3,300 Year Old Prophecy Shrines Found in Armenia

Archaeologists have unearthed three shrines dating back around 3,300 years in Armenia.

Discovered in a hilltop fortress in Gegharot, Armenia, experts believe that the shrines were used by rulers at the time to make predictions about the future.

Each of the shrines consisted of a solitary room which contained a clay basin full of ash and ceramic vessels, Live Science reported.

Artifacts such as stamp seals, clay figures and animal bones — knucklebones of cows, sheep and goats — with markings were found at the locations.

It is thought by the discoverers, Adam Smith of Cornell University and Cornell graduate Jeffrey Leon, that the rulers and mystics may have burned some of the items and imbibed in alcohol to blur their minds during the divination practices.

Smith and Leon recently wrote in the American Journal of Archaeology: “The logic of divination presumes that variable pathways articulate the past, present and future, opening the possibility that the link between a current situation and an eventual outcome might be altered.

The duo found evidence of three different types of divination at the shrines, including osteomancy – the reading of the future through rituals involving burned animal bones.

 Source: Asbarez.com

From 100 years facts Projects

The first oil well in Baku was drilled by Ivan Mirzoev (Hovhannes Mirzoyan) in 1871.

Tiflis (Tbilisi) to the north – the capital of Georgia today – had been since the middle ages a not insignificant Armenian Diaspora centre, with an immense boom in terms of society, culture, and politics in the 19th century. Baku to the east – the capital of Azerbaijan today – took that 19th century and ran with it well into the 20th, turning that city into a major economic powerhouse of the Diaspora, with some politics and culture thrown in as well.

The Armenian presence in Baku took shape in the early-to-mid-1800s, as the Russian Empire expanded into the region on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Oil drove development on the Absheron peninsula where Baku is located. It was Armenian entrepreneurs that really got the oil industry going, alongside Russians and Europeans certainly, as well as local inhabitants. Big names such as Mirzoev, who was the first to successfully drill for oil in 1871, or Mantashev, Lianozov, Tsaturov, or Adamov, turned into some of the wealthiest individuals of their generation, competing with the Rothschilds and the Nobels, to name just two other players in the Baku oil fields.

Interest came from the emerging Armenian bourgeoisie in other places at first, with home-grown Armenians slowly becoming a part of the fabric of the city in the years that followed. Baku ended up with at least three Armenian churches and a number of schools. In general, the very first publications of books and newspapers in that city took place through the efforts of Armenians, as was the establishment of the first library. A number of iconic works of architecture of that city – public buildings, private residences – were commissioned or designed by Armenians in the late 19th and early 20th century.

All was not always well, one must note. The 1900s and 1910s especially saw inter-ethnic clashes on more than one occasion, following the general instability arising from the Russian Empire’s own internal troubles – and foreshadowing similar events as the USSR would collapse decades later.

Meanwhile, Baku was renowned for its cosmopolitanism. One indication of that was the Baku Commune of the 26 Commissars from different backgrounds, led by Stepan Shahumyan, that briefly ruled the area in the chaotic aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. They were displaced by another multi-ethnic group, likewise including Armenians, before the Ottoman and British occupations, followed ultimately by Sovietisation.

It was during the Soviet years that the many citizens of that city forged a new Bakuvian identity – Russian-speaking and secular – which included hundreds of thousands of Armenians. As the movement for Nagorno-Karabakh turned violent and in particular following the pogroms of the Armenians of Baku in 1990, a majority of the Armenians that had made that city their home for three or four generations fled to Armenia, to Russia, and to the West. There are estimations from hundreds up to tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians still living in Baku and elsewhere in Azerbaijan, mostly those married to Azerbaijanis. But given the tense political situation in the region, free expressions of Armenian identity are severely limited in that country today.

A brief history of Iran/American Relations from the 1953 Iranian coup to today's open letter by U.S. senators to Iran.

Give war a chance

By Jack Neworth on March 13, 2015 in Laughing Matters

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In 1969, John Lennon wrote “Give Peace a Chance” and it soon became an anthem for the anti-Vietnam War movement. But for the past 14 years we’ve been in seemingly endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And now forces are gathering, including 47 reckless U.S. senators, apparently itching for one in Iran.

Disturbingly, however, not enough people seem upset by the state of permanent war. Why? Probably because only 1 percent of us serve in the military. So for the 99 percent, the most pressing issue may be: Do we or do we not buy an Apple watch?

The senators in question, or, as I affectionately call them, “The Gang of 47,” in an unprecedented act, recently wrote an open letter to Iran’s leaders. They essentially knee-capped President Obama’s delicate and high-stakes negotiations with Iran over their nuclear capabilities. (Obama was in Santa Monica yesterday, but we somehow didn’t get together.)

Can you imagine if Democratic senators had written Saddam, interfering with Bush’s negotiations prior to the Iraq War? Rush Limbaugh would have swallowed his cigar.

The infamous letter was authored by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a senator with 60 days of experience. The purpose was to explain our constitutional system to the Iranians. Give me a break.

The truth is these GOP hardliners don’t want a deal, and their hawkish Iranian counterparts don’t either. Talk about strange bedfellows. So if there’s no deal, what options are left?

If recent history is any judge, break out the missiles and get ready to ship boots on the ground. (Instead of bombs, why don’t we just drop boots on Iran. No soldiers, just boots.)

Recently, and in another unprecedented move designed to undermine Obama, House Speaker John Boehner invited Bibi Netanyahu to speak before Congress. Now the letter to the Ayatollahs. What some folks won’t do to get a war.

In the meantime, Daily Press reader Harley Frankel, a landsman and apparently highly accomplished in government, was “horrified” by my column last week about Bibi. Reading between the lines, I gather he’s a little miffed. All I can say is, at least he spelled my name right.

Digressing for a moment, let’s go back to the buildup to the Iraq invasion. The neocons came up with a cockamamie “enriched uranium in Niger” story. It was based on a forged document signed by Niger officials, some of whom hadn’t been in office for 10 years.

Or how about the infamous Iraqi “mobile weapons labs” that were actually helium trucks to fill balloons for children’s birthday parties. And, of course, the granddaddy of the Bush administration fabrications, the non-existent WMDs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vehemently assured us, “We know exactly where the WMDs are!” Of course, Rumsfeld also said, “The war could last six days, maybe six weeks, but certainly not six months.” He was only off by about 10,000 percent.

And who can forget “Curveball,” the alleged Iraqi spy who was the seemingly lone source for the Bush administration’s intelligence. The German government warned us Curveball was an alcoholic schizophrenic. But, much like his doppelganger Alfred E. Newman, did W. worry?

Well, the neocons got their disastrous Iraq War. But they never apologized to the nation, especially the families of the 4,491 dead GIs and to the wounded, not to mention to the 100,000 innocent dead Iraqis. Instead of begging forgiveness or going into hiding, they’re relentless in their punditry, seemingly determined for a third war. (On the theory that three’s the charm?)

As for Iran, let’s not forget that in 1953 the CIA helped stage a coup of the country’s democratically elected president. (Is that all?) Imagine how we’d feel if the Iranians did that to us. In the meantime, if anyone can cite when Democrats “knee-capped” a president during delicate foreign policy negotiations, feel free to send me the specifics.

The GOP, however, has a nagging history of “interfering.” In 1968, Nixon reportedly undermined LBJ’s Paris Vietnam peace proposal. Through back channels he allegedly promised the South Vietnamese they’d get a better deal from his “secret peace plan.” (So secret the war didn’t end for seven more years.)

In 1980 there was also the “October Surprise.” Allegedly, Reagan’s emissaries encouraged the Iranians not to release the American hostages until after the November election. (Reagan also wound up admitting that he had traded weapons for those hostages. Imagine if Obama did that. Yikes!)

But somehow, as a country, we seem to just love war. (Google “U.S. wars.”) And when it comes to bombs and missiles, we make the world’s best. (We’re not so great at education, quality of life, infant mortality or solving our epidemic childhood hunger.)

To Harley, I’m sorry you were horrified by my Bibi column. Personally, I’m horrified by the thought of war with Iran. So it is, I miss John Lennon more than ever.

Evidence shows that The Armenian race goes to 4 to 5000 years ago.

Date of Armenia’s Birth, Given in 5th Century, Gains Credence

By NICHOLAS WADEMARCH 10, 2015

Movses Khorenatsi, a historian in the fifth century, wrote that his nativeArmenia had been established in 2492 B.C., a date usually regarded as legendary though he claimed to have traveled to Babylon and consulted ancient records. But either he made a lucky guess or he really did gain access to useful data, because a new genomic analysis suggests that his date is entirely plausible.

Geneticists have scanned the genomes of 173 Armenians from Armenia and Lebanon and compared them with those of 78 other populations from around the world. They found that the Armenians are a mix of ancient populations whose descendants now live in Sardinia, Central Asia and several other regions. This formative mixture occurred from 3000 to 2000 B.C., the geneticists calculated, coincident with Movses Khorenatsi’s date for the founding of Armenia.

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Toward the end of the Bronze Age, when the mixture was in process, there was considerable movement of peoples brought about by increased trade, warfare and population growth. After 1200 B.C., the Bronze Age civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean suddenly collapsed, an event that seems to have brought about the isolation of Armenians from other populations. No significant mixing with other peoples after that date can be detected in the genomes of living Armenians, the geneticists said.

The isolation was probably sustained by the many characteristic aspects of Armenian culture. Armenians have a distinctive language and alphabet, and the Armenian Apostolic Church was the first branch of Christianity to become established as a state religion, in A.D. 301, anticipating that by the Roman empire in A.D. 380.

The researchers also see a signal of genetic divergence that developed about 500 years ago between western and eastern Armenians. The date corresponds to the onset of wars between the Ottoman and Safavid dynasties and the division of the Armenian population between the Turkish and Persian empires.

“This DNA study confirms in general outline much of what we know about Armenian history,” said Hovann Simonian, a historian of Armenia affiliated with the University of Southern California.

The geneticists’ team, led by Marc Haber and Chris Tyler-Smith of the Sanger Institute, near Cambridge in England, see long-isolated populations like that of the Armenians as a means of reconstructing population history.

Armenians share 29 percent of their DNA ancestry with Otzi, a man whose 5,300-year-old mummy emerged in 1991 from a melting Alpine glacier. Other genetically isolated populations of the Near East, like Cypriots, Sephardic Jews and Lebanese Christians, also share a lot of ancestry with the Iceman, whereas other Near Easterners, like Turks, Syrians andPalestinians, share less. This indicates that the Armenians and other isolated populations are closer than present-day inhabitants of the Near East to the Neolithic farmers who brought agriculture to Europe about 8,000 years ago.

The geneticists’ paper was posted last month on bioRxiv, a digital library for publishing scientific articles before they appear in journals. Dr. Tyler-Smith, the senior author of the genetics team, said he could not discuss their results for fear of jeopardizing publication in a journal that he did not name.