At https://phys.org/news/2024-07-archaeologists-earliest-evidence-farming-east.html …. archaeologists report on the earliest evidence, so far, of plant farming in East Africa. In the foothlls of Mount Elgum on the Kenya – Uganda border, at the Karkapel rock shelter near Lake Victoria. A trove of ancient plant remains may help to explain the history of plant farming in the region. They discovered cow peas, brought by Bantu people from West Africa, who arrived in the region around 2300 years ago [around 300BC].
Staying on the archaeology front, at https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-stone-circles-in-norway-were-hiding-a-dark-secret-dozens-of-childrens-graves … the inference here is that child sacrifice was taking place – although it is not implicitly mentioned. The Scandinavian Bronze and Iron age people buried children in a somewhat elaborate way – over a 600 year period. Presumably this occurred in the first millennium BC – later defined as 800-200BC. If human sacrifice was indeed involved, what on earth was going on to cause people to do such a thing. The circles of stone, 2 m across, were placed together like street cobblestones – but buried a few inches below the surface. Several of the graves were placed around a large central stone. Investigation revealed burnt bones and pottery fragments. The children were infants, between 3 and 6 years of age. In addition, the area around the stone capped graves is dotted with rock carvings that describe what appear to be voyages and sun worship, according to a statement. Sky boats, perhaps. These graves are peculiar – hence the idea of a dark secret. During the Scandinvian Bronze and Iron ages it was common to cremate the dead on pyres and either bury or scatter the bones.
At https://phys.org/news/2024-07-unveiling-years-human-occupation-canada.html … this one is about the Thule-Inuit people of Canada’s Arctic – in particular. Somerset Island in Nunavut was the chosen area of investigation. Sediment cores from ponds came up with useful information. The Paleo-Inuit are dated between 2500BC and AD1250, and the Thule-Inuit culture between AD1200-1500. The latter phase would have overlapped with the Viking presence in Greenland. However, the initial date of 2500BC confirms Moe Mandelkehr’s alignment of their migration into the Arctic coinciding with his 2300BC event. Bayesian dating methodology has moved the date back to 2500BC. Moe Mandelkehr wrote a series of articles in SIS journal in which global migrations were outlined at this point in time. It is remarkable that even in this outlying location, far from centres of civilisation, the late third millennium upheavals had their repercussions here as well as in more populated and better known regions of the world.