Mexico
I absolutely agree with Anabel Ford’s views that the Maya did not collapse because of deforestation or overpopulation, or even “collapse” in the first place. The Maya were far too clever for such dramatic failures, not to mention their environment was rich with forests and space to live. If you think about it, the idea just doesn’t even pass the “common sense” test. Too often we hear the repeated, almost convenient, theory that cultures died out because of “climate change” but this idea can never be proven at all, and let me make a supposition to provide evidence why it cannot be proven:
Let’s assume there is climate change and that can be proven in the archaeological record. Let’s also assume at this same time the culture “died out”, or disappeared. Thus, that culture must have died out because of climate change, right? Wrong!
That culture may have been under threat from disease, infant mortality, frequent attacks by other cultures nearby, and many other reasons why people may decide to pack up and leave, or even die off completely.
Basically, climate change models for the demise of any culture can never be proven. Cultures generally disappear because of many different factors occurring at once, as most cultures tend to be more than adequately capable of coping with single environmental changes.
England
Veering away from ancient history, these wonderfully clear colour photos give a miniscule glimpse of life during the London Blitz.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/13/london-blitz-photos_n_7788418.html
The World
UNESCO World Heritage Sites for 2015.
http://roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/07/07/here-are-the-new-unesco-world-heritage-sites-for-2015/
United States
One of my avid interests and where much of my personal work has been focused over the years – the populating of the Americas – has more controversy that just about any subject in archaeology.
I can assure you that believing the idea that is taught in schools – that Native Americans first crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia at the end of the last ice age, some 14,000 +/- years ago – is a very questionable thing to do. While there probably were migrations from Siberia, there is ample evidence that there were other, earlier migrations, perhaps as far afield as Polynesia into South America, and even, controversially, European visitors who may have skipped the land edges by passing Iceland and Greenland during the ice age. While the latter idea brings hoards of laughter from many, the former is a theory that I believe will produce evidence in the near future. Again I argue that the Americas were populated first from the South, some 20,000 – 25,000 years ago (as a wild guess – it may have been much earlier), and I believe evidence for this idea is not too far away.
In this article the Anzick Boy – mentioned recently in a previous post and who is the earliest known Native American ever found – is more controversial than first appears. While his maternal DNA suggests Siberian ancestry which fits the current model of migration, the paternal DNA suggests he is a Maya ancestor dating to more than 25,000 years.
Isn’t it funny how the latter is generally kept out of the story?
Ironically, this idea – that the Maya were descendants of the original Native Americans who landed in the South some 25,000 years ago – is a central theme in my book. It may be a work of fiction, but one needs to read between the lines!
Note: This article has four short pages and the important information is on the last page
Laos
The mysterious Plain of Jars has baffled explorers and archaeologists for nearly a hundred years.
The unusually large jars – some ten feet tall and weighing several tonnes – didn’t have a practical function, unless you believe the local legends that they were made and used by giants.
The jars, which are 2,000 years old, have mostly been looted but some have been found to contain just about anything one might imagine from a culture – other pots, human remains, weapons, and ornamental beaded jewellery, for example. Many of the jars also have decorated lids, although the jars themselves are mostly undecorated.
South America
The Inca Road – 24,000 miles of incredible engineering.
England
This beautiful 4,400-year-old ‘sun disc’ has been put on show for the first time.
The piece is on display at the Wiltshire Museum, situated in Devizes.
Lebanon
Sidon, an archaeology dig that was supposed to take two years is now into its seventeenth year, with no sign of an end.
Mentioned in the Old Testament thirty-five times, and also in many other ancient texts, the site, which has never been excavated, is adding to the weight of Biblical stories. Many people think the Bible is nothing but a collection of stories put together – allegories and myths – to give us ideas of how to live life and behave properly. What many people don’t realise is that hundreds of archaeology digs around the world have proven many Biblical stories, or at least locations, to be true – and Sidon is no exception.
The argument of Creationists versus Darwinists is so raw and often heated to the point of hatred, and I would like to see these two disciplines operate more closely together. One often seems to open a can of worms with this issue, with one or the other side instantly becoming aggressive, and I have received a ton of insults from both sides on my YT channel just because of certain videos posted or comments made, to the point that I have had to disable all comments to save the grief! We live in a sad world where people are so arrogant and opinionated, and yet truth is more often than not subjective. Archaeology and Biblical studies are arguably two of the most subjective academic subjects out there, and it would be nice to see them work more closely together. The truth, surely, is somewhere in the middle…
Peru
I am always sceptical of ‘climate change’ models regarding the demise of certain civilisations or cultures. We live in a world where climate change is a fundamental issue and therefore it is in the forefront of our consciousness when asking the questions of how civilisations can be altered or destroyed.
While climate change is an ongoing part of life and planet earth, and happens much quicker than people often think, it isn’t always the reason for the end of a particular culture, and the evidence provided is somewhat loose and guessed at. It certainly cannot be the definitive reason for the demise of a culture for it is often the case that several issues occur at the same time. In Peru especially, it is not the reason to abandon an entire city for they were, and always will be, the world’s experts on the transportation of goods over land and on foot. If water sources dried up, they were engineering experts when it comes to channelling it from elsewhere or transporting it in to the city.
It’s a bit like the ridiculously accepted theory of the Nazca culture and the amazing Nazca lines which, I hasten to say, I have been fortunate enough to visit and I spent quite a bit of time in Nazca. The accepted theory is that the lines and geoglyphs are all a part of a ‘water cult’, because there was no water there, and the lines point to sources of water. Well, firstly, the Nazca did have water – they built aqueducts and there was water flowing underground, and they also lived in a fertile valley where their crops grew, which still do this day.
But let’s, for a second, assume they didn’t have sources of water. What would you do – would you sit there in the baking sun and then make lines that take months, if not years, to create, which point to sources of water, or would you pack up your pots and pans move a few miles inland to where there is plenty of water? Yep, that’s how stupid these so-called intelligent archaeologists can be! Any half-witted idiot can see that all you have to do is move somewhere else if you don’t have water. Therefore the Nazca lines have a completely different purpose. And how did we get to Nazca in the south from Caral, north of Lima? I don’t know, I just like to ramble sometimes…
United States
The long-running saga of my favourite Native American – Kennewick Man – continues.
Now we appear to have conclusive evidence that Kennewick Man was a Native American, and not related to the Polynesians or Japanese as some, including myself, have previously suggested. Earlier DNA tests suggested he was most likely Native American but no real conclusions could be made. In fact, last time around, no one had any idea. Now the proof is conclusive – Kennewick Man is mostly related to those in the Pacific Northwest, so that would be the Oregon / Washington State area. He had travelled a long way south if he had been born there, but the fact he lived on a diet of fish would now make sense.
The interesting thing is that Kennewick Man is also related to the oldest known skeleton ever found in the Americas – the badly named Anzick-1 – who was fond in Montana and is considered to be from what we call the “Clovis People”.
This situation is somewhat confused by these facts. The impression is that all ancient Native Americans can be related to each other, suggesting that they all belong to the same group – the same band of people who first crossed the land bridge into North America some time before 14,000 years ago – but that theory is flawed. No doubt some archaeologists will use this to back up their argument that the Clovis-first theory is clearly evident. However, ancient DNA is such that if you and I – I’m referring to other British people – decided to be DNA tested, it is more than likely we would genetically have the same close relation. We need to be careful with the words here – Kennewick Man is “relatively closely related to” the Anzick Boy, not “related to” him.
Either way, the Native Americans will now demand the return of their “ancient one” so he can be reburied.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/06/18/kennewick-man/#.VYL5KOfmqlo
Russia
The world’s oldest preserved dog has been given a post-mortem in Yakutsk, four years after it was discovered by mammoth hunters.
The 12,450-year-old puppy was found frozen in permafrost near the Syallakh River in Yakutia.
If you’re a dog lover, don’t read this article over breakfast!
Peru
The Peruvian government is going to open up the “other” Inca roads that run around the Machu Picchu area over the next four years.
In total there are six Inca roads – the most famous being the ‘Inca Trail’ where tourists spend several days walking to the main ruins – and each one passes other buildings in the vicinity that clearly show the citadel was once part of a much larger trade and communication network.
