African Hell: Where pregnants are buying a sand-drug to eat

A map, only a map. Because Manica doesn't have enough photos in the internet.

ÁFRICA, MOZAMBIQUE. In Manica province, Mozambique, near the border with Zimbabwe, a strange drug is addicting, especially - pregnant women. The substance is called "dust of sand" - because according to reports, their appearance and consistency are the same of the sand. However, the dependence that it provokes indicates that there is something more and malignant in this sand. 

The drug is sold at fairs, open air markets. It comes wrapped in small packages of plastic and stays exposed amid the blankets, shoes and hats for babies. This practice facilitates both the purchase, for those that are already addicted and for the pregnant women that still not experimented the "sand" but are considered potential consumers. Each package costs about 0.14 euros.

The drug used in Manica, come from a mine, of difficult access, located in Chitunguiza, region of Harare, in the neighboring country, Zimbabwe. It enters in Mozambique hidden, one more time, amid baby clothes or in bags, smuggled across the border Machipanda.

The drug is orally consumed, mixed with food. These women are literally eating sand. There are those who minimize the problem talking about like this consumption as normal thing, as the obstetrician at the Provincial Hospital in Chimoio (city, in the map), Sululu Celeste, that said the Lusa News Agency: The ingestion of sand isn't recommended but this happens in pregnancy period... Other women prefer to eat icecream or chew ice cubes. There are women who like to smell gasoline.

It is evident that this sand is a drug. If not, would not be sold. The common sand could be obtained anywhere! And nobody needs to be an obstetrician to know that pregnant women should not eat sand. Nor pregnants nor any human being.

The Africa already has enough disgraces, which existence is almost unexplainable in the third millennium. If there is a conspiracy to exterminate the excess of the population of the world's poor, this "dust of sand" must be, surely, one of the instruments that are being used. How long will it take to this chemistry weapon spread the death throughout sub-Saharan Africa?

SOURCE: Vício de pó de areia ameaça grávidas em Manica.

DN-Globo, published in 02/06/2012.

[http://www.dn.pt/inicio/globo/interior.aspx?content_id=2577736&seccao=CPLP&page=-1]

New archaeological site discovered at the coast of Brazil

BRAZIL, Sao Paulo's state. At "Ilhabela", (Beautiful Island) - an archipelago and city situated 4 miles off the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil, the coodinator of the Projeto de Gestão e Diagnóstico do Patrimônio Arqueológico de Ilhabela (Project Management and Diagnosis of the Archaeological Heritage of Ilhabela - GEDAI), maintained by the Instituto Histórico, Geográfico e Arqueológico da the Secretaria Municipal de Cultura (History, Geography and Archaeology Institute of the Municipal Culture), the archaeologist Mrs. Cintia Bendazzoli discovered an impotant mortuary archaeological site. The excavation was done on an emergency basis because of the imminent destruction of the material.

The place that was named "Toca da Caveira" (something like Hole of Skull or "Skull Burrow") had human skeletal remains, and funerary accompaniments like clay pot and stone tool, revealing a complex Indigenous funerary ritual. At the same time another two more sites were identified how belonging to the pré-colonizations epoch, but these - still have not been subjected to more detailed research

According Mrs. Bendazolli, the laboratory work performed with the findings revealed that the discover is a collective tomb. There were found remains of at least five different individuals, four adults and a child, this should be about five years of age in the occasion of its death.

None of the skeletons was complete, and according to the research, the absence of many bone units can be resulted of previous interference or violation that can have occurred on the site or - even - something tipical of the funerary ritual practiced by natives.

What caught the attention of the archaeologist was that the collective burial does not appear to be related to the known occupation of the sambaquis indigenous (builders middens or "shell-mountains" builders) - what occurred in Ilhabela occurred around 2000 years ago.

Early research showed that the ritual took place at Skull Burrow was prepared by a potter of the indigenous tribe named Macro-Ge - in more recent times, but before contact with the colonizer.

The presence of ceramic Ge as part of funerary objects placed next to the skeletons, as well the evidences in the bones and teeth indicates that these people was - mainly potters and not fishers and collectors like were the sambaquis. The next step of the investigation will be to conduct carbon-14 dating, which can help elucidate the issues raised by the laboratory studies.

If after the studies if conclude that the founds are, in fact, of a more recent population of potters, this site may be considered a great find, not only for the city, but for the coast of São Paulo as a whole, since it did not exist, until then, evidences that the Macro-Ge indigenous nation, one time, occupied this area of the coast, and were able to practice techniques of navigation and that they arrived to such distances from the coast of São Paulo, says archaeologist.

Anyway, this new archaeological discovery comes to show that the island of Ilhabela was far from a land uninhabited before the conquest of the Portugueses. The large number of archaeological sites recorded by the GEDAI Project and the numerous studies that have following these findings point to an intense settlement of this region and the increasing need to protect this heritage.

SOURCE: Ilhabela: Arqueólogos encontram novo sítio na Ilha dos Búzios com inédita presença indígena
Agora Vale, published in 29/02/2012
[http://www.agoravale.com.br/agoravale/noticias.asp?id=35629&cod=1]

AMAZONAS 🌳🌳🌳 In danger of disappear: The rock engravings of the Madeira River

BRAZIL. At brazilian amazonian, when the level of waters the Madeira River low - in the dry season, is possible to see ancient drawings engraved in stone. The forms reveal geometric shapes or animals. These pictures may have been made for thousands of years by people who lived in the Amazon and of who little is known about their habits and lifestyle.

Photos: Michelle M. Tizuka/Santo Antonio Energia

There are five areas with extensive rock formations where these rock carvings appear. In the rainy season. near the city of Porto Velho (capital of Rondonia' state) the river hide the images. 

 Now, scholars of history, archaelogists and anthropologists are faced a serious problem: with the project of a dam on the river, the hydroelectric power plant of Santo Antonio, this important trace of human presence will be permanently submerged.

Thinking in this problem, the Santo Antonio Energy, responsible for the build of the plant, hired two companies specializing in archeology to preserve the memory these drawings. 

The companies are using 3D technology to scan the prints. The equipment that can record drawings with high precision and quality. In total, more than 2000 images were collected.

After make the digital record, the researchers will reconstruct the rock extensions on virtual models, so that the stones. By this way, the images will be studied in laboratory and associated with occupations of the archaeological sites located on the river region. 

With work, scientists will have conditions understand how these people lived and determine the age of the drawings. Some of them date back over 7000 years, according scholars.

The archaeological rescue is one of the constraints imposed by IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente - Brazilian Institute of Enviroment) for the build of the energy plant and to the begin of the operations. Meanwhile, the works for the preservation the archaeological patrimony is in course.

However, the project has received many critics. Santo Antonio, as well as the Jirau energy plant - also located on the Madeira River, are facing the charge that these kind of iniciative is one more factor that increase the deforestation of the Amazon. 

The government is also criticized for the lack of policies of population control,a problem that will results of the instalation of the new plants that, certainly, will generate serious social questions in the city of Porto Velho. Because, as we know, governments are always late. Let's meditate.

SOURCES

CALIXTO, Bruno. 

Pesquisadores registram gravuras rupestres do Rio Madeira.

Época, published in 29/02/2011
http://colunas.revistaepoca.globo.com/planeta/2012/02/29/pesquisadores-registram-gravuras-rupestres-do-rio-madeira/

The oldest engraving on rock of the Americas is discovered in Brazil

Photo: Neves WA, Araujo AGM, Bernardo DV, Kipnis R, Feathers JK

BRAZIL. Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo found a drawing of an anthropomorphic figure dating from 9000 to 12,000 years, and would therefore, according to scientists, this prehistoric figure is the oldest ever discovered in the Americas.

The study authors, led by researcher Walter Neves, said the discovery suggests that - at that time, the presence and development of man in South America was very different - not only restricted to people who made stone tools for subsistence, not only the neolithic tribes but also persons able to formulate symbolic thoughts.

The figure, which measures about fifteen inches wide by twenty long, was found in Lapa do Santo in the region of Lagoa Santa, state of Minas Gerais, southeast region of Brazil.

* Researchers identified the drawing like an anthropomorphic creature but - this does not mean that is a man. The traces resemble a somewhat animalistic creature, something like a reptile, for example.

SOURCE: Desenho rupestre mais antigo das Américas é descoberto no Brasil.
Ultimo segundo/IG, published in 22/02/2012
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/ciencia/desenho-rupestre-mais-antigo-das-americas-e-descoberto-no-brasil/n1597648406315.html]

Strange blue eyes of a chinese boy

CHINA. His name is Nong Youhui. He can see on darkness. His eyes shine in obscurity - like the eyes of a cat and emit a blue-green light when exposed to a lantern focus, for example. This uncommon anomaly - has puzzled the doctors. The child was born with blue eyes, a rare condition among chineses. Is true that there are chineses with blue eyes in Liquian, in the central region of the country. They belong to a lineage of roman descendents - according researchers of the matter. This is not the case.

His father tells that when Nong Youhui was a baby the doctors assured that the eyes will turn black like the eyes of the others chineses. However, it's not happend. The case has been studied for years without answer. The genetic hypothesis, according to the usual tests, has been discarded. Meanwhile, some people hinted that the boy may be an alien hybrid.

RELATED LINKS

02/02/2007. Roman descendants found in China?
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1541421/Roman-descendants-found-in-China.html]

23/11/2010. Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers'
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8154490/Chinese-villagers-descended-from-Roman-soldiers.html]

VIDEO: Alien Hybrid Or Starchild Discovered In China?
IN [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xfs0R-7cS_s]

SOURCE: Menino chinês tem olhos que brilham no escuro
IN TVNET/Pt, published in 24/01/201

[http://tvnet.sapo.pt/noticias/detalhes.php?id=70541]

The secrets of ancient Amazonia

18th century engraving shows the different tribes that inhabited South America. Getty Images

AMAZONIA. New archaeological studies about the Amazon has been changing the traditional idea of a virgin forest practically uninhabited in the pre-colombian times. Recent discoveries reveal a region that could been occupied for more than 20 millions of persons; indigenous, it is assumed. They lived in highly populated villages near of rivers Tapajos, Madeira and Solimoes, for example.

However, the scenery was much diferent of the mythological Eldorado of the legends. According the researcher of the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (Amazon Federal University), Helena Lima: What we know, today, is that these populations were numerous and they had technical practices much more advanced than the primitivism that we imagined until recently.

The coordinator of the Central Amazônia project, who works in the Museu de Arqueologia e Antropologia da USP (Archaeologic and Anthropologic Museum, São Paulo University), Eduardo Neves, belives that around 5,5 million of persons lived in certain areas of the pre colombian Amazon where there were a great variation of languages and political organizations in their many villages.

The researcher of the Anthropology Department of at the University of Florida, Michael Heckenberger, studying areas of the Alto Xingu (Upper Xingu) made an estimated that 50,000 indigenous lived in an area of ​​20 square kilometers. He says: This consists of a larger population that we find in many countries of Europe today.

According the studies, the villages of the Alto Xingu was 10 or 15 times majors than that exist actually in the region. They were organized a central and circular square surrounded by tabas (huts). These huts were builded in a perfect ring along the periphery of the square, were surrounded by ditches to 2 km in length. Heckenberger still says that in the Alto Xingu, where today there is a village, there were 12.

Professor at University of Florida, Colombian researcher Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, adds that in other regions of the Amazon, the settings were different, with linears villages, in front of the rivers. Regarding the organization, the communities were not exactly as tribes. They were more like societies in its infancy. Archaeological evidence indicates a state of expansion.

Handling of soil

One of the proofs of the existence of these bigger villages and their development on the first steps of a civilization process is the black soil. Oyuela explains: For many years it was thought that the black soil was the result of natural phenomena such as volcanic ash. The resistance to the idea that the black earth was resulted by human work came from a theory that the Amazon was largely an inhospitable place to the development of complex societies with large villages.

But the new discoveries have shown that there was the use of organic matter and coal burned at high temperatures to improve the quality of the Amazonian soil. The plantations were made in small amounts of land - spaces that were opened in the middle by large tracts of forests. Oyuela found black soil in the Alto Amazon (Upper Amazon), in 2005, near the city of Iquitos. The region, called Quistococha was a large village which occupied up to 20 hectares dated around the years 900 AD.

In regions such as the high river Madeira is found black soil dated from four thousand years. In the middle Amazon River were found pottery and evidence of agricultural occupations with over two thousand years and traces of nomadic culture of eight thousand years ago.

SOURCE: Nova teoria afirma que Amazônia pré-colombiana foi populosa.

IN Ultimo Segundo/IG, published in 20/09/2011
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/ciencia/nova+teoria+afirma+que+amazonia+precolombiana+foi+populosa/n1237780376244.html]

Others News About Warriors women of South America – Lesbians & Samurais

The indigenous samurai women of South America

Others notes of travelers, chroniclers of the time, also registered unusual situations that may have given rise to the myth of the "Amazonas" of South America.

Friar Gaspar de Carvajal (1504-1584), the author of, possibly, first relate of a trip to the New World which mentions the "Amazons", despite this reference to a particular meet with a horde of warrior women, in another part of the same text, observes another type of warriors women. Acordding studies of the researcher Hiram Reis e Silva:

The most formidable ethnicity that has existed in the Middle and Upper Amazon river was, without doubt, of the braves Mundurucus, the Lords of War. 

These true "samurai" south-Americans trained their offspring from childhood in a rigid military discipline. For the mundurucus, the combat was life's most noble and rewarding activity. In combat, the Mundurucus were accompanied by women who carried their arrows but according ancient reports, these women were able to catch enemy arrows when were still on the air.

The indigenous lesbians of South America

To conclude this short series on the history and anthropology of the myth of the Amazons, it remains to examine the sociological/sexual phenomenon registered by another chronicler of the time and place. The portuguese historian Pero de Magalhães Gandavo(1540-1580), who lived in Brazil in 1570, writes:

Among indigenous women (South american natives) there are those that determine, themselves, maintain chastity (in relation to men). 

These women don't have contact with men (in biblical sense).They do not allow harassment, heterosexuality and refuse relations with men even that they be needed resist, killing or dying. 

These ... imitate men and follow their offices as if they were, realy, men, bring the hair cut the same way that males do, and go to war with their bows and arrows and hunting ... each has a woman with who says is married, and so communicate the couple and they talk about themselves as husband and wife.

SOURCES:
ICAMIABAS.
IN [http://lendasemisteriosdomundo.blogspot.com/2010/06/as-amazonas-icamiabas.html]
REIS E SILVA, Hiram. As Amazonas.
IN Pantanal News, 02/11/2011.
[http://www.pantanalnews.com.br/contents.php?CID=66202]

"The Amazons": Some facts, some legends

Women indigenous. South-americans female, women warriors, "Amazons" in South America! The historical chronicles about "The Amazons" of the "New World" is often slighted by scholars, because the narratives of travel, many times, seem to be exaggerated or much fanciful.

"Amazons", a tribe, a nation in the tropical jungle, in the equatorial rain florest is an absurd! It known that the myth of "The Amazons" belongs, mainly, to a most ancient mythology: "The Amazons", the tribe of Asia Minor of warriors women was transmited for the Ocident trough by the classical greek mythology. The word "amazon" has greek origin! And returning in timeline even more, a more old origin appears, persian (or "parse") and Shythian (map above) orign: the expression ha-mazan (means warriors women).

Ykanmyabas: Women without husbands

Ludwig Schewennhagen claims that the designation "The Amazons" was used by the "Amerabas" when the historic meeting took place with the fleet of Orellana. He writes: The name "Amazon" refering to the lower basin of the great river, the region between the mouth of the Xingu River and the mouth of the river Parentins is antiga. At the epoch of the arrive of european navigators, the tribe of the Tupinambás already used to call "Amazonas", the region of the lower course of this river... (SCHWENNHAGEN, 1986 - p 37)

Nevertheless, nor the more dazzled or perplex among the cronists that faced the astonishing exuberance of the Amazon rainforest, suggested that the native used the term "Amazonas" to talk about the tribe of women warriors. For the natives of that jungle, these women were "The Ykamyabas" (Icamiabas, that means "women withou husbands"), among other indigenous terms like "coniupuiaras" (konyu-pupyaras, Great Ladies).

Muiraquitã. Theodoro Sampaio, 1920.

Resistance of the Matriarchy

Leaving by side the sphere of the mythology, considering the traditional knowledge of cultural anthropology, is possible to understand the tribes of warriors women, in different parts of the world like the remaining reality of the archaic matriarchal societies.

In the case of brazilian indigenous nations, oral culture of the people confirms that in a remote past, the tribes were under the matriarchal power. Anthropologists, like Claude Levi Strauss for example, have colected numerous legends that preserve the history of how the men, after a long time beeing dominated by the women, conspired and took political and economic power reversing the social roles. Much possibly, many women don't accepted the new conditions. These, can have created a dissidence in the form of closed female societies .

In "Relation abrégée d'un voyage fait dans l'intérieur de l'Amérique méridionale depuis la côte de la mer du Sud jusqu'aux côtes du Brésil et de la Guyane, en descendant la rivière des Amazones" (1745. Something like: Brief account of a journey to the interior of Brazil from the coast south towards the Guyana, sailing down the Amazon river), Charles-Marie de La Condamine (1701-1774), french scientist and explorer, exposes his theorie about the warriors women of South America. He doesn't need of Atlanteans or Phoenicians to explain which he understand like a natural social phenomenon. La Condamine writes:

...if, in some historic time, could has existed Amazons in the world, this was at America, where wandering life of the wives, coerced to accompany their husbands, often engaged in making war, could make awake the ideia of flee, of to rebel, searching the stability and independence. To flee to the slave condition and beast of cargo. A resolution like this nothing has of extraordinary.

More natural would still be an elite matriarchal refuse submit themself under command of his former lieutenants. Let's meditate...

Sources:
ICAMIABAS.
IN [http://lendasemisteriosdomundo.blogspot.com/2010/06/as-amazonas-icamiabas.html]
REIS E SILVA, Iran. As Amazonas. IN Pantanal News, 02/11/2011.>/br> [http://www.pantanalnews.com.br/contents.php?CID=66202]
SCHWENNHAGEN, Ludwig. Fenícios no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Cátedra, 1986.
IN [http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/6585607/719953186/name/7389093-Fenicios-No-Brasil-Ludwig-Schwennhagen-PDF.pdf]

Sorcery and violation of grave

ANGOLA/África – In the hamlet of Kayenga, community of Kamoka, Ukuma city - this april (2011), there was a macabre case of violation of grave. The deceased, the corpse, that belongs to Angelina Ngalula, who died aged 32, was found outside the coffin beside the grave stripped of some internal organs: heart, liver, intestines. The crime came two days after the burial.

The complaint was made Tuesday - (april, 12) by the Soba of the village, Aurelio Viyé. He said that was unaware what were the real reasons for this gruesome act committed in his village by unidentified individuals. But he conjectures: Many say sorcery does not exist but, this that happened in the village of Kayenga means what?

The soba that is a traditional regional authority in Angola said he had never seen anything like it in all its long vida. He was shocked by the case and blamed the villagers by the crime, and repeated: This only can be linked to witchcraft.

SOURCE: Desconhecidos desenterram cadáver na aldeia de Kayenga.
IN Jornal de Angola, published in 04/14/2011
[http://jornaldeangola.sapo.ao/14/15/desconhecidos_desenterram_cadaver_na_aldeia_de_kayenga]

Mystery of Teotihuacan

The underground work of the temple of Quetzalcoatl

TEOTIHUACÁN, México — In the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, a team of archaeologists discovered a tunnel that may have much to reveal about one of the most important pre-Columbian civilizations.

The site was discovered by chance in 2003 when the heavy rains that fell in the region have revealed a small crater. But only in 2009, scientists began to excavate the place - with the support of the Institute of Anthropology and History Mexico (INAH).

The researchers believe that the tune could lead to a burial chamber of rulers of Teotihuacan, because none of them, no cemetery or graves have been found to date.

The archaeologist Sergio Gomes says: Teotihuacan means "place of the gods". It was a religious center built as a replica of the universe. The tunnel that we are looking can to be a sort of gateway to the underworld. We believe that this architecture can also to hide a replica of the underworld.

Historians estimate that the city flourished in the early Christian era. Teotihuacan was possibly the most important urban center in North America in his time of splendor. Your maximum population may have been 200 thousand inhabitants. Occupying an area of 25 sq. km, only 5% of the site was explored by scientists. Teoatihuacan was abandoned by the seventh century.

In August 2010, after digging about 12 feet, archaeologists have found what could be the entrance to a tunnel. The hypothesis was correct. The entrance had been blocked deliberately - with stones, and objects parts that may have belonged to a temple destroyed. Were already removed 300 tonnes of materials: small objects made ​​of jade, marine shells, bones.

A small camera-robot, first used in an archaeological research in Mexico, exploited the small entrance. A radar system allowed to evaluate the possible extension of the tunnel, about 120 meters. The hypothesis suggest that in the end of the corridor may exist at least three mortuary chambers containing the remains of some rulers of Teotihuacan.

The idea is based in the location of the site that seems seems extend itself along the underground area of the temple of the "Plumed Serpent" (Quetzalcóatl). The delicacy required for the operation involves a job that should last for years. But it is a start for unravel the great mystery that is the origin and abandonment of the powerful city of Teotihuacan.

SOURCE: NICHOLSON, Sophie. Unos arquéologos buscan en un túnel los secretos de Teotihuacán.
IN Google/AFP, published in 04/07/2011
[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iwsL9Xn0J5XPAHRRThKkfkIq8NCg?docId=CNG.d9537645f26505042c24a73e3115be9f.2141]

The Olmec Dragon

Icon. Drawing Olmec: dragon carved in stone found in Chalcatzingo (Photo: INAH)

MEXICO – In Vera Cruz, Guerrero and Morelos (states of Mexico), archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found representations of mythical beings who were believed, until then, were ignored by the ancient dwellers of the region: dragons.

Images carved in stone, clay sculptures and paintings dating between the years 1200 and 400 BC indicate the practice of a cult of worship to this fantastic animal: the dragon Olmec. There is no mistake. This is not the plumed serpent known and called Quetzalcoatl or Kukulkan. It is another more ancient creature.

The olmec dragon is depicted as a chimera, mixing physical features of snake, bird and jaguar. It also appears like an anthropomorphic being, a dragon-man.

The images have peculiar traits of the Olmec culture: the flame-shaped eyebrows and a cross, of the type called cross of St. Andrew, located between the eyes or on the back. The chief of excavations at Chalcatzingo, in Morelos, Carolina Meza Rodriguez adds: Another interesting aspect of Olmec dragon is that his mouth emits signs that seem like combinations of commas. It is not known whether the signals represent mere fumes or they are words, names, belonging to an unknown language or writing.

The olmec dragons are always related to the cave entrances. It is speculated that they are the symbol of power of an ancient lineage of leaders who ruled the Olmec people between the years 800 and 500 BC. In some cases, the iconographic elements associated with the dragon are found in different parts of a cave. Thereby, the entire chamber becomes a dragon. The Olmec people is the oldest sedentary culture today known at Mesoamerica

SOURCE: CRUZ, Antimio. Los Olmecas también imaginaron dragones.

IN El Universal/Mexico, published in 03/27/2011

[http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/65110.html]

Sacred caves of Yanomamis are found in brazilian Amazonian

Neblina peak, located on the north

of Amazonas state, in Serra do Imeri

(Imeri mountais) is the more high

point of Brazil with 2993,78 meters.

AMAZONAS/BR – An inedit expedition realized last year (2010) in the Parque Nacional do Pico da Neblina (National Park of Neblina Peak) identified five caves that are considered sacred by the indigenous of the yanomami ethnic group.

The caves are located at the high river Negro (rio Negro). So far, only the Yanomami knew their location. Now, the caves were indexed by governamental instances that organized the expedition: the Centro Nacional de Conservação e Pesquisas de Cavernas (Cecav) linked to the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio – Chico Mendes Institute of conservation and research of caves).

The exact localization and photos obtained of the caves will be not disclosed. This is a secret because these caves are not only geographical spaces. For the Yanomami indigenous the five caves are mystic, magical places with spiritual meanings.

Despite the caution, a little information could be revealed by the coordinator of the expedition, José Carlos Reino. The caves are small but sustain a rich ecosystem. Granite predominates in geological formations and the researchers explored an extension of 60 km.

But beyond topographical knowledge the project includes cultural anthropology that related to the caves. During the expedition were recorded the legends and myths of the five caves, traditions of the Yanomami indigenous people.

To reach the caves, the expedition had to negotiate with the Yanomami. The Indians themselves have led the team to the site but they do not agree to allow visits in that area of the the National Park. Before the group begin the expedition, the leader indigenous Joaquin Figueroa performed a ritual (damn, the caciques no more have names of caciques) for the spirits, that live in the caves, permit the presence of strangers there.

SOURCE: Expedição identifica cavernas sagradas dos índios yanomami no Pico da Neblina, no Amazonas.
IN A Crítica, published in 03/18/2011
[http://acritica.uol.com.br/amazonia/Amazonia-Amazonas-Manaus-Expedicao-identifica-Pico-Neblina-Amazonas_0_446355654.html]

The cultural African hell – Curse of Twins

Gladys Bulinia: She lives alone with 10 of

her children, a few miles from Lake Victoria.

KENYA, Africa – Gladys Bulinia, 35 years old (in 2011), a woman of Kenya, is a person considered cursed in her community. The reason for this: She gave birth to six pairs of twins in each one of her pregnance periods. Were six times even now. She is very poor and has twelve sons. The problem is that this woman belongs to nation or tribe of the Bukusu and according the tradition of this culture, the birth of twins is a sign of bad luck. Six double of twins is an astral danger!

When became pregnant the first time, she was a high school student. Her boyfriend was too young to marry. Then, her family ordered her to leave the babies at the hospital for adoption.

The babies were rescued by the father of the her boyfriend. The grandfather decided to take care of the two. This man hasn't the same beliefsof the Bukusu. He is a Kalejin, a different ethnic group.

Five years later she married a primary school professor.Then it happened the first pregnancy and everything resumed. Were twins. And twins continued to birth. Five times. Ten children. In the fifth pair of twins, the husband put her out of home along with ten children. All of them were considered cursed.

Now, Gladys Bulinia is an abandoned woman that fight to sustain her family. She lives alone with 10 of her 12 children, a few miles from Lake Victoria, in a thatched house that has only a one tiny gunroom.

SOURCE: Após seis pares de gêmeos, mulher é considerada amaldiçoada.
IN O Diário – Maringá city/Paraná state – published in 01/27/2011
[http://maringa.odiario.com/blogs/luizdecarvalho/2011/01/27/apos-seis-pares-de-gemeos-mulher-e-considerada-amaldicoada/].

Awa-Guajá: The indigenous women who breastfeed animals

MARANHÃO – In the northwestern of Maranhao state, live the Awa-Guajá, one of the last nomadic tribes in the Americas. Its proximity to nature is so intense that the indigenous women breastfeed babies ape orphans. They tend also to adopt orphans of agoutis (Dasyprocta aguti) that are fed with the fruit of the babassu. (And, no. The Indigenous women don't have the practice of breast-feed the agoutis. This, only once a while... Photo) When animals begin to grow, when they are able to survive alone, are returned to the forest.

The danger most feared by the Awa-Guajá is contact with the white man. To find gunmen, loggers, squatters, or even a harmless white. White men, aggressive or not are synonymous with disease. So even those who live in villages spend most of their time in the woods. This is not a difficulty, since they are nomadic in their essential culture.

video in portuguese

SOURCE: Em tribo do Maranhão, índias amamentam animais.
Globo Amazônia/G1 published in 01/09/2011
[http://g1.globo.com/natureza/noticia/2011/01/em-tribo-no-maranhao-indias-amamentam-animais.html]

Indigenous Tourism: Walk, Look, Listen, Eat If You Have Courage, Sleep Badly and Don't Call Me!

Pataxós for postcard

Bahia, Brazil ─ At Porto Seguro historic city of Bahia state and Brazil, indigenous tribes are offering tours for visitors that want to experience the life and the culture of natives. The package, of the Pataxó Turismo Agency, which costs $ 460, includes four days and four nights in groups of 12 people. Among the activities planned, during the day, hiking, body painting, participating in a ritual of fellowship. To eat. indigenous food, of course. Corn! Much corn, and manioc. And very possibly fish as a main dish. At night, around the campfire, palestra about indigenous traditions and legends. At bedtime, the cabin [called the oca] is the room and the bed, is the network [rede] or straw mat. [It is a horror!]

The Indigenous also profit from the sale of handicrafts. A headdress [called cocar] can cost up to $ 290; a whistle, $ 6, a necklace $ 8,00. However, in Brazil, the artistic production in the villages is not equal. In some, as in Porto Seguro, the Indians present themselves appropriately characterized, with their slap sex thong, face and body painted, braceletes, tornozeliras and, with some lucky, even a bamboo flut or, who knows, a rattle, a reco-reco [percussion instrument made of wood and bamboo which the sound produced by a bat that is rubbed into slots, it makes a noise that sounds reco-reco]. It is the Indigenous with feathers.

In other villages, however, the scene is sad. In Parelheiros, Sao Paulo state, in the village of Krukutus, who are of ethnic group of the Guaranis, the natives haven't any notion of what is add value to the product. Create a beard and mustache, wearing shorts, shirt football team and slippers Hawaiian. They smoke Hollywood, wear sunglasses and headphones to listen the macarena on the I-pod. [A disgrace!]

In the village Krukutu, tickets cost $ 2,8. The program offers lecture on the history of the Indians, visits the village, a walk, and paying additional $ 1,15, people can listen a indigenous children's choir singing a indigenous song in guarani indigenous language. [Please, forget me. I want to stay at the hotel]

Source: Turistas pagam R$ 800 para viver em aldeia indígena na BA
In A Tribuna News ─ publicado em 09/28/2009
[http://www.atribunanews.com.br/news.php?newsid=20818]

THE AMAZONAS'S MUSEUM AT ROOFLESS

Manaus ─ Amazonas: The archeological site Hatahara, located at Iranduba city, 25 km of Manaus, state capital, will be the first archaeological museum at the roofless of the country.

 

The project aims to get people to the site of excavations através de uma trilha de 600 metros de extensão. Situated at Iranduba's urban zone, at the confluence of the rivers Negro and Solimões, In Hatahara were found urns, vases and pottery ware.

Many of the objects show paintings and carvings representing the animal heads, these objects are called Caretinhas [something like small masks]. In 2006 was found the first entire skeleton of an Indian buried between the 8th century and the 12 DC. The body was in an Indian cemetery, just a meter deep.

According data of the Centro de Arqueologia dos Biomas da Amazônia, the Amazon basin [watershed] has been occupied by more than 10 thousand years. Even the fifteenth century, the region was densely populated by indigenous people.

The mapping of archaeological sites in Amazonas began in 1995 with the Central Amazon Project, created by researchers Michael Heckenberger (Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade da Florida), James Petersen (Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade de Vermont) e Eduardo Góes Neves (Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo). The project includes about 150 archaeological sites in the region.

Source: 

Sítio Hatahara, no Amazonas, poderá ser primeiro museu arqueológico a céu aberto do país

In O Globo publicado em 07/10/2009

[http://oglobo.globo.com/cidades/mat/2009/10/07/sitio-hatahara-no-amazonas-podera-ser-primeiro-museu-arqueologico-ceu-aberto-do-pais-767945 192.asp#]