Tag: DNA

He Saint’s Body Will Be Publicly Displayed For The First Time Photo: Sala Stampa For the First Time in 800 Years, the Body of Saint Francis of Assisi Will Be Displayed. Dates, Location, and Details Here | ZENIT - English

Italy: Relics of St Francis of Asisi – Placed on Display! (23.2.2026)

The story of the tomb of St. Francis, hidden for centuries beneath the main altar, lends an almost mystical undertone to this new era. After his death in 1226, the body was carefully hidden to avoid theft or desecration. It was only discovered in 1818, after a long search, and since then, several verifications have been carried out — most recently in 2015 –, which confirmed the authenticity and good state of preservation of the relics. Those bones, marked by the suffering and wounds of the Crucified One, are the physical echo of a life spent for love. The Basilica of St. Francis will become, during that month, the spiritual heart of the world. A massive influx of pilgrims from all Continents is expected. To guarantee a serene and prayerful experience, a free and mandatory reservation system has been established through the website http://www.sanfrancescovive.org, which is available in several languages.

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Human skeletal remains in a double burial at the Worth Matravers cemetery.

UK: Ancient DNA Reveals West African Ancestry in Early Medieval England! (4.1.2026)

Archaeologists have analysed the DNA of two unrelated individuals buried in seventh-century-AD cemeteries on the south coast of England, revealing that they both had recent ancestors, likely grandparents, from West Africa.

During the Early Middle Ages, England saw significant migration from continental northern Europe. Historical accounts describe the settlement of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who gave their names to the Anglo-Saxon period and perhaps the country itself. However, the extent of movement from further afield was less clear.

“Migration and its direction, scale and impact have been much debated in European archaeology,” state the authors. “Archaeogenetic research can now provide new insight, even identifying individual migrants”.

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These skeletons of two hunter-gatherer individuals excavated at the Checua archaeological site north of Bogotá, Colombia, helped uncover the genetic details of a mysterious population. Ana María Groot / Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Colombia: Ancient Checua DNA Reveals “New Group of Humans” With No Genetic Ties to People Today! (4.1.2026)

Scientists have found genetic evidence of an ancient group of people in Colombia with no modern-day descendants. It’s as if they simply vanished from the face of the Earth. What’s more, they’re also not closely related to the ancient Native American populations that scientists had thought would be their ancestors.

“This is unexpected,” Andre Luiz Campelo dos Santos, an archaeologist from Florida Atlantic University who did not participate in the research, tells Adithi Ramakrishnan at the Associated Press. “Up to this point, we didn’t believe there was any other lineage that would appear in South America.”

An international team of researchers described the discovery in a study published in late May in the journal Science Advances. They analyzed DNA from the bones and teeth of 21 individuals found at five archaeological sites in the Altiplano—the high plains around Bogotá—dating to between 500 and 6,000 years ago. The analyses represent Colombia’s first ancient human genomes ever to be published.

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Pytheas of Massalia (350-285 BCE)

UK: How Celtic Languages Spread Across Britain & Ireland! (2.1.2026)

I hesitate to “agree” regarding the Ogham script and would like to see the evidence (that it evolves from the Roman alphabet). I have seen Ogham etched along the side of clay tablets (which were then “dried” for preservation) and engraved along the edge of stone tablets (a much more difficult task). As in China, early reading and writing evolved around the ruling families – the kings – and their specially trained advisors. Why write along the edge of things? Romans did not do this. I suppose a case can be made that Ogham might be a development of Roman numerals – but I would like to see the evidence. My parents live in South Devon, and although born in Oxford, I was brought-up in Devon and Cornwall – two of the UK’s Celtic heartlands. I learned Country Dancing at school, and visited museums that contained the Celtic Coracle (round fishing boat). We also learned about the magic of Druidism and how the mighty Boudicca united the Celtic tribes and inflicted terrible defeats on the Roman invaders. I also drink cyder and eat clotted cream. All of this I have imparted to the Chinese members of my family (we take our children all over the Celtic South-West) – just as they have imparted Hakka culture to me. Of course, also possessing Irish ancestry (my father’s mother was from Mullingar) – this confirms the Celtic identity.

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Artifacts unearthed from a tomb at the Shimao ruins in Yulin, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (National Cultural Heritage Administration/Handout via Xinhua)

China: Ancient DNA Reveals Kinship & Social Structure of China’s Prehistoric Shimao City! (28.11.2025)

The research published on Thursday in Nature presents the first direct genetic evidence regarding the origins of the Shimao population — the builders of Shimao, a massive Neolithic walled settlement in northern China that thrived around 4,300 years ago and was abandoned about 500 years later.

The findings, based on genetic analysis of ancient individuals, offer a glimpse into the kinship practices, including sex-specific sacrificial rituals, of an early state-level society in East Asia.

The 4-million-square-metre Shimao city is the largest known prehistoric settlement in China. Its sophisticated fortifications, including pyramid-like platform, cyclopean stone walls, palatial complexes and stone carving, along with high-status artifacts like exquisite jades, point to a highly complex, stratified society.

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Peter Wambugu grew up not knowing his father

UK: DNA-Tests Prove British Descendants in Kenya! (3.10.2025)

Somehow the post-1945 UK governments have ditched and demonised Socialism – and managed to breed a whole new generation of young people drawn toward fascism. Yes – the spread of the British Army involved mass-murder on the one-hand – and mass-rape on the other, with the occasional consenting relationship thrown into the mix. In Hong Kong, for instance, the British Authorities outlawed “race-mixing” on the grounds that (according to them) neither community (the “White” British or the “Chinese”) would accept the off-spring of such interactions. Furthermore, the guidebook continued, the children of such couplings will forever be “confused” as to which race they belong. So there you have it. Confusion and alienation. In fact, young British soldiers routinely fell in love with local Chinese women – and many mixed-race babies were the result. The soldiers would then leave – and never see their lovers or children again. These children were brought-up as Chinese by the Chinese – and that was that. I suspect this model of British command and control was repeated all over the empire – as we can see here in Kenya – although this ruling is only the tip of the iceberg. As to whether there is any relations in this case to how slaves were treated – I cannot say. If ALL the descendants of British colonisers were brought to the UK – the current migrant crisis would pail in significance!

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