Free Republic

Britons can trace Australian ancestors online Last Updated: 11:18AM BST 04/06/2008 Sixteen million Britons related to free settlers who colonised Australia will be able to trace their ancestors online from today.AP Records list the Irish ancestors of Nicole Kidman Although often portrayed as a nation of convicts, Australia's early population was largely based on immigrants who voluntarily sailed from Britain in search of a better life. The details of 9 million people who arrived in New South Wales between 1826 and 1922 are to be made available. More than 2 million of them were free settlers from Britain leaving behind...

Leo McKinstry says the current craze for genealogy reflects an unhealthy combination of snobbery and inverse snobbery, and is a poor replacement for national history When I visited the National Archives at Kew last week the place was full of them, scurrying about with their plastic wallets in hand, a look of eager concentration on their faces. It was impossible to escape their busy presence as they whispered noisily to relatives or whooped over the discovery of some new piece of information. These were the followers of one of Britain’s fastest-growing craze, the mania for researching family history. Studying bloodlines...

Elephant ancestors were semi-aquatic By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 10:01pm BST 14/04/2008 A primitive ancestor of today's elephants grazed in swamps 40 million years ago, according to a study of fossil teeth. The evidence that the ancient relative of today's elephants lived in fresh water is published today by an international team led by an Oxford University scientist. Moeritherium, a 37 million-year-old amphibious relative of elephants The scientists were investigating the lifestyle of the two early elephants - called proboscideans - Moeritherium ('the beast from Lake Moeris') and Barytherium, which looked like a slender version of today's Asian...

THE BATTLE OF THE WASHITA (November 27, 1868, Indian territory - modern-day Oklahoma) Gregory F. Michno, ENCYCLOPEDIA of Indian Wars 1850-1890, pages 226-227 "On November 12, 1868 , 11 companies of the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer, 3 companies of the 3rd Infantry, 1 of the 5th Infantry, 1 of the 38th Infantry, and about 450 wagons set out from Fort Dodgefor Indian territory to seek out hostile Indians. Across a snow-covered landscape Custer followed Indian trails to a 50-lodge Cheyenne village on the banks of the Washita River. Early on the frigid morning of 27 November,...

Public release date: 12-Nov-2007 Contact: Carl Marziali marziali@usc.edu 213-219-6347 University of Southern California Human ancestors: more gatherers than hunters? Early humans may have dug potato-like foods with tools, say anthropologists from USC, UC San Diego and UW-Madison Chimpanzees crave roots and tubers even when food is plentiful above ground, according to a new study that raises questions about the relative importance of meat for brain evolution. Appearing online the week of Nov. 12 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study documents a novel use of tools by chimps to dig for tubers...

Elephants, Human Ancestors Evolved in Synch, DNA Reveals Hope Hamashige for National Geographic News July 23, 2007 The tooth of a mastodon buried beneath Alaska's permafrost for many thousands of years is yielding surprising clues about the history of elephants—and humans. A team of researchers recently extracted DNA from the tooth to put together the first complete mastodon mitochondrial genome. The study, published in the journal PLoS Biology, significantly alters the evolutionary timeline for elephants and their relatives. The research may put to rest a contentious debate by showing that woolly mammoths are more closely related to Asian elephants than...

Blame that Morning Sickness on Your Ancient Ancestors Author: Karen Barrow Medically Reviewed On: September 01, 2006 Despite its name, morning sickness—nausea and vomiting that is often one of the first symptoms of pregnancy—can happen at any time of the day. Up to 90 percent of pregnant women experience this less-than-pleasant side effect, yet scientists are only beginning to understand why running to the bathroom and saltines are a rite-of-passage for moms-to-be. Now, new research has shed some light onto morning sickness, and its roots lie in evolution. Researchers from the University of Liverpool suggest that morning sickness may have...

Source: University of Utah Date: March 12, 2007 These Legs Were Made For Fighting: Human Ancestors Had Short Legs For Combat, Not Just Climbing Science Daily — Ape-like human ancestors known as australopiths maintained short legs for 2 million years because a squat physique and stance helped the males fight over access to females, a University of Utah study concludes. This drawing of a male gorilla skeleton illustrates their very short legs. Male gorillas fight to gain access to reproductively mature females. Relatively short legs increase the stability and strength of great apes, and should therefore increase fighting performance. A...

Descendancy stems from the 19th Century Dawes Commission lists Members of the Cherokee Nation of native Americans have voted to revoke tribal citizenship for descendants of black slaves the Cherokees once owned.A total of 76.6% voted to amend the tribal constitution to limit citizenship to "blood" tribe members. Supporters said only the Cherokees had the right to determine tribal members. Opponents said the amendment was racist and aimed at preventing those with African-American heritage from gaining tribal revenue and government funding. The Cherokee Nation has 250,000 to 270,000 members, second only to the Navajo. 'Right to vote' The list...

Why altruism paid off for our ancestors 19:00 07 December 2006 NewScientist.com news service Richard Fisher Humans may have evolved altruistic traits as a result of a cultural “tax” we paid to each other early in our evolution, a new study suggests. The research also changes what we knew about the genetic makeup of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The origin of human altruism has puzzled evolutionary biologists for many years (see Survival of the nicest). In every society, humans make personal sacrifices for others with no expectation that it will be reciprocated. For example, we donate to charity, or care for...

Dental Detectives Reveal Diet of Ancient Human Ancestors Sean Markey for National Geographic News November 9, 2006 Paranthropus robustus, a dead-end branch of the early human family tree, has been described as a "chewing machine" that was mostly jaws and not much brains. While the label may still apply, pioneering dental detective work has revealed unexpected news about the species' dietary variety. Using lasers to vaporize tiny particles of tooth enamel, researchers in the United States and Great Britain analyzed the chemical makeup of 1.8-million-year-old fossil teeth from four individuals unearthed in the Swartkrans cave site in South Africa. Different...

Contact: Skip Derra skip.derra@asu.edu 480-965-4823 Arizona State University Early human ancestors walked on the wild side Tempe, Ariz. -- Arizona State University anthropologist and Institute of Human Origins researcher Gary Schwartz, along with fellow anthropologist Dan Gebo from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, have studied fossil anklebones of some early ancestors of modern humans and discovered that they walked on the wild side. It seems some of our earliest ancestors possessed a rather unsteady stride due to subtle anatomical differences. Schwartz and Gebo's findings will be published in the April 2006 edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, but the...

Ancient tools at High Desert site go back 135,000 years Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer BARSTOW - In the multicolored hills overlooking the Mojave River Valley, the excavation of stone tools and flakes reveals human activities from the distant past. A new system of geologic dating has confirmed that an alluvial deposit bearing the stone tools and flakes at the Calico archaeological site is about 135,000 years old. But the site could even be older. Calico project director Fred Budinger Jr. said a soil sample, taken at a depth of 17 1/2 feet in one of three master pits at the...

Archaeologists find western world's oldest map By Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 18/11/2005) The oldest map of anywhere in the western world, dating from about 500 BC, has been unearthed in southern Italy. Known as the Soleto Map, the depiction of Apulia, the heel of Italy's "boot", is on a piece of black-glazed terracotta vase about the size of a postage stamp. It was found in a dig led by the Belgian archaeologist Thierry van Compernolle, of Montpellier University, two years ago. But its existence was kept secret until more research was carried out. "The map offers, to date, for...

September 19, 2005 Notebook: Archeology Medieval ancestors measured up to our height standards By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent OUR ANCESTORS were as tall as we are, contrary to popular belief. Over the past five millennia the average height of men in Britain has remained stable at about 170cm (5ft 7in), and that of women at 160cm (5ft 3in). We may be surprised at how small the armour worn by the Black Prince or King Henry V was, but such giants on the battlefield were not physically large and were towered over by contemporaries of all classes. “The enduring myth that...

Faithful AncestorsResearchers debate claims of monogamy for Lucy and her ancient kin Bruce Bower A weird kind of creature strode across the eastern African landscape from around 4 million to 3 million years ago. Known today by the scientific label Australopithecus afarensis, these ancient ancestors of people may have taken the battle of the sexes in a strange direction, for primates at any rate. True, no one can re-create with certainty the court and spark that led to sexual unions between early hominids. Nothing short of a time machine full of scientifically trained paparazzi could manage that trick. All is...

Infectious Evolution: Ancient virus hit apes, not our ancestors, in the genesMarch 5 Bruce Bower A vicious virus infected ancestral chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa between 4 million and 3 million years ago. Not only did it kill a great many of these primates, but it also infiltrated the surviving animals' genomes, altering the course of evolution. That's the picture emerging from a new analysis of modern-primate DNA. Around 1.5 million years ago, this virus of the class called retroviruses also infected ancestors of modern baboons and macaques, two African monkeys, reports geneticist Evan E. Eichler of the University of...

When I was a child someone gave me a beautifully illustrated book of children's stories from around the world. My younger sister's favorite was "The Celestial Maiden" and she begged me to read it to her over and over again. In the tale a poor Japanese woman prays for a child. One day she finds a tiny maiden lying on a leaf in her garden. She takes the maiden into her home and cares for her, happy that her prayers have been granted. As nightfall approaches, the maiden reveals that she is a celestial princess who must return home before...

(4-28-03) Signed - sealed - and delivered, Miss Billie. To you with love - - - Johnny and Maggie On The Discovery of the Freeper Archives by LadyX and jwfiv I t began as a rather ordinary day, our small cubicle just as any other one, kinda cramped and poorly lit, with just enough space for our desks and chairs and computers and supplies, and the requisite bottomless coffee pot. Johnny Mac and I, Maggie Malone, we are - sometime reporters for The Finest Gazette - and we'd been waiting for a new assignment from The Editor, Billie - just...

If a global society forms during the Twenty-first Century, will it necessarily be a contract society, built upon reciprocal trade and agreement, as many people think? Or could it be constructed upon other principles, for instance the left’s dream of universal sharing, nonviolence, peace, and justice, or the Isalmists’ dream of the world converted to Islam by the will of God and His holy warriors? Or will it be a global bureaucracy, a United Nations writ large, the centralized rule of the international experts? When Sir Henry Maine wrote his famous dictum in Ancient Law that the movement of progressive...

Ancestors Of Turks Came To Anatolia In 2000s B.C. AFP: 8/27/2004 ERZURUM - Various archeological and cultural findings prove that Turks had come to Anatolia around 2000s B.C., Associated Prof. Semih Guneri said on Friday. Prof. Guneri and his team recently unearthed artifacts in excavations in Turkey's eastern provinces of Erzurum and Hakkari. According to experts, steles discovered by Associated Prof. Veli Sevin in Hakkari in the past will shed light on the question of ''When did Turks first come to Anatolia?''. Experts started to discuss this matter when a statue head which was sculpted around 2000s B.C. and was...

ON THIS day, 90 years ago, the German cavalry under General Georg von der Marwitz crossed the Belgian border — an invasion which was to mark the point of no return for the bloodiest war of all time. They carried 12ft steel-headed lances, as well as sabres and rifles, and the fearful villagers who watched them referred to them as “Uhlans” — a reference to the Tartar horsemen of past barbarian invasions. Within a day of their advance, the first horrendous slaughter of the First World War had taken place. German troops, attempting to take the city of Liège, were...

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

Jan. 27, 2004 — In a prehistoric battle for survival, Neanderthals had to compete against modern humans and were wiped off the face of the Earth, according to a new study on life in Europe from 60,000 to 25,000 years ago. The findings, compiled by 30 scientists, were based on extensive data from sediment cores, archaeological artifacts such as fossils and tools, radiometric dating, and climate models. The collected information was part of a project known as Stage 3, which refers to the time period analyzed. The number three also seems significant in terms of why the Neanderthals became extinct....

Meet the ancestors Aug 20 2003 By Mike Hornby, Daily Post Staff AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL dig in a Cheshire hamlet has emerged as one of Britain's most important excavations ever. Archaeologists working in Poulton, south of Chester, have discovered evidence of human activity dating back 9,000 years.They have unearthed five Bronze Age burial mounds, two Roman buildings and a medieval chapel and cemetery. The series of remarkable discoveries was made during excavations to find the lost Abbey of Poulton which once stood on the site. Archaeologist Mike Emery has run the dig, on farmland bordering the Duke of Westminster's Eaton estate,...

One more piece of evidence has been added to the debate on whether there was any interbreeding between Neandertals and early modern humans. Around 50,000 years ago, small groups of anatomically modern humans migrated out of Africa and began to colonize the rest of the world. Known as Cro-Magnons for the site in France where the earliest remains were found, these early humans co-existed with the Neandertals then living in Europe until the Neandertals became extinct roughly 30,000 years ago. What happened and why—did the two groups war, did they mate, did they even meet?—has been an enduring puzzle...

Signed - sealed - and delivered, Miss Billie. To you with love - - - Johnny and Maggie On The Discovery of the Freeper Archives by LadyX and jwfiv It began as a rather ordinary day, our small cubicle just as any other one, kinda cramped and poorly lit, with just enough space for our desks and chairs and computers and supplies, and the requisite bottomless coffee pot. Johnny Mac and I, Maggie Malone, we are - sometime reporters for The Finest Gazette - and we'd been waiting for a new assignment from The Editor, Billie - just 'Billie,'...

Rock art clue to nomad ancestors of Egyptian pyramid builders Stone age cattle herders left religious imagery which was to re-emerge in Valley of Kings Tim Radford, science editor Saturday April 5, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Rock art etched on cliff walls in the eastern Sahara more than 6,000 years ago could spell out the answer to one of archaeology's great puzzles - where the ancient Egyptians came from. The answer? They were there all the time. The pyramid builders made their first entry in the archaeological record 5,000 years ago. This appearance was so abrupt that it has provoked...

LONDON: More than 2,000 years after they first claimed to have set foot in India, the mystery of the world's most obscure Jewish community - the Marathi-speaking Bene Israel - may finally have been solved with genetic carbon-dating revealing they carry the unusual Moses gene that would make them, literally, the original children of Israel. Four years of DNA tests on the 4,000-strong Bene Israel, now mainly based in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Ahmedabad, indicates they are probable descendants of a small group of hereditary Israelite priests or Cohanim, according to new results exclusively made available to the Sunday Times...