DNA study seeks origin of Appalachia’s Melungeons

Post 2.810

By TRAVIS LOLLER | Associated Press – Thu, May 24, 2012

This May 23, 2012 photo shows Jack Goins with an 1898 portrait of his step-great-great grandfather, George Washington Goins, and great-great grandmother, Susan Minor-Goins, at the Hawkins County Archives Project building in Rogersville, Tenn. Goins is of Melungeon descent and has researched Melungeon history for around 40 years. A new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy found that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — For years, varied and sometimes wild claims have been made about the origins of a group of dark-skinned Appalachian residents once known derisively as the Melungeons. Some speculated they were descended from Portuguese explorers, or perhaps from Turkish slaves or Gypsies.

Now a new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy attempts to separate truth from oral tradition and wishful thinking. The study found the truth to be somewhat less exotic: Genetic evidence shows that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin.

And that report, which was published in April in the peer-reviewed journal, doesn’t sit comfortably with some people who claim Melungeon ancestry.

Jack Goins poses with a photo dated to have been taken in 1898 of his step-great-great grandfather George Washington Goins, who died in 1817, left, and great-great grandmother, Susan Minor-Goins who died in 1813 at the Hawkins County Archives Project building Wednesday, May 23, 2012 in Rogersville, Tenn. Goins is of Melungeon descent and has researched Melungeon history for around 40 years. A new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy found that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

“There were a whole lot of people upset by this study,” lead researcher Roberta Estes said. “They just knew they were Portuguese, or Native American.”

Beginning in the early 1800s, or possibly before, the term Melungeon (meh-LUN’-jun) was applied as a slur to a group of about 40 families along the Tennessee-Virginia border. But it has since become a catch-all phrase for a number of groups of mysterious mixed-race ancestry.

In recent decades, interest in the origin of the Melungeons has risen dramatically with advances both in DNA research and in the advent of Internet resources that allow individuals to trace their ancestry without digging through dusty archives.

G. Reginald Daniel, a sociologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara who’s spent more than 30 years examining multiracial people in the U.S. and wasn’t part of this research, said the study is more evidence that race-mixing in the U.S. isn’t a new phenomenon.

Jack Goins poses the Hawkins County Archives Wednesday, May 23, 2012 in Rogersville, Tenn. Goins is of Melungeon descent and has researched Melungeon history for around 40 years. A new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy found that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

“All of us are multiracial,” he said. “It is recapturing a more authentic U.S. history.”

Estes and her fellow researchers theorize that the various Melungeon lines may have sprung from the unions of black and white indentured servants living in Virginia in the mid-1600s, before slavery.

They conclude that as laws were put in place to penalize the mixing of races, the various family groups could only intermarry with each other, even migrating together from Virginia through the Carolinas before settling primarily in the mountains of East Tennessee.

[Related: The blue Fugates of Kentucky]

Claims of Portuguese ancestry likely were a ruse they used in order to remain free and retain other privileges that came with being considered white, according to the study’s authors.

The study quotes from an 1874 court case in Tennessee in which a Melungeon woman’s inheritance was challenged. If Martha Simmerman were found to have African blood, she would lose the inheritance.

Her attorney, Lewis Shepherd, argued successfully that the Simmerman’s family was descended from ancient Phoenicians who eventually migrated to Portugal and then to North America.

Writing about his argument in a memoir published years later, Shepherd stated, “Our Southern high-bred people will never tolerate on equal terms any person who is even remotely tainted with negro blood, but they do not make the same objection to other brown or dark-skinned people, like the Spanish, the Cubans, the Italians, etc.”

In another lawsuit in 1855, Jacob Perkins, who is described as “an East Tennessean of a Melungeon family,” sued a man who had accused him of having “negro blood.”

In a note to his attorney, Perkins wrote why he felt the accusation was damaging. Writing in the era of slavery ahead of the Civil War, Perkins noted the racial discrimination of the age: “1st the words imply that we are liable to be indicted (equals) liable to be whipped (equals) liable to be fined … ”

Later generations came to believe some of the tales their ancestors wove out of necessity.

Jack Goins, who has researched Melungeon history for about 40 years and was the driving force behind the DNA study, said his distant relatives were listed as Portuguese on an 1880 census. Yet he was taken aback when he first had his DNA tested around 2000. Swabs taken from his cheeks collected the genetic material from saliva or skin cells and the sample was sent to a laboratory for identification.

“It surprised me so much when mine came up African that I had it done again,” he said. “I had to have a second opinion. But it came back the same way. I had three done. They were all the same.”

[Related: Bigfoot and Yeti DNA study gets serious]

In order to conduct the larger DNA study, Goins and his fellow researchers — who are genealogists but not academics — had to define who was a Melungeon.

In recent years, it has become a catchall term for people of mixed-race ancestry and has been applied to about 200 communities in the eastern U.S. — from New York to Louisiana.

Among them were the Montauks, the Mantinecocks, Van Guilders, the Clappers, the Shinnecocks and others in New York. Pennsylvania had the Pools; North Carolina the Lumbees, Waccamaws and Haliwas and South Carolina the Redbones, Buckheads, Yellowhammers, Creels and others. In Louisiana, which somewhat resembled a Latin American nation with its racial mixing, there were Creoles of the Cane River region and the Redbones of western Louisiana, among others.

The latest DNA study limited participants to those whose families were called Melungeon in the historical records of the 1800s and early 1900s in and around Tennessee’s Hawkins and Hancock Counties, on the Virginia border some 200 miles northeast of Nashville.

The study does not rule out the possibility of other races or ethnicities forming part of the Melungeon heritage, but none were detected among the 69 male lines and 8 female lines that were tested. Also, the study did not look for later racial mixing that might have occurred, for instance with Native Americans.

Goins estimates there must be several thousand descendants of the historical Melungeons alive today, but the study only examined unbroken male and female lines.

The origin of the word Melungeon is unknown, but there is no doubt it was considered a slur by white residents in Appalachia who suspected the families of being mixed race.

“It’s sometimes embarrassing to see the lengths your ancestors went to hide their African heritage, but look at the consequences” said Wayne Winkler, past president of the Melungeon Heritage Association. “They suffered anyway because of the suspicion.”

The DNA study is ongoing as researchers continue to locate additional Melungeon descendants.

___

Associated Press Writer Cain Burdeau contributed to this story from New Orleans, La.

Wampum

Post 2.809

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and others.

Wampum
Borough
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Lawrence
Coordinates	40°53′19″N 80°20′23″W / 40.88861°N 80.33972°W / 40.88861; -80.33972
Area	1.0 sq mi (3 km2)
– land	0.9 sq mi (2 km2)
– water	0.1 sq mi (0 km2)
Population	717 (2010)
Density	796.7 / sq mi (308 / km2)
Established	1796
Mayor	Jeff Steffler
Timezone	EST (UTC-4)
– summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-5)
Area code	724
Location of Wampum in Lawrence County

Wampum are traditional sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam. Woven belts of wampum have been created to commemorate treaties or historical events, and for exchange in personal social transactions, such as marriages. In colonial North America, European colonists often used wampum as currency for trading with Native Americans

Quahog and whelk wampum made by Elizabeth James Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag/Eastern Band Cherokee), c. 2009

Description and manufactureThe term initially referred to only the white beads, which are made of the inner spiral, or columella, of the Channeled whelk shell, Busycotypus canaliculatus or Busycotypus carica. Sewant or suckauhock beads are the black or purple shell beads made from the quahog or poquahock clamshell, Mercenaria mercenaria. Common terms for the dark and white beads, often confused, are wampi (white) and saki (dark).

The white beads are made from the inner spiral of the channeled whelk shell.

In the area of present New York Bay, the clams and whelks used for making wampum are found only along Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. The Lenape name for Long Island is Sewanacky, reflecting its connection to the dark wampum.

: http://nmaie-newservice.com/v2i4/photos.html

Typically wampum beads are tubular in shape, often a quarter of an inch long and an eighth inch wide. One 17th-century Seneca wampum belt featured beads almost 2.5 inches (65 mm) long.Women artisans traditionally made wampum beads by rounding small pieces of the shells of whelks, then piercing them with a hole before stringing them.

Wooden pump drills with quartz drill bits and steatite weights were used to drill the shells. The unfinished beads would be strung together and rolled on a grinding stone with water and sand, until they were smooth. The beads would be strung or woven on deer hide thongs, sinew, milkweed bast, or basswood fibers.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/30300/30396/wampum_30396.htm

 Origin

The term “wampum” is a shortening of the earlier word “wampumpeag”, which is derived from the Massachusett or Narragansett word meaning “white strings [of shell beads]”. The Proto-Algonquian reconstructed form is *wa·p-a·py-aki, “white-string-plural.

In New York, wampum beads have been discovered that date from before 1510.The Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace, the founding constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, was codified in a series of wampum belts, now held by the Onondaga Nation. The oral history of the Haudenosaunee says that Ayenwatha, a cannibal who was reformed by the Great Peacemaker, invented wampum to comfort himself. The Peacemaker uses wampum to record and relay messages.The League of the Iroquois was founded, according to some estimates, in 1142. Others place its origin as likely in the 15th or 16th centuries.

library.thinkquest.org

The introduction of European metal tools revolutionized the production of wampum; by the mid-seventeenth century production numbered in the tens of millions of beads.Upon discovering the importance of wampum as a unit of exchange among tribes, Dutch colonists mass-produced wampum in workshops. John Campbell established such a factory in Passaic, New Jersey, which manufactured wampum into the early 20th century.

http://www.buffalocarvings.com

 Uses

Wampum is used to mark exchanges for engagement, marriage, and betrothal agreements, as well as for ceremony and condolence ceremonies. In earlier centuries, Lenape girls would wear wampum to show their eligibility for marriage. After marriage had been arranged, a Lenape suitor would give his fiancé and her family gifts of wampum.

http://www.library.upenn.edu

Perhaps because of its origin as a memory aid, loose beads were not considered to be high in value. Rather it is the belts in total that are wampum. Belts of wampum were not produced until after European contact. A typically large belt of six feet (2 m) in length might contain 6000 beads or more. More importantly, such a belt would be very sacred, as it contained so many memories. Wampum belts were used as a memory aid in Oral tradition, where the wampum was a token representing a memory. Belts were also sometimes used as badges of office or as ceremonial devices of indigenous culture, such as the Iroquois. They were traded widely to tribes in Canada, the Great Lakes region, and the mid-Atlantic.

http://maddiesancestorsearch.blogspot.com/2011/01/wampum_24.html

 Currency

When Europeans came to the Americas, they realized the importance of wampum to Native people. While the Native people did not use it as money, the New England colonies used it as a medium of exchange. Soon, they were trading with the native peoples of New England and New York using wampum. The New England colonies demonetized wampum in 1663. Meanwhile it continued as currency in New York at the rate of eight white or four black wampum equalling one stuiver until 1673. The colonial government issued a proclamation setting the rate at six white or three black to one penny. This proclamation also applied in New Jersey and Delaware. The black shells were considered worth more than the white shells, which led people to dye the latter, and diluted the value of the shells. The ultimate basis for their value was their redeemability for pelts from the Native Americans. As Native Americans became reluctant to exchange pelts for the shells, the shells lost value.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6423

Their use as common currency was phased out in New York by the early 18th century. Shinnecock oral history ascribed the wampum market demise to a deadly red tide that decimated the whelk and quahog populations.

With stone tools, the process to make wampum was labor intensive. Only the coastal nations had sufficient access to the basic shells to make wampum. These factors increased its scarcity and consequent value among the European traders. Dutch colonists began to manufacture wampum and eventually the primary source of wampum was that manufactured by colonists, a market the Dutch glutted.

http://www.buffalocarvings.com

Writing about tribes in Virginia in 1705, Robert Beverley, Jr. of Virginia Colony describes peak as referring to the white shell bead, valued at 9 pence a yard, and wampom peak as denoting specifically the more expensive dark purple shell bead, at the rate of 18 pence per yard. He says that these polished shells with drilled holes are made from the cunk (conch), while another currency of lesser value, called roenoke was fashioned from the cockleshell.

http://www.wampumchronicles.com/

 Transcription

Wampum belt given to William Penn at the “Great Treaty” in 1682

The American William James Sidis wrote in his 1935 history;

“The weaving of wampum belts is a sort of writing by means of belts of colored beads, in which the various designs of beads denoted different ideas according to a definitely accepted system, which could be read by anyone acquainted with wampum language, irrespective of what the spoken language is. Records and treaties are kept in this manner, and individuals could write letters to one another in this way.

http://www.ganondagan.org/wampum.html

Wampum is also used for storytelling. The symbols used told a story in the oral tradition or spoken word. Since there was no written language, wampum was a very important means of keeping records and passing down stories to the next generation. Wampum was durable and so could be carried over a long distance.

 Recent developments

The National Museum of the American Indian repatriated eleven wampum belts to Haudenosaunee chiefs at the Onondaga Longhouse Six Nations Reserve in New York. Sacred to the Longhouse religion, these belts dated to the late 18th century. They had been away from their tribes for over a century.

http://islandalpaca.com/product_detail.php?p_id=219

Cayuga, Shinnecock, Wampanoag, and other Northeastern Woodland tribes still use wampum today. The Seneca Nation commissioned replicas of five historic wampum belts completed in 2008. Artists continue to weave belts of a historical nature as well as designing original belts based on contemporary concepts.

 Symbolic use

Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy

The flag of the Iroquois Confederacy is a wampum-belt design. Wampum is also part of the Coat of arms of New Brunswick.

WAMPUM LEG TIES  http://calicojacks.freehomepage.com/whats_new.html

 

Caral

Post 2.808

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia amd others.

 http://www.labyrinthina.com/caral.htm

Caral, or Caral-Supe, was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. Caral is the most ancient city of the Americas, and is a well-studied site of the Caral civilization or Norte Chico civilization

Sacred City of Caral-Supe *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Pyramids of Caral
Country	Peru
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv
Reference	1269
Region **	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription	2009 (33rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

History

http://www.adtumi.com/f2/ENLACES/D1.htm

Caral was inhabited between roughly 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares. Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known.

 Archaeological findings

The Caral pyramids in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.

Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. Archaeologist Ruth Shady further explored the 5,000 year-old city of pyramids in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheater and ordinary houses.The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres (607,000 m²) and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at roughly the same time that Egypt’s great pyramids were being built.

http://culturaspre-incaicas-2dogrado.blogspot.com/2010/11/caral.html

 Pirámide Mayor

The main pyramid (Spanish: Pirámide Mayor) covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet (18 m) tall. Caral is the largest recorded site in the Andean region with dates older than 2000 BCE and appears to be the model for the urban design adopted by Andean civilizations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia. It is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of Andean civilizations and the development of the first cities.

: http://www.arqueologiadelperu.com.ar/caral.htm

Among the artifacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labeled a quipu. They argue that the artifact is evidence that the quipu record keeping system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Evidence has emerged that the quipu may also have recorded logographic information in the same way writing does. Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.

http://www.arqueologiadelperu.com.ar/caral.htm

No trace of warfare has been found at Caral; no battlements, no weapons, no mutilated bodies. Shady’s findings suggest it was a gentle society, built on commerce and pleasure. In one of the pyramids, they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornets of deer and llama bones. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads.

They also found evidence of drug use and possibly aphrodisiacs. One theory suggests that the coca they found may be evidence that Caral sprung up as an organized coca growing and distribution centre.

 http://www.arqueologiadelperu.com.ar/caral.htm

Caral spawns 19 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile (80 km²) area of the Supe Valley. The find of the quipu indicates that the later Inca civilization preserved some cultural continuity from the Caral civilization. The date of 2627 BCE is based on carbon dating reed and woven carrying bags that were found in situ. These bags were used to carry the stones that were used for the construction of the pyramids. The material is an excellent candidate for dating, thus allowing for a high precision. The site may date even earlier as samples from the oldest parts of the excavation have yet to be dated. The town had a population of approximately 3000 people. But there are 19 other sites in the area (posted at Caral), allowing for a possible total population of 20,000 people for the Supe valley. All of these sites in the Supe valley share similarities with Caral. They had small platforms or stone circles. Shady (2001) believes that Caral was the focus of this civilization, which itself was part of an even vaster complex, trading with the coastal communities and the regions further inland – as far as the Amazon, if the depiction of monkeys is any indication.

Panorama of Caral Site

360° Panorama of Caral

 Musical Instruments

Another notable find on the site was a collection of musical instruments, including 37 coronets made of deer and llama bones and 33 flutes of unusual construction.The flutes were radiocarbon dated to 2170±90 BCE.

http://www.wallpaperstravel.com/view/caral-lima-peru-1024×768-travel.html

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.absolut-peru.com/la-mayor-exposicion-sobre-la

http://rutasdechaski.blogspot.com/2011/01/fin-de-semana-en-barranca.html

http://4aguila.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/naturaleza-humana/

Quipu

Post 2.807

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and others.

An example of a quipu from the Inca Empire, currently in the Larco Museum Collection

Quipus (or khipus), sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices historically used in the region of Andean South America. A quipu usually consisted of colored, spun, and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It could also be made of cotton cords. The cords contained numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Quipus might have just a few or up to 2,000 cords.

Archaeological evidence has shown that systems similar to the quipu were in use in the Andean region from c. 3000 BC. They subsequently played a key part in the administration of Tahuantinsuyu, the empire controlled by the Incan ethnic group, which flourished across the Andes from c. 1450 to 1532 AD. As the region was subsumed under the invading Spanish Empire, the use of the quipu faded from use, to be replaced by European writing systems. However, in several villages, quipu continued to be important items for the local community, albeit for ritual rather than recording use.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/25400/25484/quipu_25484.htm

Quipu is the Spanish spelling and the most common spelling in English. Khipu (pronounced [ˈkʰipu]) is the word for “knot” in Cusco Quechua (the native Inca language); the kh is an aspirated k. In most Quechua varieties, the term is kipu.

Etymology

The word “khipu”, meaning “knot” or “to knot”, comes from the Quechua language, the “lingua franca and language of administration” of Tahuantinsuyu.

“The khipu were knotted-string devices that were used for recording both statistical and narrative information, most notably by the Inka but also by other peoples of the central Andes from pre-Inkaic times, through the colonial and republican eras, and even – in a considerably transformed and attenuated form – down to the present day.”

http://threesixty360.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/tax-math-inca-style/

Archaeologist Gary Urton, 2003.

 Purpose

Most information recorded on the quipus consists of numbers in a decimal system.^[3]

In the early years of the Spanish conquest of Peru, Spanish officials often relied on the quipus to settle disputes over local tribute payments or goods production. Spanish chroniclers also concluded that quipus were used primarily as mnemonic devices to communicate and record numerical information. Quipucamayocs could be summoned to court, where their bookkeeping was recognised as valid documentation of past payments.

Some of the knots, as well as other features, such as color, are thought to represent non-numeric information, which has not been deciphered. It is generally thought that the system did not include phonetic symbols analogous to letters of the alphabet. However Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.

To date, no link has yet been found between a quipu and Quechua, the native language of the Peruvian Andes. This suggests that quipus are not a glottographic writing system and have no phonetic referent. Frank Salomon at the University of Wisconsin has argued that quipus are actually a semasiographic language, a system of representative symbols—such as music notation or numerals—that relay information but are not directly related to the speech sounds of a particular language. The Khipu Database Project (KDP), begun by Gary Urton, may have already decoded the first word from a quipu—the name of a village, Puruchuco, which Urton believes was represented by a three-number sequence, similar to a ZIP code. If this conjecture is correct, quipus are the only known example of a complex language recorded in a 3-D system.

http://peruvianpathways.wordpress.com/page/3/

System

Numeral systems by culture
Hindu-Arabic numerals
Western Arabic (Hindu numerals) Eastern Arabic Indian family Tamil	Burmese Khmer Lao Mongolian Thai
East Asian numerals
Chinese Japanese Suzhou	Korean Vietnamese Counting rods
Alphabetic numerals
Abjad Armenian Āryabhaṭa Cyrillic	Ge’ez Greek Georgian Hebrew
other historical systems
Aegean Attic Babylonian Brahmi Egyptian Etruscan Inuit	Kharosthi Mayan Quipu Roman
Positional systems by base
Decimal (10)
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24, 27, 30, 36, 60, 64
Balanced ternary
Non-positional system
Unary numeral system (Base 1)
List of numeral systems
v t e

: http://quipuapps.com/what-is-a-quipu/

Marcia and Robert Ascher, after having analyzed several hundred quipus, have shown that most information on quipus is numeric, and these numbers can be read. Each cluster of knots is a digit, and there are three main types of knots: simple overhand knots; “long knots”, consisting of an overhand knot with one or more additional turns; and figure-of-eight knots. In the Aschers’ system, a fourth type of knot—figure-of-eight knot with an extra twist—is referred to as “EE”. A number is represented as a sequence of knot clusters in base 10.

• Powers of ten are shown by position along the string, and this position is aligned between successive strands.
• Digits in positions for 10 and higher powers are represented by clusters of simple knots (e.g., 40 is four simple knots in a row in the “tens” position).
• Digits in the “ones” position are represented by long knots (e.g., 4 is a knot with four turns). Because of the way the knots are tied, the digit 1 cannot be shown this way and is represented in this position by a figure-of-eight knot.
• Zero is represented by the absence of a knot in the appropriate position.
• Because the ones digit is shown in a distinctive way, it is clear where a number ends. One strand on a quipu can therefore contain several numbers.

For example, if 4s represents four simple knots, 3L represents a long knot with three turns, E represents a figure-of-eight knot and X represents a space:

• The number 731 would be represented by 7s, 3s, E.
• The number 804 would be represented by 8s, X, 4L.
• The number 107 followed by the number 51 would be represented by 1s, X, 7L, 5s, E.

This reading can be confirmed by a fortunate fact: quipus regularly contain sums in a systematic way. For instance, a cord may contain the sum of the next n cords, and this relationship is repeated throughout the quipu. Sometimes there are sums of sums as well. Such a relationship would be very improbable if the knots were incorrectly read.

http://news.charlesayoub.com/index.php/article/5081/Quipu

Some data items are not numbers but what Ascher and Ascher call number labels. They are still composed of digits, but the resulting number seems to be used as a code, much as we use numbers to identify individuals, places, or things. Lacking the context for individual quipus, it is difficult to guess what any given code might mean. Other aspects of a quipu could have communicated information as well: color coding, relative placement of cords, spacing, and the structure of cords and sub-cords.

http://people.wku.edu/darlene.applegate/newworld/webnotes/unit_4/inca.html

Some have argued that far more than numeric information is present and that quipua are a writing system. This would be an especially important discovery as there is no surviving record of written Quechua predating the Spanish invasion. Possible reasons for this apparent absence of a written language include an actual absence of a written language, destruction by the Spanish of all written records, or the successful concealment by the Incan peoples of those records. Historians Edward Hyams and George Ordish believe quipus were recording devices, similar to musical notation, in that the notes on the page present basic information, and the performer would then bring those details to life.

 

In 2003, while checking the geometric signs that appear on drawings of Inca dresses from the First New Chronicle and Good Government, written by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in 1615, William Burns Glynn found a pattern that seems to decipher some words from quipus by matching knots to colors of strings.

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/lessons/indiv/nellie/quipu.html

The August 12, 2005, edition of the journal Science includes a report titled “Khipu Accounting in Ancient Peru” by anthropologist Gary Urton and mathematician Carrie J. Brezine. Their work may represent the first identification of a quipu element for a non-numeric concept, a sequence of three figure-of-eight knots at the start of a quipu that seems to be a unique signifier. It could be a toponym for the city of Puruchuco (near Lima), or the name of the quipu keeper who made it, or its subject matter, or even a time designator.

http://giacomoleopardi.provincia.venezia.it/Kenhir/quipu.htm

Beynon-Davies considers quipus as a sign system and develops an interpretation of their physical structure in terms of the concept of a data system.

 History

Tawantinsuyu

See also: Inca education

Representation of a quipu

Quipucamayocs (Quechua khipu kamayuq, “khipu-authority”), the accountants of Tawantinsuyu, created and deciphered the quipu knots. Quipucamayocs could carry out basic arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They kept track of mita, a form of taxation. The quipucamayocs also tracked the type of labor being performed, maintained a record of economic output, and ran a census that counted everyone from infants to “old blind men over 80”. The system was also used to keep track of the calendar. According to Guaman Poma, quipucamayocs could “read” the quipus with their eyes closed.

http://en.amigosprecolombino.es/activities/the-speaking-quipus-in-16th-century-peru-a-manuscript-revolutionises-the-history-of-the-tahuantinsuyu

Quipucamayocs were from a class of people, “males, fifty to sixty”, and were not the only members of Inca society to use quipus. Inca historians used quipus when telling the Spanish about Tahuantinsuyu history (whether they only recorded important numbers or actually contained the story itself is unknown). Members of the ruling class were usually taught to read quipus in the Inca equivalent of a university, the yacha-huasi (literally, “house of teaching”), in the third year of schooling, for the higher classes who would eventually become the bureaucracy.

http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/research/projects/DEPT1_463Loza-Quipu

 European invasion

In 1532, the Spanish Empire‘s conquest of the Andean region began, with several Spanish conquerors making note of the existence of quipus in their written records about the invasion. The earliest known example comes from Hernando Pizarro, the brother of the Spanish military leader Francisco Pizarro, who recorded an encounter that he and his men had in 1533 as they traveled along the royal road from the highlands to the central coast. It was during this journey that they encountered several quipu keepers, later relating that these keepers “untied some of the knots which they had in the deposits section [of the khipu], and they [re-]tied them in another section [of the khipu].

http://athahualpa.wordpress.com/over/

The Spanish authorities quickly suppressed the use of quipus.The conquistadors realized that the quipucamayocs often remained loyal to their original rulers rather than to the king of Spain, and quipucamayocs could lie about the contents of a message. The conquistadors were also attempting to convert the indigenous people to Roman Catholicism. Anything representing the Inca religion was considered idolatry and an attempt to disregard Catholic conversion. Many conquistadors considered quipus to be idolatrous and therefore destroyed many of them.

http://athahualpa.wordpress.com/over/

Continuing ritual use

Anthropologists and archaeologists working in Peru have highlighted two known cases where quipus have continued to be used by contemporary communities, albeit as ritual items seen as “communal patrimony” rather than as devices for recording information.

 Tupicocha, Peru

In 1994, the American cultural anthropologist Frank Salomon conducted a study in the Peruvian village of Tupicocha, where quipus are still an important part of the social life of the village. As of 1994, this was the only village where quipus with a structure similar to pre-Columbian quipus were still used for official local government record-keeping and functions, although the villagers did not associate their quipus with Inca artifacts

http://mathforum.org/mathimages/index.php/Quipu

 San Cristóbal de Rapaz, Peru

One of these is in the village of San Cristóbal de Rapaz, located in the Province of Oyón, where the local villagers, known as the Rapacinos, keep a quipu in an old ceremonial building, the Kaha Wayi, that is itself surrounded by a walled architectural complex. Also within the complex is a disused communal storehouse, known as the Pasa Qullqa, which was formerly used to protect and redistribute the local crops, and some Rapacinos believe that the quipe was once a record of this process of collecting and redistributing food. The entire complex was important to the villagers, being “the seat of traditional control over land use, and the centre of communication with the deified mountains who control weather”.

http://marciorps.sites.uol.com.br/mrps/PV2/cont/alb/alb_prn.html

In 2004, the archaeologist Renata Peeters (of the UCL Institute of Archaeology in London) and the cultural anthropologist Frank Salomon (of the University of Wisconsin) undertook a project to conserve both the quipus in Rapaz and the building that it was in, due to their increasingly poor condition.

 Archaeological investigation

The archaeologist Gary Urton noted in his 2003 book Signs of the Inka Khipu that he estimated “from my own studies and from the published works of other scholars that there are about 600 extant khipu in public and private collections around the world.

http://www.incaglossary.org/appc.html

According to the Khipu Database Project undertaken by Harvard professor Gary Urton and his colleague Carrie Brezine, 751 quipus have been reported to exist across the globe. Their whereabouts range from Europe to North and South America. Most are housed in museums outside of their native countries, however some reside in their native locations under the care of the descendants of those who made the mystery knot records. The largest collection of all is found in western Europe at the Berlin Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, Germany, with a reported 298 quipus. The next largest collection in Europe can be seen at the Museum für Völkerkunde in Munich. Pachacamacin Peru and the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia in Lima, Peru, each house 35 quipus and the Centro Mallqui in Leymebamba, Peru, holds a collection of 32. The Museo Temple Radicati, Lima, Peru, houses 26, the Museo de Ica, Ica, Peru, has 25 and the Museo Puruchuco, Ate, Peru, has 23. While patrimonial quipu collections have not been accounted for in this database, their numbers are likely to be unknown. One prominent patrimonial collection held by the Rapazians of Rapaz, Peru, was recently researched by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor, Frank Salomon. The Anthropology/Archaeology department at the University of California at Santa Barbara also holds one quipu.

 http://www.incaglossary.org/appc.html

 Preservation

Quipus are now preserved using techniques that will minimise their future degradation. Museums, archives and special collections have adopted preservation guidelines from textile practices. Quipus are made of fibers, either spun and plied threa such as wool or hair from camelids, such as alpacas, llamas and camels, or cellulose like cotton. The knotted strings of quipus were often made with an “elaborate system of knotted cords, dyed in various colors, the significance of which was known to the magistrates“. Fading of color, natural or dyed, cannot be reversed, and may indicate further damage to the fibers. Colors can darken if attacked by dust or by certain dyes and mordants. Quipus have been found with adornments, such as animal shells, attached to the cords, and these non-textile materials may require additional preservation measures.

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/research/quipu/

All textiles are damaged by ultraviolet (UV) light. This damage can include fading and weakening of the fibrous material. Environmental controls are used to monitor and control temperature, humidity and light exposure of storage areas. The heating, ventilating and air conditioning, or HVAC systems, of buildings that house quipu knot records are usually automatically regulated. Relative humidity should be 60% or lower, with low temperatures. High temperatures can damage the fibres and make them brittle. Damp conditions and high humidity can damage protein-rich material. As with all textiles, cool, clean, dry and dark environments are most suitable. When quipus are on display, their exposure to ambient conditions is usually minimized and closely monitored.

http://theabysmal.wordpress.com/tag/quipu/

Quipus are also closely monitored for mold, as well as insects and their larvae. As with all textiles, these are major problems. Fumigation may not be recommended for fiber textiles displaying mold or insect infestations, although it is common practice for ridding paper of mold and insects.

Damage can occur during storage. The more accessible the items are during storage, the greater the chance of early detection. Storing quipus horizontally on boards covered with a neutral pH paper (paper that is neither acid or alkaline) to prevent potential acid transfer is a preservation technique that extends the life of a collection. Extensive handling of quipus can also increase the risk of further damage. The fibers can be abraded by rubbing against each other or for those attached to sticks or rods by their own weight if held in an upright position.

http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/decodingquipumaths.htm

When Gary Urton, professor of Anthropology at Harvard, was asked “Are they [quipus] fragile?”, he answered, “some of them are, and you can’t touch them – they would break or turn into dust. Many are quite well preserved, and you can actually study them without doing them any harm. Of course, any time you touch an ancient fabric like that, you’re doing some damage, but these strings are generally quite durable.

http://jimrodslz.org/cultural_math/studentwork.htm

Ruth Shady, a Peruvian archeologist, has discovered a quipu or perhaps proto-quipu believed to be around 5,000 years old in the coastal city of Caral. It was in quite good condition, with “brown cotton strings wound around thin sticks”, along with “a series of offerings, including mysterious fiber balls of different sizes wrapped in ‘nets’ and pristine reed baskets. Piles of raw cotton – uncombed and containing seeds, though turned a dirty brown by the ages – and a ball of cotton thread” were also found preserved. The good condition of these articles can be attributed to the arid condition of the 11,500 feet (3,500 metres) elevated location of Caral.

http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientwriting/ss/undeciphered_4.htm

Even when people have tried to preserve quipus, corrective care may still be required. Conservators in the field of library science have the skills to handle a variety of situations. If quipus are to be conserved close to their place of origin, local camelid or wool fibres in natural colors can be obtained and used to mend breaks and splits in the cords. Even though some quipus have hundreds of cords, each cord should be assessed and treated individually. Quipu cords can be “mechanically cleaned with brushes, small tools and light vacuuming”. Just as the application of fungicides is not recommended to rid quipus of mold, neither is the use of solvents to clean them. Rosa Choque Gonzales and Rosalia Choque Gonzales, conservators from southern Peru, worked to conserve the Rapaz patrimonial quipus in the Andean village of Rapaz, Peru. These quipus had undergone repair in the past, so this conservator team used new local camelid and wool fibers to spin around the area under repair in a similar fashion to the earlier repairs found on the quipu.

Quipu : http://www.ancientscripts.com/quipu.html

Quick Facts Type Unknown Genealogy Quipu Location Americas > South America Time 2600 BCE to 1550 CE Direction Various Civilization in the New World has very deep and ancient roots. The first cities first sprang up in the bone-dry valleys of northern Peru’s coast in the 3rd millennium BCE, and then spread along the coast and up into the high Andes, leading to an incredible flowering of different cultures and empires through time. When the Spanish conquistadores encountered the Tahuantinsuyu, known to the modern world as the Inca Empire, they had stumbled upon the most politically sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture of the New World. There is still much to be learned about the Incas and their forebearers but one of the most intriguing mysteries is their writing systems, or the apparently lack thereof. Nothing like the written characters of the Old World or even of their distant northern neighbors in Mesoamerica have been recorded by the Spaniards nor discovered in the archaeological record. In other words, according to our definition, Andean cultures never developed writing. Or did they? One thing appearing in both Spanish chronicles as well as archaeological records is the quipu (also variously written as khipu and kipu), an accounting device based on ropes and knots. A single quipu is often several ropes tied together. At the simplest form, a “main” cord ties a number of “pendant” cords into a unit. This setup can repeat itself up to four levels deep. The main content of quipus are numbers, which are expressed by knots on a section of rope. Unlike our “Arabic” numbers which uses ten different symbols for each digit (0 to 9), quipu makers tied multiple knots in a tight sequence represent a “digit”. Digits can range from no knots (empty space) representing zero, to nine knots representing nine. For example, seven knots in a sequence equals the digit 7. Multiple sequences of knots represent “digits” that make up a number larger than ten. In other words, quipu was a positional ten-based numeric system that, instead of encoded in written symbols, is encoded in knots. In a positional number system, the position of where a “digit” occurs determines its actual value. For example, in the “Arabic” system, the digit 3 in the number 123 stands for the amount “three” because it is at the very end of the number. Mathematically, 3 x 100 = 3 x 1 = 3. On the other hand, in the number 321 the digit 3 stands for 300 because it is the third to the last digit (3 x 102 = 3 x 100 = 300). The position of the 3 determines its multiplier’s exponent. Similarly, the number 321 would be represented as three sequences of knots, the first one with three knots, the second with two knots, and the last one with one knot. However, there is a twist (pardon the pun). Three different kinds of knots are used in quipu. Commonly, the single knot (S) is used to represent the value of one except in the very last position (or digit). In the last position, two different knot types are used. The figure eight knot (E) represents the value one in the last digit, where as multiple four-turn long knots (L) represent values higher than one in the last position. In other words, the figure eight knot and the four-turn long knot are both used to signal the end of a number. From Spanish colonial sources, quipu was used as an accounting device employed by the Incan bureaucracy to record amount of goods, animals, and human resources moving through the empire. As such it was never considered a true writing system. However, some recent developments are challenging this notion. Literary Quipu In 1996 a manuscript called Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum came to light in Italy among the family possessions of a Naples historian. This document was supposedly written in the early 17th century by Jesuits and contains a fragment of quipu as well as an explanation of how quipu was used to encode spoken language. According to the manuscript, “ideograms” or symbols with well-known meaning from Incan art were used as either phonograms (to represent sounds) or logograms (to denote words). To represent a sound in this system, a symbol is woven at the beginning of a cord, followed by a number. The symbol is drawn from Andean iconography and would represent a well-known deity or a concept, and the number would point to which syllable of the word represented by the symbol to pronounce. One example given in the manuscript is a symbol for the god Pachamacac, which consists of the syllables pa, cha, ca, and mac. To represent the sound of pa, the quipu maker would weave the Pachacamac symbol followed by a knot for “one”, telling the reader to only read the first syllable of the word Pachacamac. It is also possible to represent paby weaving the symbol of Allpachamasca followed by two knots, meaning the second syllable should be read. It is also possible to represent a logogram in this system. If the woven symbol does not have any accompanying knots, then the symbol serves as a logogram that represent the entire word of the symbol’s meaning. Hence, for example, the Pachacamac symbol by itself on a quipu cord would read as pachacamac. This system of mixing symbols with numbers does not exactly mean that quipu is a full writing system, since it relies on non-quipu symbols. However, the same manuscript also describes a translation of these symbols to distinct numeric values, meaning that it is possible to completely represent a phonogram or logogram with a group of two quipu numbers. There is considerable controversy surrounding this manuscript both from its radical claims about well-known historical figures as well as unwillingness of the owner to allow more than one research team to examine and study it. Many well-respected scholars have cast doubt the authenticity of its content. Until substantial and independent studies have been done on this document, its revelations about literary quipu will be dubious. Inca Accounting Puruchuco was a major regional and administrative site in the central highlands of the Inca Empire. During excavations in the 1950’s a cache of quipu was discovered in an urn near the ruins of the palace. Its location suggested the house or office of a quipu keeper or quipucamayoq. Recent research into this collection of quipu showed that it contains some form of hierarchical accounting information. Each quipu contains many pendant numeric cords that represent numbers ranging from zero to the thousands. Based on the number of numeric cords, the quipus can be divided into three groups that the scholars labeled levels I, II, and III. A Puruchuco quipu can be divided into multiple sections based on bigger space between groups of pendant cords. Level I quipus have six sections, level II’s have three, and level III’s have only one. On all levels, these sections almost always have the same number of pendant numeric cords arranged in the same color pattern, implying that they all record the same set of goods (they may be number of llamas or bushels of corn, but there is no way for us to know). If one adds up numeric cords in the same position across different sections of a level I quipu, the sum is equal or very close to a single numeric cord in the same position in one section of a level II quipu. Similarly, level II numeric cords sum up to a single level III numeric cord. This tells us that the accounting information is being summarized at an increasingly higher level, with the level III quipus most likely representing the grand total of goods from the area administered by Puruchuco. It is very likely that level III quipus were meant to be sent to Cuzco for imperial bookkeeping. The following example are three segments from a level II cord (UR068) and a segment from a level III cord (UR067), laid out such that the summation of level II numbers match the values in the same relative positions on the level III cord. In addition, level II and III quipus also have what is called “introductory segments”, a number of pendant cords that appear before the numeric cords. In every introductory segment there is always a pendant cord that contains three figure eight (E) knots. If you recall from earlier, figure eight knots can only serve as the number one in the last digit of a quipu number, so a sequence of three figure eight knots is clearly not a number. Instead, it is argued that their appearance on level II and III quipus (which are possibly bound for the central government) imply that the sequence is a “toponym”, an place identifier for Puruchuco. The three figure eight knots representing Puruchuco is the first non-numeric information identified from quipu cords. While it is tempting to claim that this sequence of three figure eight knots is a logogram, we cannot tell if this toponym carries any linguistic value. In other words, the three knots represent the town of Puruchuco, but we do not know if it can also represent the word “Puruchuco”. However, regardless of whether the three figure eight knot sequence has linguistic value or not, it tells us that it is quite possible to expect non-numeric and perhaps even non-accounting information encoded in quipu. Conclusion It can be established without doubt that quipu was a living and breathing communication system employed by the Inca Empire successfully to keep track of its financial, tributary, and commercial records. However, much remains to unknown and obscure. It might be more than an accounting tool and might in fact be a bona fide writing system, but we are uncertain of what contents are kept within the knots. Quipu research is ongoing and many discoveries are yet to be made, but the pace will be tempered by a lack of a viable “Rosetta Stone”. Only time will tell what secrets quipus are holding.

High-speed photography captures moment of impact

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Photographer Alan Sailer created these dramatic images by blasting food and household objects with a rifle or firecracker, and capturing the moment of impact on a homemade camera in his garage.

A tub of yogurt. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Ice cream. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

A water balloon. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Crayons. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Walkman. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Strawberry. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

A sand filled ornament. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Cucumber. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency

Rubber bands. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

A stack of cards. (Alan Sailer/Caters News Agency)

Ancient seal unearthed in Jerusalem

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Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old seal that bears the inscription “Bethlehem,” the Israel Antiquities Authority announced May 23, in what experts believe to be the oldest artifact with the name of Jesus’ traditional birthplace.

A clay seal recently unearthed by Israeli archaeologists is displayed just outside Jerusalem’s Old City May 23, 2012. Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they have discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem’s existence centuries before the town became the birthplace of Jesus. The proof came, they said, in the clay seal. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM – Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

A clay seal recently unearthed by Israeli archaeologists is displayed by Eli Shukron, who directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City May 23, 2012. Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they have discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem’s existence centuries before the town became the birthplace of Jesus. The proof came, they said, in the clay seal. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM – Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)

A clay seal recently unearthed by Israeli archaeologists is displayed by Eli Shukron, who directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City May 23, 2012. Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they had discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem’s existence centuries before the town became revered as the birthplace of Jesus. The proof came, they said, in a clay seal unearthed near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and imprinted with three lines of ancient Hebrew script that include the word “Bethlehem”. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

In this photo made available, Wednesday, May 22, 2012 by Israel’s Antiquities Authority, shows a detail of a seal bearing the name “Bethlehem” in ancient Hebrew script. The Israel Antiquities Authority says archeologists digging at a Jerusalem site have found the oldest artifact that bears the inscription of Bethlehem _ a 2,700 years old seal with the name of Jesus’ traditional birthplace. The clay seal, or bulla, was found in a Jerusalem dig. The seal is 1.5 centimeters (0.59 inches) in diameter and was most likely used to stamp tax shipments said Eli Shukron, the authority’s director of excavations. (AP Photo/Clara Amit

Rare treasure trove of ancient jewelry found

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Israeli archaeologists have discovered a rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry, including a ring and earrings, hidden in a ceramic jug near the ancient city of Megiddo, where the New Testament predicts the final battle of Armageddon, May 25.

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In this photo taken Wednesday, May 23, 2012, ancient jewelry discovered by Israeli archaeologists is displayed at the Tel Aviv University, Israel. Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a stash of rare ancient jewelry near the site of the biblical Armageddon in the north of the country. Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who co-directed the dig, said this week that the find offers a rare glimpse into ancient Canaanite high society. The 3,000-year-old jewelry was found inside a ceramic vessel, suggesting the owner hid them before fleeing, he said. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May 23, 2012 ancient jewelry discovered by Israeli archaeologists is displayed at the Tel Aviv University, Israel. Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a stash of rare ancient jewelry near the site of the biblical Armageddon in the north of the country. Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who co-directed the dig, said this week that the find offers a rare glimpse into ancient Canaanite high society. The 3,000-year-old jewelry was found inside a ceramic vessel, suggesting the owner hid them before fleeing, he said. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May 23, 2012 ancient jewelry discovered by Israeli archaeologists is displayed at the Tel Aviv University, Israel. Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a stash of rare ancient jewelry near the site of the biblical Armageddon in the north of the country. Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who co-directed the dig, said this week that the find offers a rare glimpse into ancient Canaanite high society. The 3,000-year-old jewelry was found inside a ceramic vessel, suggesting the owner hid them before fleeing, he said. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May 23, 2012 an ancient jewel discovered by Israeli archaeologists is displayed at the Tel Aviv University, Israel. Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a stash of rare ancient jewelry near the site of the biblical Armageddon in the north of the country. Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who co-directed the dig, said this week that the find offers a rare glimpse into ancient Canaanite high society. The 3,000-year-old jewelry was found inside a ceramic vessel, suggesting the owner hid them before fleeing, he said. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

Snapshots

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Best images for the week ending May 25th.

This weekly collection includes eye-catching images from around the world

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-slideshow/

A fish had just broken free of a fisherman’s net in the Galapagos Islands, on to swim into the mouth of a brown pelican. (Photo by Tui De Roy/Minden/Solent)

A couple of monkeys quenches their thirst as another takes a dip on a hot summer afternoon on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Friday, May 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Stuntman Gary Connery (bottom) is seen in the sky wearing a specially developed wingsuit near Henley-on-Thames, west of London May 23, 2012. He had jumped from a helicopter at 2,400 feet and successfully landed without the use of a parachute.   REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket is seen during a time exsposure as it lifts off from space launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Tuesday, May 22, 2012. This launch marks the first time, a private company sends its own rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

People walk through a portion of the Boston Common covered with American flags, in Boston, Wednesday, May 23, 2012.  Relatives and volunteers planted the 33,000 flags in the historic park in tribute to Massachusetts soldiers killed in conflicts as far back as the Civil War. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The moon begins to partially block the sun as the sun sets at 8:02 p.m. silhouetting a crane just west of downtown Houston during a rare solar eclipse known as the “ring of fire” Sunday, May 20, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)

A crane lifts the wreckage of a train after an accident at a station near Penukonda, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Bangalore, India, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. A passenger train rammed into a parked freight train and burst into flames before dawn Tuesday, killing more than a dozen people in southern India, officials said. (AP Photo)

A damselfly’s eyes and legs are visible as it tries to hide behind a blade of grass in Barcelona, Spain. (Tomas Polaino Artiaga/Solent/Rex)

Yoga instructor Tao Porchon-Lynch goes through yoga poses in her yoga class in Hartsdale, New York, May 14, 2012. At 93 years old, Porchon-Lynch was named the world’s oldest yoga teacher by Guinness World Records. REUTERS/Keith Bedford

Yawalapiti children play over the Xingu River in the Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, May 9, 2012. In August the Yawalapiti tribe will hold the Quarup, which is a ritual held over several days to honour in death a person of great importance to them. This year the Quarup will be honouring two people – a Yawalapiti Indian who they consider a great leader, and Darcy Ribeiro, a well-known author, anthropologist and politician known for focusing on the relationship between native

A rainbow is seen in the sky as lightning strikes after a rainstorm in Haikou, Hainan province, May 13, 2012. REUTERS/China Daily

Visitors tour an aquarium during a media day of Expo 2012, in Yeosu, South Korea. The expo will open for three months on May 12 under the theme of “The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities.” (AP Photo/Yonhap)

Photo By LEONHARD FOEGER/REUTERS

Photo By REUTERS/Darryl Webb

Supporters wave at Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she leaves the National League for Democracy party Lanmadaw township branch office’s opening ceremony in Yangon May 7, 2012. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Researchers dressed in panda costumes carry a cage as they transfer giant panda Tao Tao to a new living environment at the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province May 3, 2012.  REUTERS/China Daily

A police lieutenant swings his baton at an Occupy Wall Street activists on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Girls dressed in evening gowns pose for photograph at Zocalo square in Mexico City April 28, 2012. Three hundred forty-eight girls dressed up for their 15th (Quinceanera) birthday celebration had their great day on Saturday, a tradition dating back to the Spanish colonial era when 15- and 16-year-old girls had their official debut in society. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

A young Phoenix Coyotes fan is tossed in the air as fans around her cheer on their team as Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, of Finland, stands in front of the goal during the third period of Game 1 in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal playoff series, Friday, April 27, 2012, in Glendale, Ariz. The Coyotes won 4-3 in overtime. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Four newly hatched cygnets follow their mother swan into the lake at Crossgates Country Club near Millersville, Pa. Monday, April 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Lancaster Newspapers, Richard Hertzler)

WBA world champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, right, of Ukraine receives a punch from challenger Paul Malignaggi of USA during their WBA World welterweight title fight in Donetsk, Ukraine, Sunday, April 29, 2012. Paul Malignaggi won the fight and title. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

NATO soldiers talk among themselves as smoke comes out of a compound at the scene of militants’ attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked the compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said. The Taliban said the attack was a response to U.S. President Barack Obama’s surprise visit just hours earlier. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Uggie, the dog from “The Artist” walks the red carpet with Diane Sawyer after arriving at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, April 28, 2012, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Worshippers hold candles as they take part in the Christian Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old city April 14, 2012. REUTERS/Nir Elias

 

What is catnip, and why do felines love it?

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Catnip drive felines crazy, causing them to roll around on the floor and paw at invisible birds flying in their vicinity, but why?

Humans have used catnip for recreational purposes, as smoking the substance produces some interesting effects. How does catnip affect felines and why does it cause such wild responses? Are cat owners willfully doping their pets?

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Catnip is another name for the herb Nepeta cataria, a relative of oregano and spearmint. Nepeta cataria is a pretty common plant, often found along highways and railroads in North America. Don’t feed your cat any Nepeta cataria you might find along the side of the road, as it could contain an array of pesticides or harmful chemicals left over from railway construction like creosote.

The active molecule in Nepeta cataria is nepetalactone, which is believed to mimic a cat pheromone. Nepetalactone binds to a cat’s olfactory receptors to produce catnip’s unique response.

Owner’s descriptions of the effects of catnip on their pets range from arousal to euphoria to sedation, with some cats drooling during exposure. One veterinarian suggested that the moans cats make while exposed to catnip are the result of chemically induced hallucinations. If a human exhibited these signs, we would likely be concerned, but most cat owners are comfortable with their feline’s recreational drug problem.

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Leaves from Nepeta cataria or nepetalactone oil extracts are used by cat owners to provoke their pets. Owners can crush Nepeta cataria to release the attractant that lies within bulbs of the herb or they can buy toys infused with an extract of the herb. Since the pheromone mimic affects the olfactory receptors, cats don’t achieve any positive results from eating catnip. Consumption of the buds sends the active ingredient down the digestive tract, where it is degraded. A little less than half of cats are not attracted to catnip at all, with genetics playing a role in determining a cat’s interest in the herb. Catnip, in large enough quantities, will also work as an attractant for large cats like lions and tigers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tklx3j7kgJY

Europeans in the 1400s regularly drank teas made from catnip, with the herb earning a medicinal application for treatment of colic and flatulence. Nepeta catariais a member of the mint family, with tea brewed that possesses a flavor and smell similar to mint tea.

Smoking catnip became popular as an alternative to marijuana in the 1960s. When the herb is smoked, it produces a low level, legal high complete with audio/visual hallucinations and a relaxed feeling at a fraction of the cost. Concentrated doses of Nepeta cataria brewed as a tea can also produce a mild, short-term sedative effect in humans.

While catnip serves no real purpose other than allowing an owner to watch his or her cat go bonkers, there is no evidence that causes harms to cats either. If your pet is a little too sedate, toss it some catnip and liven things up.

Top image courtesy of Knibitz/DeviantArt. Additional image courtesy of relictome/DeviantArt and video of tigers under the influence of catnip courtesy of Big Cat Rescue. Sources linked within the article.

Life of an Afghan soldier

Post 2.800

A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Shreen Mohammad is one of hundreds of Afghan soldiers trained to pick up where the US soldiers leave off.

Shreen Mohammad smokes during nine weeks of army training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 28, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 28, 2012.    REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 15 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad (R) practices first aid during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 28, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 28, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 22 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Afghan National Army soldiers practice hand to hand combat during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 28, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 28, 2012.  REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 19 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad wears his boots during nine weeks of army training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 13, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 13, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 06 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad (R) eats a meal with other Afghan National Army recruits at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 13, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 13, 2012.    REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY MILITARY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 08 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad (C) waits with other recruits during nine weeks of army training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 13, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 13, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 02 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad takes part in a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 26, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 26, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 12 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

The rifles of Afghan National Army soldiers rest on helmets during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul April 18, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken April 18, 2012.    REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY MILITARY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 14 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

An Afghan boy pushes a wheelbarrow next to U.S. Army soldiers of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division who are securing an area during a joint patrol with the Afghan Army in the town of Senjaray, Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 23, 2012.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov  (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT)

U.S. Army soldiers of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division run after a joint patrol with the Afghan Army in the town of Senjaray, Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 23, 2012. The 2nd squad of 3rd platoon has a tradition to run up hill in a full gear after completing their mission.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov  (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier (R) and U.S. soldier of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division and walk past Afghan children in a tunnel during a joint patrol in the town of Senjaray, Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 23, 2012.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov  (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)

Afghan National Army soldiers march during the graduation ceremony which marks the completion of nine weeks of training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul May 10, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken May 10, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 26 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad (C) attends his graduation ceremony after completing nine weeks of training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul May 10, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken May 10, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 25 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’

Shreen Mohammad shows his certificate during the graduation ceremony which marks the completion of nine weeks of training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul May 10, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken May 10, 2012.  REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 27 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE ‘AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT’