giza pyramid complex, may originally have been built along a 64-km-long branch of the river Nile which has long since been buried beneath farmland and desert. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, could explain why these pyramids are concentrated in what is now a narrow, inhospitable desert strip...Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places. Researchers have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not...

It’s part of a $51 million project to rebuild Washington-on-the-Brazos, “the birthplace of Texas,” where the declaration that created the Republic of Texas was signed.In 1843, Sam Houston toiled away at a desk in a sixteen-by-sixteen-foot log cabin not far from the muddy banks of the Brazos River. From that makeshift office in Washington-on-the-Brazos, about halfway between Austin and Houston, the then-president of the new Republic of Texas penned letters inviting the chiefs of several Native American tribes to join him for a council meeting. Many of the chiefs came, among them leaders from the Caddo, Delaware, and Shawnee tribes....

The Antikythera Mechanism, widely believed to be the world’s first computer, was among wreckage retrieved from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera on May 17, 1901. A year later, it was identified as containing a gear by Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais. Since then, the Mechanism has had a lasting impact on scientists and thinkers across the world. The seven largest fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, A-G, both sides. Courtesy Tom Malzbender and Hewlett Packard. The Tablet, or the Antikythera Mechanism “Tablet” was probably the name ancient Greeks gave the Antikythera Mechanism, which dates from the second...

Not quite a spider, not a scorpion either – where does Douglassarachne acanthopoda fit in? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Douglassarachne acanthopoda was a more experimental version of a modern harvestman, with distinctive armored legs. Image credit: Paul Selden ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This leggy, spiny fella is Douglassarachne acanthopoda, whom we’ll call Doug for short (only kidding). You might look at this fossilized specimen and confidently declare, “That there’s a spider.” But wait! While D. acanthopoda certainly shares many of the characteristics of modern arachnids, it has enough unique features to give palaentologists a headache when it comes to classifying it. Spiders and their ancestors have...

The visitors often draw comparisons between the iconic Taj Mahal and the newly built mausoleum of the founder of the Radhasoami sect in Soami Bagh, located about 12 km away from the Taj Mahal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saomi Bagh in Agra is a new white marble structure in Agra that took 104 years to build ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new white marble structure in Agra that took 104 years to build is daily drawing hordes of spiritually inclined tourists. The visitors often draw comparisons between the iconic Taj Mahal and the newly built mausoleum of the founder of the Radhasoami sect in Soami Bagh,...

The PB&J is as American as it gets, and its story is spread across the internet from web page to web page as if by digital butter knife, each as recognizable to the next as the sandwich itself. I'll spare you too much of a regurgitation here, except in the broadest strokes: It supposedly started as a fancy-ish tea sandwich at the turn of the 20th century, but quickly became a popular lunchtime snack as an increasingly industrialized food system made sliced bread and store-bought jam and peanut butter a common and affordable option to Americans of all economic stripes

A British museum will remove the bones of a true-life giant in an effort to honor the deceased’s final wishes, but trustees want to retain the remains in the interest of “bona fide research.” “John Hunter and other anatomists and surgeons of the 18th and 19th centuries acquired many specimens in ways we would not consider ethical today and which are rightly subject to review and discussion,” trustees of the Hunterian Museum wrote in a statement. Irishman Charles Byrne reached a staggering height of 7-foot-7, earning the nickname of the “Irish Giant.” Upon his death in June 1783 at the...

Arguably no period in European history is as misunderstood as the Middle Ages, which stretched from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE to the rise of the Renaissance roughly 1,000 years later. The myths surrounding this fascinating period of kingdoms and peasants are so prevalent that they led medieval historian Winston Black to write, “The first thing to understand about the Middle Ages… is that they do not actually exist.” The popular perception of life in feudal Europe (exacerbated by Hollywood depictions) is that it was prudish, brutish, and excessively foul, but society was...

There’s nothing more frustrating than working your socks off only to see someone else get all the credit for your efforts. Spare a thought, then, for the minds behind some of history’s most significant innovations, who, despite months, years, or in some cases lifetimes of work, find someone else’s name ignominiously attached to their invention. Sometimes inventions are miscredited in the public consciousness simply because a more famous name becomes associated with the creation. For example, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford — two of modern history’s most well-known innovators — are often credited with things they didn’t actually invent, through...