Free Republic

For centuries, its origins were shrouded in mystery. But a forgotten cemetery near Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan has revealed stunning new evidence. In this documentary-style deep dive, we explore how 800-year-old graves, ancient inscriptions, and cutting-edge DNA analysis led scientists to pinpoint the true birthplace of the plague that killed tens of millions across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Learn how a single strain of Yersinia pestis, preserved in the teeth of medieval plague victims, was identified as the ancestral source of the Black Death. Discover how trade routes, climate change, and human mobility allowed a microscopic killer to...

Siberian scientists make discovery of 2,500 year old Saka settlement in up to 23 metres of water in Kyrgyzstan. The new find at the lake is separate from the discovery in 2007 of the ruins of an ancient metropolis of roughly the same age and Scythian burial mounds under its waters... A piece of a large ceramic pot found in the lake has a stamp on it written in Armenian and Syrian scripts, which, if confirmed, gives credence to the theory that an Armenian monastery was on this site in Medieval times, it is claimed. An intriguing version is that...