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Even those who know little about world history have likely heard of Merlin the Magician. The mythology which has been built up around him has endured for centuries, even though most have no idea exactly where the character of Merlin came from. Also, was Merlin benevolent or malevolent?

So where exactly did the legend of Merlin start, and how exactly is he connected to King Arthur?

According to a fascinating article found on the website Ancient Origins, the story of Merlin is a complex one filled with contradictions and mysteries:

“The powerful wizard is depicted with many magical powers, including the power of shapeshifting and is well-known in mythology as a tutor and mentor to the legendary King Arthur, ultimately guiding him towards becoming the king of Camelot. While these general tales are well-known, Merlin’s initial appearances were only somewhat linked to Arthur. It took many decades of adaptations before Merlin became the wizard of Arthurian legend he is known as today.”

The first mention of Merlin can be found in The History of Kings of Britain, which was written in 1136 AD by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Much of the work is a historical record of English kings, Merlin is found, but as a fictional character:

“Merlin was paradoxical, as he was both the son of the devil and the servant of God.”

Son of the devil and servant of God? That certainly makes Merlin an object of fascination, if for no other reason than such a description makes us question his motives and what role he played in Arthur’s kingdom.

Part Madman, Part Warrior

The character of Merlin was actually a composite of several historical figures who were well-known to readers of the time:

“Geoffrey combined stories of North Brythonic prophet and madman, Myrddin Wyllt, and Romano-British war leader, Ambrosius Aurelianus, to create Merlin Ambrosius.”

Notice the dichotomy once again: Merlin was part madman and part warrior. That alone suggests that his “magic” may have been little more than the rantings of a lunatic who was bent on attaching himself to power. And no one was more powerful than a king.

Ambrosius is of particular interest because he shows up in relation to another British king, Vortigern, who wanted to erect a tower. However, each time Vortigern tried to build the tower, it would collapse. The only way the tower would ever stand required a bizarre ritual:

“(Vortigern) was told that to prevent this, he would have to first sprinkle the ground beneath the tower with the blood of a child who was born without a father. Ambrosius was thought to have been born without a father, so he was brought before Vortigern. Ambrosius explains to Vortigern that the tower could not be supported upon the foundation because two battling dragons lived beneath, representing the Saxons and the Britons. Ambrosius convinced Vortigern that the tower will only stand with Ambrosius as a leader, and Vortigern gave Ambrosius the tower, which is also the kingdom.”

Geoffrey, in his telling of the Merlin legend, notes that Merlin was also fatherless, but he also retained the character of Ambrosius.

Another change Geoffrey makes is that in the story with Merlin and King Vortigern, Merlin’s prophecies are included. Those prophecies point directly to the ultimate crowning of Arthur as king of Britain. And in doing so, Geoffrey introduces the notion that King Arthur was the fulfillment of a prophecy, giving him a magical air.

Merlin, Stonehenge, and Giants?

One of those prophecies was how Arthur came to be. Another explains Stonehenge’s appearance:

“These include the tale of Merlin creating Stonehenge as the burial location for Ambrosius, and the story of Uther Pendragon sneaking into Tintagel where he fathers Arthur with Igraine, his enemy’s wife.”

Merlin the Shapeshifter

The name Merlin is also found in a poem written by Robert de Boron. The poem was written long after Merlin had first been introduced in The History of Kings of Britain. However, Boron’s poem focuses more on Merlin’s magical abilities:

“Boron places special emphasis on Merlin’s shapeshifting powers, connection to the Holy Grail, and his jokester personality.”

Merlin was also shown in some writings as a mentor and tutor to King Arthur, giving him advice on difficult situations facing the kingdom.

Other depictions of Merlin, however, were much less charitable:

“In some tales Merlin was viewed as an evil figure who did no good in his life.”

Today, most of us know Merlin as the benevolent tutor to King Arthur who often used his rapier wit to defuse potentially dangerous situations. Depictions of Camelot almost always place Merlin in a prominent position even though he wasn’t allowed to sit as a Knight of the Round Table.

Over the centuries, Merlin has undergone many manifestations, from good to evil and back again. Despite all of the contradictions found in a close reading of works that deal with Merlin, he remains one of the most fascinating figures in all of mythology.

This informative documentary has more on Merlin

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A tomb containing a 2,000-old-year old skeleton was recently unearthed in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, and it appears the remains are of an ancient warrior woman who lived during the height of the Roman Empire, according to the Daily Mail:

“She was found in the North Caucasus and is thought to have been of a ‘high-status’ within her community – possibly the wife, sister or mother of a prominent warrior or chieftain.”

Of particular interest to the archaeologists who found the tomb was the jewelry discovered at the same time, including two “very valuable rings” with dark glass centers. Archaeologist Anna Kadieva noted:

“She had two rings on her fingers manufactured with the use of quite a complex technology.”

“Each of them is cast from transparent white glass with golden fibres from the same material, with a dark glass installation in the middle.”

The woman is thought to have been from the Alans warrior people who arrived in Caucasus in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, Ancient Origins reports. The rings were likely “Roman made,” and a description of them highlights just how much work went into producing the items:

“A bright violet amethyst medallion was also discovered and archaeologists found that the beads found on the woman’s shoes were crafted of glass containing ‘carnelian,’ which is an orangey mineral belonging to the Quartz family and widely used during Roman times in engraved gems for signet (or seal) rings for imprinting wax seals on correspondences.”

The Caucasus Connection

Though most of us have heard of the Caucasus region, you may not know that it was once a region of great importance because the isthmus itself is a land bridge between the Eurasian steppes and Western Asia. So it served as a way to pass between Europe and Asia during the days that Rome was the dominant power across much of the known world. It is also a region rich with reminders of the planet’s early history:

“Surveys and excavations carried out by Soviet researchers up until the 1990s revealed the existence of archaeological sites from the beginning of the Holocene, approximately the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history.”

Finding the Origins of Ancient Warriors

Thousands of years ago, the people in the region were equally dispersed along the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas and in the Kura and Arax River basins. And over the past couple of decades, there has been extensive archaeological excavations in the locations that were home to the majority of the population. The results of those international missions have yielded a great deal of new finds.

All of this leads researchers to speculate that the jewels found in the Russian tomb may have been “jewels of war,” Ancient Origins notes:

“Roman soldiers reached South Caucasus at the end of the 2nd century BC and the Kingdom of Colchis was completely destroyed and incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Lazicum. The preceding 600 years of South Caucasian history were marked by the struggle between Rome and the Sassanids of Persia, who according to HistoryNet, allied with the Romans in the Roman-Persian Wars.”

In 69 AD, the Roman Empire was in the midst of a bloody civil war, and part of that took place in the Caucus region that is home to the warrior tomb:

“The people of the kingdoms of Colchis (Caucasus) and Pontus, an ancient district in northeastern Anatolia adjoining the Black Sea, staged a major tribal uprising against Roman rule which ended unsuccessfully. These tiny, delicate and rare items of jewelry, found with the 2000-year-old woman’s remains, were all made and worn in these turbulent times when the ‘barbarians’ of northern Europe were being conquered by Rome: artifacts of war.”

Further studies into the finds are planned, but for now, we have a glimpse into history that may well wind up adding even greater illumination to what we know about the Roman Empire and how it came to a sudden end.

Here’s more on the incredible find in Russia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625IYE6LQeg

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For the first time, archaeologists in Mexico have found direct evidence that ancient humans actually engineered traps to hunt and kill woolly mammoths to butcher them for their meat and hides.

We already know that humans killed and butchered mammoths to survive during the Ice Age. But the question of how has been a subject of debate, and that’s why a new discovery south of the border is generating excitement.

In the town of Tultepec just north of Mexico City, archaeologists excavated two pits that humans dug 15,000 years ago. Herds of mammoths used to roam the area and humans apparently would force the massive beasts to fall into the pits to their deaths by using spears and fire to scare them over the edge.

This method was clearly successful as the team has found hundreds of bones from at least 14 mammoths so far.

Scoring a mammoth kill on a hunt would have been quite an achievement that would have provided food for a long period of time for the whole group, as well as hides to make clothes and blankets and bones from which to carve tools and weapons and other items for trade, all in an effort to survive the harsh conditions of the Ice Age.

Hunting mammoths would have been a dangerous activity, so digging pits would have reduced the risk to the lives of the hunters.

Up to now, no evidence of mammoth traps had ever been found, which makes this find all the more significant.

“(This) represents a watershed, a touchstone on what we imagined until now was the interaction of hunter-gatherer bands with these enormous herbivores,” Mexico National Institute of Anthropology and History archaeologist Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava said in a statement.

“There was little evidence before that hunters attacked mammoths,” excavation leader Luis Córdoba Barradas added. “It was thought they frightened them into getting stuck in swamps and then waited for them to die. This is evidence of direct attacks on mammoths. In Tultepec we can see there was the intention to hunt and make use of the mammoths.”

Mammoths roamed the Earth for millions of years in Europe, North America and Asia before a shift in the climate started a warming trend that caused their decline. The last mammoths would become trapped on an Arctic island just north of where Alaska and Russia nearly meet. That small mammoth herd would persist for thousands of years until interbreeding and water contamination wiped them out just 4,000 years ago, which means mammoths were still living when the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid.

11,000 years prior, hunter-gatherers in Mexico executed the pit strategy, taking what they needed from the mammoth carcasses and leaving the rest of the remains for us to uncover 15,000 years later in 2019.

According to the press release as translated by Google Translate:

In three of the profiles exposed by this large excavation (40 by 100 meters and 8 deep), Córdoba observed different mammoth bones, but what caught his attention were vertical cuts in the arrangement of the strata or layers. These were two graves with walls of almost 90 degrees, 1.70 meters deep and 25 meters in diameter, which were used as traps for these proboscids.

The archaeologist said that the site called “Tultepec II”, where they have worked for almost ten months with the support of the town hall, 824 bones have been recovered, with no anatomical relationship, mostly corresponding to 14 mammoths. The remains of eight come from the first two excavation units located in the southwest corner of the land; while the vestiges of six others were rescued north of it, in the third excavation unit.

Within these pits, below 3.50 meters, eight skulls, five jaws, a hundred vertebrae, 179 ribs, 11 scapulae, five humerus have been recovered, in addition to ulnas (cubes of a long bone), pelvis, femurs, tibiae and other “small” bones.

In Mexico, too, climate change had an impact that resulted in a drier environment in the Mexico Basin.

To fully understand this discovery…at the end of the Pleistocene, a time of great climatic instability in which the poles were frozen causing the level to drop from the sea across the planet and drier environments in several regions, in the case of the Mexico Basin.

A volcanic eruption around 14,700 years ago also impacted the area and dropped the level of a lake enough for hunters to use the newly exposed plains to dig out their traps.

In that sense, the prehistoric traps of Tultepec, were excavated in the clay of the bottom of the Lake of Xaltocan, approximately 15 thousand years ago, when their levels descended and left great plains exposed. This global phenomenon coincided with a local one: the great eruption of Popocatepetl 14,700 years ago, which motivated a great mobilization of animals and human beings to the north of the Basin of Mexico, where the fall of volcanic ash was lower.

A team of around 20 to 30 hunters would then use fire, branches, and spears to separate a mammoth from the herd and direct it to a pit, where it would then be pushed in, which is different from how textbooks present mammoth hunting today.

At a press conference and on behalf of the anthropologist Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the Institute, Sánchez Nava said that this finding changes that “random” and “eventual” scene that textbooks used to handle mammoth hunting: that of an animal who was attacked only when he fell into a swamp. On the other hand, the excavations in San Antonio Xahuento, demonstrate the use of the environment and social organization achieved by the first settlers of the Basin of Mexico to undertake this hunting activity.

In short, humans did not wait for a mammoth to get itself stuck by chance. They took the initiative and laid a special trap to actively hunt them.

This discovery changes our views of mammoth hunting by ancient humans.

The hunters would then descend into the pits to butcher their prize, but they also showed great respect to the animal, often arranging the bones in a way to honor it and give thanks for the subsistence it provided them. And they did not leave anything to waste. The team also found evidence that the hunters used the bones of the animal to butcher it.

Córdoba said that the ribs of these animals, as shown in the five marks, were used to cut the meat. The end of an ulna that served as a polishing tool was also found, possibly to remove the fat from the skin. Also, the organs were consumed, including the tongue that could weigh up to 12 kilos, which is why their skulls are often found inverted.

One such mammoth apparently had a more special meaning to the hunters than the others.

This specimen has an attack mark and it is noted that its left defense, shorter than the right, regenerated after a fracture; indications that hunter-gatherers watched him and tried to hunt him for years, “that’s why they had to consider him brave, fierce, and showed him his respect in this way, with this particular arrangement,” says Luis Córdoba.

The bones will likely be placed on display at various museums. The excavation site, meanwhile, is set to become a landfill, which is unfortunate.

However, the team believes there are more pits in the area to be found because just like trapping today, the hunter-gatherers would have been more successful setting multiple traps. So, it’s entirely possible that more pits will be excavated in the near future along with even more mammoth bones, adding more to the story of mammoths that continues to unfold after more than 15,000 years.

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A study of ancient teeth belonging to modern humans and Neanderthals of the Aurignacian culture at Manot Cave in Israel is shedding new light on human migration from Europe to the Levant around 40,000 years ago. The Levant includes the historic areas of Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Syria with close proximity to Egypt.

The Neanderthals were on the verge of extinction 40,000 years ago when they came into contact with Homo sapiens, also known as modern humans. Groups of Neanderthals in southern Europe survived long enough to make their final eagle talon necklaces, one of which was found recently by researchers in Spain in Foradada Cave just two miles inland from the Mediterranean coast.

Just over 2,000 miles away, another group of researchers led by Dr. Rachel Sarig of Tel Aviv University School of Dental Medicine analyzed six teeth that were uncovered in Manot Cave.

Discovered in 2008, Manot Cave is a significant prehistoric location noted for the finding of an ancient human skullcap from 54,700 that turned out to be the oldest human remains outside of Africa and proved modern humans lived alongside Neanderthals and interbred with them, which has been shown by genetic studies.

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Many of the artifacts found in the cave since then belong to the Aurignacian culture, an Upper Paleolithic culture of humans that existed in Europe at the time.

According to Tel Aviv University:

The Aurignacian culture first appeared in Europe some 43,000 years ago and is known for having produced bone tools, artifacts, jewelry, musical instruments, and cave paintings. For years, researchers believed that modern man’s entry into Europe led to the rapid decline of the Neanderthals, either through violent confrontation or wresting control of food sources. But recent genetic studies have shown that Neanderthals did not vanish. Instead, they assimilated into modern human immigrant populations. The new study adds further evidence to substantiate this theory.

In fact, the oldest known musical instrument is credited to the Aurignacian culture in the form of a 35,000 to 40,000-year-old bone flute found in Germany in 2008, the same year a construction crew accidentally found the Manot Cave.

Sometime during this period 40,000 years ago, however, a migration consisting of these Aurignacian humans along with Neanderthals migrated to the Levant, thus introducing the culture to humans and Neanderthals there, which is how evidence of the culture likely ended up in the cave.

But it’s not just artifacts, but also remains such as teeth that are providing evidence of this migration.

Last month, Dr. Sarig and her team authored a study published by the Journal of Human Evolution explaining their findings.

This study presents the dental remains discovered at Manot Cave (MC), Western Galilee, Israel. The cave contains evidence for human occupation during the Early Upper Paleolithic period (46–33 ka) mainly of Early Ahmarian (∼46–42 ka) and Levantine Aurignacian (∼38–34 ka) cultural levels. Six teeth (three deciduous and three permanent) were found at the site, of which four could be thoroughly analyzed. The morphology of the teeth was qualitatively described and analyzed using traditional and geometric morphometric methods. A large comparative sample was used in order to assess the morphological affiliation of the Manot specimens with other Homo groups. The results provided equivocal signals: the upper first premolar is probably modern human; the upper deciduous second molar and the upper second permanent molar might be modern humans; the lower second deciduous molar might be Neanderthal.

While the results were not conclusive, they suggested that humans migrated from Europe to the Levant 40,000 years ago, resulting in a new culture that persisted for a few thousand years before it mysteriously disappeared.

“Unlike bones, teeth are preserved well because they’re made of enamel, the substance in the human body most resistant to the effects of time,” Dr. Sarig said in a press release. “The structure, shape, and topography or surface bumps of the teeth provided important genetic information. We were able to use the external and internal shape of the teeth found in the cave to associate them with typical hominin groups: Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. Following the migration of European populations into this region, a new culture existed in the Levant for a short time, approximately 2,000-3,000 years. It then disappeared for no apparent reason. Now we know something about their makeup.”

Indeed, the population that migrated to the Levant from Europe not only included humans but also Neanderthals along with any hybrid individuals resulting from interbreeding between the two species.

Neanderthal DNA continues to survive within our species today, clear proof that humans and Neanderthals successfully interbred, which may have contributed to the demise of the Neanderthal species as a whole. Perhaps they were not wiped out by violence or disease, but rather by genetic assimilation or a combination of all three.

Related: Researchers says UV radiation caused by a polar shift may have taken out the Neanderthals

The same may have been true of the Denisovans, who interbred with Neanderthals. Only the offspring produced by such interbreeding between these two human species were likely sterile, therefore incapable of further reproduction to pass along the genetic code. However, Denisovans apparently had more success interbreeding with humans, as their DNA survives in some humans today such as Australian Aborigines and others.

This study is also significant because it’s the first time scientists have found human remains dating from this particular period, adding to our scant knowledge of this time period.

Related: Archaeologists discover 115,000-year-old bone engravings possibly created by Denisovans

“Until now, we hadn’t found any human remains with valid dating from this period in Israel,” Professor Israel Hershkovitz, head of the Dan David Center said. “So the group remains a mystery. This groundbreaking study contributes to the story of the population responsible for some of the world’s most important cultural contributions.”

In addition to the flute, which was made out of a vulture wing bone, the Aurignacian culture produced stone tools characterized by blades instead of flakes along with tools made of bones and antlers. The culture also produced cave art and figurines further defining it.

Genetic studies have previously proved useful in discovering yet another migration from Europe to the Levant around 35,000 years later during the 12th century BC that would have major influence on biblical history. After testing remains uncovered in the ancient city of Ashkelon, researchers found that Philistines, portrayed as villains in the Bible, came from Europe to settle in Israel, where they had confrontations with the Israelites. The European genes eventually disappeared over the centuries as the Philistines expanded their gene pool in the region.

These two discoveries are not only historic, but they are also examples of scientific advancement that has increased our knowledge of peoples and time periods through the ages. This knowledge can help us understand ourselves better today. As technology improves, it’s only a matter of time.

Related: Oldest human remains outside of Africa could push back the history of human evolution 100,000 years

More from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory:

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