BBC News February 17th … archaeologists have unearthed dozens of clay figures in Ghana that are thought to shed some light on pre-Islamic society (80 sculptures dating between 600-1200AD). The culture appears to have disappeared when Islam arrived – they either converted to the new religion or were the victims of the slave trade.
www.newswise.com and www.sciencedaily.com (100216163332) … analysing DNA from royal mummies it was found Tutankhamun died from malaria and he had bone abnormalities. Hence, it is being said that he was not murdered – or killed in battle. Many conspiracy theories have developed about the boy king over recent years but his mummy has provided a dampener. He died in his 9th year, aged 19, and was the son of Akhenaten. No sign of synecomastia or Marlan syndrome was found and it is now thought the artistic style of the Amarna Age, thickened thighs and effeminate attributes, was simply the in vogue way of portraying the royal family – but Velikovsky’s observations remain pertinent. The manner of his death, however, does undermine the story told in Velikovsky’s Oedipus and Akhenaten. The research did find malformation is the family such as Kohler disease (a bone disorder) but this did not amount to swollen limbs – that was ‘asexual’ presentation, it would seem. Quite different. Walking impairment and malarial disease sustained by Tutankhamun accounts for the walking canes and an afterlife pharmacy found in his tomb. A leg fracture, possibly as a result of a fall, followed by malarial infection is what was found and no doubt this might inspire new theories.
University of Pittsburgh press release February 17th (EurekAlert at www.eurekalert.org ) … research at Pittsburgh examined 348 Carthaginian burial urns and discovered one fifth of them were pre-natal at death (foetus of miscarraiges) and many others were also extremely young (still born, birthing complications etc). Hence, it is unlikely they were human sacrifices – and if some of them were they were just a small proportion. It looks as if the the child urn burials are simply cremation burials and cremation was the normal way of deposing of such bodies. It seems all those tales of child sacrifice, and all the archaeological evidence of it taking place, is just a great mistake. If child sacrifice did take place it would have been a rare event.