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[snip] We generated a genomic time transect spanning the past 11,000 years and found that cats previously identified as carrying a F. l. lybica mtDNA clade from Neolithic and Chalcolithic southeast Europe and Anatolia, dated between 9500 and 6300 years ago, were F. silvestris wildcats whose ancestors hybridized with F. l. lybica. Ancient genomes revealed an increasing trend of African wildcat ancestry ranging from 9 to 34% eastward, from Bulgaria to central Anatolia.The earliest cat belonging to the genetic cluster of as F. l. lybica and F. catus in Europe originates from the site of Genoni, in Sardinia (Italy), and...

Rome's love for pepper and incense fueled a global trade network. This episode follows their journey -- from Arabian deserts and Indian coasts, through Petra and Red Sea ports, to Mediterranean hubs -- ending in the spice markets of the Eternal City, including the Horrea Piperataria. From Desert to Rome: the Spice Roads of the Ancient World | 8:35 Ancient Rome Live | 80K subscribers | 475 views | August 11, 2025

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...

The Times of Central Asia reports that archaeologists from the National Museum of Tajikistan made a number of significant discoveries at the site of Khalkajar near the village of Sarband. Among them was a unique two-handled ceramic jug dating from the time of the Kushan Empire, which was one of the most influential and powerful states of ancient Central Asia that encompassed parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Dating to between the first and third century a.d, the vessel contains a faint painted inscription written in the Bactrian language. Linguistic experts determined that it reads, "This water...

A centuries-old tomb uncovered in China reveals a stunning discovery that challenges everything we know about the Tang dynasty. Among the vibrant murals, a mysterious foreign figure stands out. A Panoramic View Of The Tomb. Photo courtesy of Jinyang Ancient City Research Institute | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel ========================================================================= In 2018, construction work on a road in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province in northern China, led to an unexpected archaeological discovery. Researchers uncovered a tomb from the Tang dynasty, dated to the year 736 AD, that contained detailed murals illustrating everyday life during that period. The tomb...

The office of Russia’s infamous troll factory believed to be at the vanguard of Russia’s information war has been set on fire in St. Petersburg overnight. An investigation revealed last year that the secretive troll factory had rebranded itself as a media conglomerate with 16 news websites generating more than 30 million pageviews every month. Its operational hub, a website called FAN (Federal News Agency), is based a stone’s throw from the troll farm’s original location in northern St. Petersburg. The Fontanka.ru news website cited police as saying that an unknown suspect broke the agency’s ground-floor window and threw a...

@RealRossU I got to see the ocean for the first time in over 11 years because @realDonaldTrump released me from prison. On this President's Day, I would like to acknowledge a truly great American President, one who cares about freedom and second chances. Here's to you President Trump.

Even though the Communist Party of China is officially atheist, and the central government was once wary of religion, subtle signs and increasing activities show there is a changing attitude towards religion in order to unite China and its neighbors. In March last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood in the offices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, and extolled the profound impact Buddhism has had on China. "Buddhism originated in ancient India," said Xi, the leader of the officially atheist Communist Party of China. "After it was introduced into China, the religion went...

"Thank you so much, President Trump, for giving me this amazing blessing."

Ross Ulbricht has been pardoned by President Donald Trump

President Trump on Tuesday granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road drug marketplace and a cult hero in the cryptocurrency and libertarian worlds. In doing so, Mr. Trump fulfilled a promise that he made repeatedly on the campaign trail as he courted political contributions from the crypto industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election. A Bitcoin pioneer, Mr. Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015, after he was convicted on charges that included distributing narcotics on the internet. “I just...

The Sogdians were an Eastern Iranian-speaking people originally from Sogdiana, or modern-day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Traders, artisans, and cultural brokers, their influence peaked during the Tang Dynasty, or roughly from 618 to 907 CE, described as the "Golden Age" of the Silk Road. But until recently, very little has been known about their origins and interaction with other populations.A breakthrough in understanding the Sogdians came from the analysis of two skeletons excavated from a Tang Dynasty tomb, M1401, in Guyuan, northwest China. The tomb was excavated by the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 2014 to prevent...

RAND PAUL KENTUCKY United States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 January 21, 2025 The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States The White House Dear Mr. President: I write to urge you to follow through on your stated intention to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. Mr. Ulbricht is serving two life sentences plus forty years without parole for nonviolent offenses related to the website he launched in early 2011. Like so many others, I am shocked by the harsh sentence imposed on this first-time offender. Mr. Ulbricht's sentence is vastly disproportionate to his crimes. He was condemned to...

@TheHodeman I again reiterate that Trump will likely free Ross Ulbricht. The chair of the Libertarian Party assures us that she has a deal in place with him. According to her, she's busy working on getting ANOTHER political prisoner freed (I'm interested to see who!). The chair also said that he tried to free Ross during his first term and the papers were slow-walked back. If this is true, the pardon is basically a guarantee. The pardons were always scheduled to take place after the Inauguration Party tonight. I understand we're all eager to see him freed. I, too, am...

They discovered that the Romans miscalculated their Persian-Sassanian opponents which caused their downward spiral, leaving them weak and allowing Islam to rise in a manner that essentially wiped out the once-powerful civilization.The two groups were at war from 54 BC to 628 for control of territories, but the Persians and Sassanians took over Roman trade routes that were critical to their victory.Without access to trade, the economy quickly collapsed and forced people in the Roman Empire to flee to other regions like Constantinople, the researchers discovered...The team analyzed shipwrecks throughout the Mediterranean from multiple sites, such as Marseille, Naples, Carthage,...

"It turns out that the Zeravshan Valley, known primarily as a Silk Road route in the Middle Ages, was a key route for human expansion long before that—between 20,000 and 150,000 years ago," explained Prof. Zaidner. "This region may have served as a migration route for several human species, such as modern Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or Denisovans, which may have coexisted in this area, and our research aims to uncover who were the humans that inhabited these parts of the Central Asia and the nature of their interactions."The archaeological team excavated three areas at Soii Havzak, unearthing layers of human...

Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle stated in an email on Friday that she is already in communication with Republican Donald Trump’s team regarding the appointment of a libertarian to a cabinet position in his incoming administration. In the email to party supporters, McArdle extended her “heartfelt thanks and appreciation” to Libertarian nominees Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat, their campaign team, and their supporters, describing 2024 as “the most challenging election year in the party’s history.” McArdle acknowledged that, while the Libertarian Party did not win the presidency, she believes it will still have an influence on the incoming...

The possibility of U.S. lockdowns—never attempted on this scale in the history of pandemics—was already in the air in early March 2020. The theory of lockdown had been floating around for 15 years but now China was first to try it, and claim enormous success, however fraudulently. Incredibly, the United States was set to try it out too but getting Trump on board was going to take some doing. The federal government had the quarantine power since 1944. That much we knew. But just how expansive could its exercise be? Would they dare quarantine the well with the sick? How...

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump plans to announce at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday that he intends to commute "Silk Road" website operator Ross Ulbricht's life in prison sentence, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ulbricht was sentenced to life in federal prison in 2015 for creating and operating a hidden website known as the "Silk Road" that people used to buy and sell drugs, among other illegal goods and services. Many libertarians have called for Ulbricht's release. At the convention on Saturday, the crowd was filled with "free Ross" signs and took up chants in...

Description: Known across the world by many names such as: "Gypsies", "Roma", "Romani", "Sinti", etc... ; the Gypsies played a crucial role in the development of the Balkans & the history of many of the countries that inhabit the region today such as: Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, and many others outside of the region. Yet, when talking about history, very rarely are the Roma mentioned or talked about. In this video we go over the origin of the Roma in India, their migration across the Silk Road and into the Balkans, their life in the Balkans...