"Human ancestors first set foot on the interior of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau around 30,000-40,000 years ago, according to new research by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). This new finding moves back the earliest data of habitation in the interior by 20,000 years or more." Source: Archaeology News Network.
This is an extremely harsh environment. Also known as High Asia, the plateau is called The Roof of the World because it has an average elevation of around 14,000 feet [1] and I can only imagine what it must have been like to try to survive there 20,000 years ago:
"...The high altitude, atmospheric hypoxia, cold year-round temperatures and low rainfall of the plateau creates an extremely challenging environment for human habitation. Archaeological evidence indicates [the plateau] was one of the last habitats colonized by Homo sapiens. Today, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is the third least-populous spot on the planet."
Note: I'm guessing that this recent news is one result of the archaeological work show in the first video above, but I could be wrong about that.
[1]Mt. Whitney in California, the highest peak in the contiguous United States, is a little over 14,000 feet high.
"It is a place unlike any other and is, arguably, one of the greatest art galleries anywhere in the world. Yet you won't find masterpieces in the traditional sense here, with no Rembrandts, Monets, or Da Vinci’s anywhere in sight." Source: Siberian Times (2014).
"Instead, this is the Russian Altai mountain range, where art exists in its most natural sense, carved into the rocks by ancient civilizations 5,000 years ago.
"Located in Siberia, at its borders with China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, it is home to literally thousands of petroglyphs and drawings that continue to fascinate archaeologists today. Experts have been studying the area for more than a century, with each expedition deep into the heart of the valleys and gorges uncovering more fingerprints of the past."
Imagine what it must have taken to survive in this wilderness back in 11,000 - 6,000 BC when the earliest rock art in the area was created.
"The Siberian unicorn – long believed to have died out 350,000 years ago – was actually still alive as recently as 29,000 years ago, according to the analysis of a well-preserved skull found in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan." Source: RT.
"Unicorn enthusiasts will be disappointed to learn that the extinct creature – also known as Elasmotherium sibiricum – had more in common with rhinos or woolly mammoths than fictional unicorns, however."
Note: "The [Siberian] unicorn, Elasmotherium sibiricum, was shaggy and huge and looked just like a modern rhino, only it carried the most almighty horn on its forehead." Source: Science Alert.
"According to early descriptions, the Siberian unicorn stood at roughly 2 metres (6.6 feet) tall, was 4.5 metres (14.7 feet) long, and weighed about 4 tonnes.
"That's closer to woolly mammoth-sized than horse-sized. Despite its very impressive stature, the unicorn probably was a grazer that ate mostly grass."
"In 2015, the frozen remains of two newborn P. spelaea cubs were found by researchers in Pleistocene-age permafrost in the Russian republic of Yakutia, Eastern Siberia. A third youngster was discovered in the same region in 2017, during mining works. The three small cubs were preserved in such pristine condition that scientists brought de-extinction [1] talks to the table." Source: The Vintage News (2018). More information here.
[1] De-extinction, aka resurrection biology or species revivalism, is a proposed process for bringing back extinct species or reviving endangered species, usually by cloning.
According to Wikipedia, the two cubs unearthed in 2015, "estimated to be between 25,000 and 55,000 years old, were discovered close to the Uyandina River in Yakutia, Siberia in permafrost. Research results indicate that the cubs were likely barely a week old at the time of their deaths, as their milk teeth had not fully erupted. Further evidence shows the cubs were hidden at a den site until they were old enough to join the pride. Researchers think that the cubs were trapped and killed by a landslide, and that without air, the cubs were preserved in such good condition. A second expedition to the site where the cubs were found was planned for 2016, in hopes of finding either the remains of a third cub or possibly the cubs' mother."
A third well-preserved cave lion cub was discovered at a different location in 2017. According to the Siberian Times (Nov. 2017), "[t]he prehistoric animal was found in permafrost on the bank of Tirekhtykh River of the Abyisky district of Yakutia by a local resident Boris Berezhnov." The remains, thought to be around 50,000 years old, are also so well-preserved that there has been talk of trying to clone the animal.
Note: Chirpy pop-science presenters are an abomination.
One part of the story which is missing from most of the mass media reports is that the third "cave lion cub" may not be a cave lion after all:
"A Russian man hunting for mammoth tusks in Eastern Siberia made an unexpected discovery in September: the incredibly furry, slightly squished mummy of a cat from the last ice age. Scientists are celebrating the rare discovery, but they're not certain on one major point — whether the mummy is a cave lion cub or a lynx kitten, paleontologists told Live Science." Source: Live Science (2017). It's possible that the cub is a prehistoric Eurasian lynx. I'm not sure where the question stands as of Oct. 2018.
Cloning these cave lions or lynxes or whatever they were probably isn't possible, at least in the foreseeable future, according to several experts quoted by Live Science.
"The genetic variation within the Scythian nomad group is so broad that it must be explained with the group assimilating people it came in contact with. This is shown in a new study on Bronze and Iron Age genetics of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, situated in the Black Sea region." Source: Science Daily.
"...The vast area of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe region has worked as a motor for demographic events throughout Eurasia, especially in the western part of the meta-continent. Crucial events in European history and prehistory can be traced back to people of the Steppe. Including the invention of horseback riding, chariots, a new type of warfare and the spread of Indo-European languages [1]."
Note: "Professor Mallory's research has focused on Early Neolithic and Bronze AgeEurope, the problem of the homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, and the archaeology of early Ireland. He favors an integrative approach to these issues, comparing literary, linguistic and archaeological evidence to solve historical puzzles." Source: Wikipedia.
Comment: Forget about Africa. Even if modern humans did evolve there, and I'm still not convinced that's what actually happened, the Eurasian Steppe is a much more important region when it comes to the early history of the human race. The prehistoric cultures that developed in the area north of the Black Sea migrated all over the world (see map). The Indo-Europeans spread west into Europe, southeast into the Indian subcontinent and China, east into the rest of Asia, and their descendants eventually migrated across the Bering Land Bridge into North America during the last ice age.
The history of Indo-European migrations is incredibly complex because it involves so many different disciplines -- linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, genetics -- and covers so much time and territory. According to the widely accepted Kurgan Hypothesis, the Pontic Steppe, a region that stretches from the north of the Black Sea to the northeast of the Caspian Sea, was probably the Indo-European homeland, i.e. the locus for all these population movements. As far as Europeans are concerned, it's reasonable to say that the Eurasian Steppe is where we came from. Everything that happened before the region was originally settled seems more or less incidental.
"The Periplus Maris Erythraei (or ‘Voyage around the Erythraean Sea’ [the modern Red Sea]) is an anonymous work from around the middle of the first century CE written by a Greek speaking Egyptian merchant." (Source: Washington University) The document describes "the maritime trade-routes following the north-south axis from Egypt down the coast of East Africa as far as modern day Tanzania" and "the routes of the east-west axis running from Egypt, around the Arabian Peninsula and past the Persian Gulf on the west coast of India." The complete translation of this fascinating resource on the ancient sea trade can be found here. A detailed map of the Erythraean Sea in the 1st Century can be found here.
Note:The Aphrodite of Knidos is the "first monumental female nude in classical sculpture," according to the University of Chicago. The Amores, a Greek dialog attributed to the rhetorician and satirist Lucian [~125-180 AD], but probably written by someone else, describes a visit to view the statue in its temple at Knidos:
"...we entered the temple. In the midst thereof sits the goddess -- she's a most beautiful statue of Parian marble -- arrogantly smiling a little as a grin parts her lips. Draped by no garment, all her beauty is uncovered and revealed, except in so far as she unobtrusively uses one hand to hide her private parts. So great was the power of the craftsman's art that the hard unyielding marble did justice to every limb....The temple had a door on both sides for the benefit of those also who wish to have a good view of the goddess from behind, so that no part of her be left unadmired. It's easy therefore for people to enter by the other door and survey the beauty of her back. And so we decided to see all of the goddess and went round to the back of the precinct. Then, when the door had been opened by the woman responsible for keeping the keys, we were filled with an immediate wonder for the beauty we beheld."-- Amores, Pseudo-Lucian.
"The slashed and punctured bones of a woolly mammoth suggest that humans lived in the far northern reaches of Siberia earlier than scientists had previously thought, a new study finds." Source: Live Science (2016).
The biography of Jesus is so sketchy that it leaves a lot of room for speculation about where he spent his missing years. For instance, according to one theory he not only studied in Japan before he began his ministry, but actually died there as an old man decades after his supposed crucifixion.
"Most Christians believe that Jesus was born and died in the Middle East. However, there is a small group of people in Japan who believe a completely different story." Source: Ancient Origins.
"Some Japanese researchers think that Jesus’ history is different from what is generally believed. This alternative version of Christ’s story was forgotten until 1935, when Kiyomaro Takeuchi (Takenouchi) reportedly discovered an ancient document in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan. The text of the manuscript presented a shocking tale. It says that Jesus was buried in Herai Village in the Aomori district in Japan."
According to this theory, Jesus wasn't actually crucified. When he was in his twenties, he traveled to Japan, studied there for 12 years or so, then returned to the Middle East and started preaching as described in the New Testament. When he was sentenced to be crucified, however, his brother took his place on the cross, something that the Roman and Jewish authorities didn't notice for some reason. Maybe Jesus and his brother were twins; I'm not really sure. At any rate, Jesus then went back to Japan and eventually died there -- for real this time -- at the age of 106.
This story seems unlikely on the face of it, but I guess it's no more unbelievable than the idea that Jesus could control the weather, walk on water, heal the sick, turn water into wine, drive out demons, raise the dead or come back from the dead himself. If the story's true, though, it would mean that Jesus must've spent years on the road, crossing entire continents back in a time when travel was not only slow, but extremely hazardous.
The people who believe that Jesus went to Japan never seem to consider what that would involve. If Jesus traveled to Japan to study, came back to Israel, then returned to Japan after his "crucifixion," he would've had to cross (and recross) a huge amount of territory. According to DistanceFromTo, the air-travel distance from Israel to Japan is 5,656 miles. That means that Jesus must've covered at least 16,968 miles in all his travels between east and west.
Was such an incredible journey even possible back then? As it turns out, it was -- at least in theory.
According to The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "Long-distance trade played a major role in the cultural, religious, and artistic exchanges that took place between the major centers of civilization in Europe and Asia during antiquity. Some of these trade routes had been in use for centuries, but by the beginning of the first century A.D., merchants, diplomats, and travelers could (in theory) cross the ancient world from Britain and Spain in the west to China and Japan in the east."
Technically, a journey like this would've been possible in the first century when Jesus supposedly lived. He could've traveled by land or sea, or maybe both, following the silk, spice and incense routes. This would've been a grueling, dangerous and time-consuming journey, to say the least, and according to the theory that Jesus died in Japan, he would've had to have made the trip three times,something that seems almost as miraculous as the rest of the New Testament stories combined.