DNA analysis showed that skeletons preserved in the cave were genetically distinct from people who historically lived in that region. And some of the genetic differences matched those of people who lived in neighboring Anatolia and the Zagros Mountains, which are now part of Turkey and Iran, the study found.

Ancient Israel (then called Galilee) belonged to a region known as the southern Levant, part of a larger area, the Levant, which encompasses today's eastern Mediterranean countries. The southern Levant experienced a significant cultural shift during the Late Chalcolithic period, around 4500 B.C.E. to 3800 B.C.E, with denser settlements, more rituals performed in public and a growing use of ossuaries in funerary preparations, the researchers reported.

Though some experts had previously proposed that cultural transformation was driven by people who were native to the southern Levant, the authors of the new study suspected that waves of human migration explained the changes. To find answers, the scientists turned to a burial site in Israel's Peqi’in Cave, in what would have been Upper Galilee 6,500 years ago.

Unraveling an ancestry puzzle

Peqi'in is a natural cave, measuring around 56 feet (17 meters) long and about 16 to 26 feet (5 to 8 m) wide. Inside the cave are decorated jars and burial offerings — along with hundreds of skeletons — suggesting that the location served as a type of mortuary for Chalcolithic people who lived nearby.

However, not all of the cave's contents appeared to have local origins, study co-author Dina Shalem, an archaeologist with the Institute for Galilean Archaeology at Kinneret College in Israel, said in a statement.

"Some of the findings in the cave are typical to the region, but others suggest cultural exchange with remote regions," Shalem said. The artistic styles of these artifacts bear closer resemblance to styles common to more-northern regions of the Near East, lead study author Eadaoin Harney, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, told Live Science in an email.

The scientists sampled DNA from bone powder from 48 skeletal remains and were able to reconstruct genomes for 22 individuals found in the cave. That makes this one of the largest genetic studies of ancient DNA in the Near East, the researchers reported.

Blue eyes and fair skin

The scientists found that these individuals shared genetic features with people from the north, and those similar genes were absent in farmers who lived in the southern Levant earlier. For example, the allele (one of two or more alternative forms of a gene) that is responsible for blue eyeswas associated with 49 percent of the sampled remains, suggesting that blue eyes had become common in people living in Upper Galilee. Another allele hinted that fair skin may have been widespread in the local population as well, the study authors wrote.

"Both eye and skin color are traits that are controlled by complex interactions between multiple alleles, many — but not all — of which have been identified," Harney explained.

"The two alleles that we highlight in our study are known to be strongly associated with light eye and skin color, respectively, and are often used to make predictions about the appearance of various human populations in ancient DNA studies," she said.

However, it is important to note that multiple other alleles can influence the color of eyes and skin in individuals, Harney added, so "scientists cannot perfectly predict pigmentation in an individual."

The scientists also discovered that genetic diversity increased within groups over time, while genetic differences between groups decreased; this is a pattern that typically emerges in populations after a period of human migration, according to the researchers.

A dynamic past

By presenting DNA from the distant past, these findings offer exciting new insights into the dynamic ancient world and the diverse human populations that inhabited it, said Daniel Master, a professor of archaeology at Wheaton College in Illinois.

"One of the key questions of the Chalcolithic has always been to what extent the groups in Galilee were connected to the groups in the Be'ersheva Valley or the Jordan Valley or the Golan Heights," Master, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.

"The publication of the artifacts from Peqi'in has shown many cultural links between these regions, but it will be interesting to see, in the future, whether those links are genetic as well," Master said.

The researchers' results also resolve a long-standing debate about the pivotal factor that changed the trajectory of the Chalcolithic peoples' unique culture, Shalem said in the statement.

"We now know that the answer is migration," she said.

The findings were published online Aug. 20 in the journal Nature Communications.

Original article on Live Science.

REMAINS OF ANCIENT EXTRATERRESTRIAL LABORATORY DISCOVERED IN CHINA

Thirteen years ago, a group of Chinese researchers located and explored an ancient structure so unusual that an extraterrestrial hypothesis was promptly taken into consideration.

The fascinating ruins were discovered in the remote wilderness that makes up most of the intersection between China’s Qinghai province and the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Throughout history, humans have seldom settled in this harsh and inhospitable area. Only occasionally, migrant herdsmen pass through the mountainous regions to the north.

No industrial facilities can be found in the zone, much less the remnants of civilizations with advanced metalworking capabilities.

Despite this, atop a rocky ridge called Mt Baigong lies a pyramid-shaped ruin with three triangular entrances. Two of them are collapsed but the remaining one leads into an artificially-dug cave going deep into the heart of the mountain. Embedded in the cave walls and floor are hundreds of ancient metal pipes, arranged in what appears to have been a sophisticated network of unknown purpose and origin.

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The rusted pipes range from toothpick-sized to 1.5 feet in diameter and connect the cave to nearby Toson Hu, a saltwater lake 300 feet away. On the northern shore of Lake Toson, erosion exposed hundreds more of these archaic ducts. This detail led researchers into believing whoever built the pipework either used it as a drainage system or as a way to pump saltwater from the lake.

Baffled by the complexity of the network of pipes, the researchers took samples of the strange metallic tubes to the Beijing Institute of Geology for analysis. That’s when they had their biggest surprise.

Making use of a process called thermoluminescence dating, the scientists were able to analyze the pipes’ crystalline structure and determined they had been subjected to extreme heat approximately 140-150,000 years ago. In other words, the pipes had been smelted long before humans started dabbling in metalworking. An advanced civilization building complex structures 145,000 before us? Could it have been alien?

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The chemical analysis revealed even stranger details. The pipes had been smelted using a strange alloy composed of 92% common metals and minerals like ferric oxide, silicon dioxide and calcium oxide but it also contained 8% unknown materials. This intriguing aspect did not prove the pipes were out of this world but it did pave the way for speculation.

Unable to identify the exotic 8 percent, researchers turned to the remaining constituents and discovered another puzzling aspect: the pipes contained a proportion of silica that is specific to Mars.

The news fell like a bomb, the story quickly went viral and people started flocking to Mt Baigong to gawk at the anomalous artifacts. They even erected a monument with a satellite dish on top, a direct reference to the efforts to contact extraterrestrial civilizations.

Chilling, disturbing, and incomprehensible are these images. The year 2010, and a discovery is made. Images are provided with an unarguable truth that this is not only real, but shocking. Beasts of the bible make up what we know as the earth’s crust. Figures of common Biblical beasts like the bear and the dragon, are not only found in the images of the earth, but are proven in relative size and figuration. These images are haunting. What will this discovery lead to? How will these images change how we think of the world? These are questions we must answer when discovering things that flip the script of what we thought we once knew.

As a consequence, the Chinese Government closed off the area and posted guards at the entrance to the cave. This attitude is highly suspicious, to say the least.

Skeptics say the Baigong pipes are nothing more than fossilized tree roots that somehow got lodged in sediment, hardening over the years and eventually becoming the unusual structures that stumped everyone. If this is the case, why would the authorities step in and have the military guard the site?

This situation led conspiracy theorists to believe Mt Baigong was once visited by an advanced extraterrestrial race, possibly originating from Mars. For whatever reason, they constructed an artificial pyramid on top of the mountain, housing what appears to have been a laboratory. This theory is intriguing for a number of reasons.

The entire area surrounding the mountain consists of wide expanses of flat terrain that would have been an ideal landing site for large spacecraft. The mountaintop makes for a perfect vantage point one could use to oversee landings and takeoffs.

Recently, mineral explorations have shown the area contains various ore deposits. Any industrious civilization, no matter how advanced, could see the utility of extracting and managing these resources. In order to do so, they would have needed some type of energy source and that is where the pipes’ purpose might become obvious.

The Chinese scientists wondered why the pipes went into saltwater when another freshwater lake was even closer to the pyramid. Why the need for water containing a greater percentage of sodium chloride? Let’s examine some of our own activities and perhaps we can find an answer.

Modern chemistry and manufacturing makes use of a process called electrolysis, which basically requires passing an electric current through a solution or a molten substance. This triggers a chemical reaction which allows for the separation of materials. When water undergoes electrolysis, it breaks down into hydrogen and oxygen but this only works when saltwater is used. And it’s worth noting that a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen is commonly used as rocket fuel.

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Lake Toson

Admittedly, this is all speculation but when combined, the totality of the details start painting a clear picture for the open-minded:

• Scientists discover ancient artifacts that predate modern history.
• Evidence suggests they were part of a much more complex structure.
• Complexity of said structure suggests the presence and activity of an advanced civilization, possibly from Mars.
• Government intervenes and prevents access.

This scenario seems all too familiar to overlook.

Naturally, some have claimed the Baigong pipes are nothing more than a hoax. Unfortunately, this proposition seems to ignore the facts. The Chinese Government is well-known for its attitude towards those who sabotage the country’s image in the eyes of the rest of the world. It would have taken measures to punish those responsible for spreading false information rather than occupying the ancient pyramid.

Whatever the truth behind this perplexing discovery might be, one thing is certain: it doesn’t seem to fit in any of our traditional textbooks.

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