Tutankhamun

Discovery Channel

tutankhamen-simulation In the year 2009 extended DNA-tests were carried out on the mummy of Tutankamun and other members for his family as part of a Discovery Channel feature. These had only partially been published in February 2010 and have still not been fully published.

Despite several demands, the full results of the Y-DNA tests have apparently been shut away.

IGENEA

The Swiss DNA testing Laboratory IGENEA was able to reconstruct the Y-DNA profile of Tutankhamun, his father Akhenaten and his grandfather Amenhotep III with the help of a frame by frame analysis of a documentary covering the DNA testing on the Discovery Channel.

tut-examined

IGENEA claims that through a frame by frame analysis of a Discovery Channel TV Presentation it had discovered that the paternal DNA of Tutankhamun was Haplogroup R1b1a2. This genetic group is typical of the Atlantic Modal Haplotype (AMH) which is otherwise known as the “Celtic” gene.
This finding is more than a little controversial. For many people it is almost unbelievable.

DNA testing

The Discovery Channel, like many other commercial channels, frequently makes use of “stock footage” in order to keep costs down. Is it possible that the DNA tests shown were from some other DNA sample? It seems unlikely as there is little doubt that the extraction sequences were actually within the tomb in Egypt. Why would they then insert stock footage for the testing? Nevertheless there has been no official release of the results and the german geneticists who carried out the tests are very critical of iGENIA’s “lack of professionalism”.

Ignoring that small problem, the examination of the findings  and combination with other DNA research indicates that the R1bia2 group and subsequent mutations arose in the Eastern Mediterranean, migrated to the Pyrenees and from there spread up and down the Atlantic coast from North Africa to the Orkneys.

The Basque Anomaly

European Haplogroups The population samples,on which all the statistics are based, are currently too small to give great confidence in the outcomes. There are significant differences in findings between different research organisations. Currently the reasons for submitting to DNA testing are predominantly personal. There is therefore a suspicion that far too many of the samples are concentrated in the upper socio-economic levels. Civil libitarians are very concerned to prevent wide scale testing. However in ten years time the sample sizes will be much bigger and the samples more representative. In the meantime what is available gives a snapshot of current knowledge and some valuable information on which to base further speculation.It raises enormous difficulties as the Celtic languages are Indo-European but the language of the Basques was and still is non Indo-European.

For the last 100 years the accepted history of Europe has been shaped by students of language. Now suddenly, thanks to genetics, their vision is being challenged. Geneticists hold sway.

The consensus  scientific, unbiased opinion is that this is fact, but  there are a wide range of opinions as to where in Eastern Mediterranean the people carrying this DNA originated. The favoured opinion is Anatolia ( modern Turkey) not Egypt.  Their ancestors however almost certainly came from the far east, from what we now think of as China, Indonesia and Japan. That itself sounds unbelievable? Geneticists though they know this seldom mention it. Neither to anthropologists.

If the Basques are at very centre of this enigma then consider this intriguing fact. The closest language to the basque language, judged by the same criteria used to develop the concept of and into European family of languages is Ainu, the aboriginal Japanese language.

The most dangerous woman in the world

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Extract from The Prisoner of Foix--Chapter 43 -The EntranceNo need to buy a Kindle. Read it on your computer or tablet

John Stanley-26th April 1355

 

'Looks like we are going to see a bit of excitement, John. The Captain tried to get an agreement from the Prince that if there is surf running across the channel to Arcachon we will turn back to Bordeaux, but the Prince would hear none of it. Instead, he has offered to provide insurance for all three ships. If they are damaged or sunk, the owners will be compensated and every sailor who makes the passage will be given a bounty payment. What none of this seems to take into account is that if we sink in rough, fast-flowing waters we might all drown.'

John raised his eyebrows. 'But that is what we are going to do?'

'Yes, despite the fact that surf running accross the entrance is not uncommon and the deep water channel moves continually. In the end, the Prince attacked their captains on their weakest point, their professional pride! He threw down the gauntlet. He offered to take the Sally first through the channel, and to take control during the passage.' He raised his brow. 'We are going into the Bay of Arcachon, come what may! '

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Extract from The Eagle of Carcassone -- Chapter 24-- A Real GoddessNo need to buy a Kindle. Read it on your computer or tablet

John Stanley - 22 July 1355

An hour later John walked with Ximene close to the river along the valley below St Feriole. It was the very essence of a summer’s day. The sun was fierce but in the shadow of the trees, it was cool and fragrant. The trees and shrubs along the riverbank hid their progress, from the Château, from St Feriole.

Eventually they reached a point where John thought it was safe to emerge from cover. To his satisfaction the stream extended into a pool with a sandy beach, shaded by trees. Where the stream entered the pool there was a flat grassy area, almost circular. Behind this, the bulk of two mountain ridges provided a splendid backdrop. He looked around once more ‘Not just a good training ground but a great training ground. If the Greek heroes knew about this they might be tempted to join me, to train with me’

Ximene laughed out loud. He turned to look at her. She had removed her outer clothes and was wearing a white chemise, cut short so that it barely reached her knees. Around her waist, she wore a plaited leather belt, obviously fashioned from the multitude of leather straps to be found in the tackle room.

She ran her hands down over her breasts. ‘When you were unconscious I heard you muttering about gods and goddesses, so  I have decided that from now on, for you, I will be the goddess.’

Available February 2020
The Prisoner of FoixVol 1 of the series—The Treasure of Trencavel

Aquitaine, an English possession, is in crisis. It is under threat from neighbouring nations and internal dissension.

The Black Prince, King Edward III’s eldest son has been given the task of taking command in Aquitaine.

Suddenly there is an opportunity. Ximene Trencavel is the heiress to the lands of Occitan, to the east of Aquitaine: lands controlled by the Franks. Ximene wants independence, both for herself and for Occitan.

A union between Aquitaine and Occitan would be mutually beneficial. The Black Prince undertakes a secret journey to meet Ximene to negotiate a marriage contract. It is, however, a marriage neither of them really wants.

Meanwhile, the  Franks plot to murder Ximene to prevent ,not just the marriage, but any kind of union between England and Occitan.

The Eagle Of CarcassonneVol II of the series—The Treasure of Trencavel

The loose alliance between Ximene Trencavel and the Black Prince is under threat.

The Prince invades Occitan, to show his support for Ximene but it becomes an invasion which creates more problems than it solves.

The Prince has fallen hopelessly in love with Joan of Kent and Joan is now determined to marry him and become the next Queen of England.

Joan is therefore  determined to convince Ximene that she should not marry the Prince.

Part of her strategy is to encourage Ximene’s relationship with John Stanley—one of the Princes bodyguards—not an easy task as both John and Ximene have doubts about their compatibility.

However, John is grievously injured in a battle and Ximene commits herself to nurse him back to health.