Ghost Lineage
I speak to you of what my research uncovers,
the practice of war in ancient times being
far more terrible than it first sounds.
The goal was not simply to kill enemy men
but to seed their wives’ wombs with sons,
so the vanquished were wiped out —erased entirely —
their chromosomes replaced by conquering DNA,
they impregnate the dead’s wife with her next sons,
born of rape and kin to victorious soldiers.
An ancient war stretched west from Yamnaya homeland.
Marija Gimbutas’s Kurgan hypothesis draws a path
of destruction more terrible than burning homes
or killing husbands and sons — for DNA can never lie
as legends often do. New science reveals the path
of rape and pillage moved west to east, reflected in
continuous waves of Indo-European linguistic
expansion. A tsunami of genetic difference lies there.
The difference in future generations caused a culture
shift, egalitarian relations morphing into patriarchy.
This genetic tsunami asks whether the evil born
through pillaged villages and raped housewives
pervades the DNA that flows from ancient Yamnaya men?
Did their sons — born through conquered wombs —
inherit a destiny? Did they repeat their father’s impulse
expressing distain for ‘others’ through rape, theft,
and the acquisition of land? Can we predict the actions
of any son by looking at his father’s path? Was most
of the world egalitarian until that war began?
How deeply taps the root in that interchange of DNA?
Scientists discover the interbreeding of Neanderthals
and Denisovians with modern humans, calculating
a Neanderthal presence in our genomes of two to three
percent for humanity outside Africa. Denisovans
— more rare — are four to six percent in modern
Melanesians. Yet, they also identify a far distant DNA
in four West African groups. A ghost lineage lurks
in the Yoruba and Esan of Nigeria, Gambians, and Mende
from Sierra Leone. That ghost contributes two to nineteen
percent of the genetic pattern for who they are.
Gimbatus theorizes men from the Caspian Steppes
imposed a male-dominated warrior practice, breeding
sexual inequality into Indo-European groups,
gathering wealth under the control of generals and kings.
As for Africans, computational geneticist Sriram Sankararaman
suggests the ghost line imparts a welcome evolutionary
advantage in male reproduction, hormone regulation,
and tumour suppression. So we see genetic lines
playing a distinct part in our human history,
unique to men through their Y-chromosome.
The tracing of chromosomes indicates — while modern
men accept or deny it — DNA establishes a challenge
to our understanding of what is natural
in human evolution; some contributions positive,
others detrimental. Which leaves women with one
conclusion when they discover themselves in relationships
of domestic abuse, bonds that defy their love of both
sons and husband. We may want to believe men
are gentle and open to egalitarian relations —
but science has discovered a challenge to that ideal.
Can science uncover whether the sexual relations sought
by certain men are bred-in, or simply awakened
by cultural pursuits? Surely the weaponization of sex
— even the existence of pornography —
follow from a genetic shift perpetuated through
the style and success of an ancient war?
History In the Making
Katu Kariko created the basis
for mRNA vaccines that are saving
lives from the Covid pandemic, even now.
This isn't important just because she is a woman,
or because she’s pursuing a path others denigrated.
It isn't just because she never earned a lot of money
or rarely received recognition for her work at all.
It isn't just that her path was lonely and ridiculed,
for she was a determined woman who didn't
give up in the face of long established prejudice.
That's not called heroism where I come from
but survival by her wits and determination.
It's called the life of a woman working against the grain
meant to hold her down. Katu Kariko’s path is called
devoting your life to offering cures for everyone, globally,
even if they are the same people who hold you down.
In my part of the world, that is called 'meant to be'
against all possible odds you can raise against us,
even when nature seems to cooperate with you.
Evolution and Speech
Bill Bryson has a theory
about the evolution of language,
suggesting it began with Cro-Magnon
the first hominid to look just like us.
Yes, he claims they had the same
physique, brain, and looks.
What’s more exciting (at least
for the scientific mind of discovery)
is — just like us — they could choke
on food or drink. It’s all due to
a minor evolutionary change
which pushed the human larynx
deep inside the throat.
Not only did that make choking
possible, but it brought a gift,
the possibility of speech.
Other mammals have no connection
between their air passage and esophagi.
They breathe or swallow
with no chance of anything
going down the wrong way.
Homo sapiens deal with
a constant risk of inhaling
food or drink, but interestingly
the larynx isn't in that position
from birth. Instead, it descends
between 3 and 5 months — the period
when babies suffer SIDS — an additional
risk. Yet how exciting is this
evolutionary change, the descended
larynx explains why you can
speak but your cat
or dog cannot.
Revelations: The DNA of Culture Shifts
You and I talk of history always being written by those who
conquer others. I point out that — exploring genetics —
what is revealed is more than recorded memory, that we can
discover truths our ancestors’ words may or may not hold.
Instead of buying into stories preserved by historians
or politicians with their vested interests, we can uncover
true support for alternate historical perceptions of war,
develop the true framework for our many social stigmas.
Science reveals how warrior expansions onto territories
conquered by one group, lay underground, waiting patiently to
challenge fictions. We create stories and overlay them with myths
of our caring nature when one group is over-powered in battle.
More than this, recent DNA research strikes stark harmony
with feminism, revealing the truth of women’s efforts to rise
apart from the social battle of our species. Truth: the conqueror
rapes women, kills their mates, and gives them new offspring.
So her-story is his-story rewritten, proven by genetic records,
scientists now able to explore our cultural roots through Y-DNA
(inherited from fathers) as opposed to earlier studies of mtDNA
(inherited from our mothers) to demonstrate a clear male shift.
The rape and pillage taking place in both Old Europe and India
demonstrate erasure of a specific Y-DNA. “That’s not me,” you say,
and I quickly agree it's not every man — but the story of erasure
as told in Y-DNA, reveals a different 13,000 year old his-story.
Specific Y-DNA from the Steppes highlights a shift of male
populations, erasing a group of males in Old Europe and India
4,000 years ago, while mtDNA demonstrates little external infusion.
That Y-DNA overwrites the prior human biology as it moves west.
And yes, there’s need to research other paths, including those
coming from Africa. But recent studies highlight a theory of
‘Old Europe’ Marija Gimbutas discovered through archaeology,
revealing an ancient world far different than we’re told in myths.
Europe revels in stories of Hercules and Thor, Odin and Mars
in modern times. Yet the ancient world is guided by Great Mother,
the rhythms of agriculture, before a continuous wave of mounted
Kurgan nomads road east to suppress egalitarian relationships.
Kurgans conquered Old Europe’s Y-DNA, crushing Goddess worship,
imposing their Caspian warrior culture. Suddenly an elite rose
from warriors to community leaders, gaining power from murder,
rape and pillage, collecting great wealth from those they vanquished.
Known as the Iberian study, Iñigo Olalde and others trace a specific
Y-chromosome originating in Yamnaya from the Russian Steppes.
It completely supplants the Iberian Y-DNA. Adopting wheel and horse
to war offered the Kurgans — or Yamnaya — two great advantages.
Descending past the Black and Caspian Seas, they invaded, raped,
and conquered, expanding not only their territorial hold, but imposing
their proto-Indo-European language — long recognised as resulting
from migration — never before understood as being so brutal.
DNA does not lie about the rape and pillage of a conquered people.
It reveals the root of cultural events, upending all previous theories.
Gimbutas called these warriors ‘Kurgan’, named for burial mounds
which spread westward, guided by their Sky Gods of war.
This was not a gradual diffusion of the population. A series of raids
hit territories like a tsunami invasion, superimposing a specific
Y-chromosome passed from father to son. “Think of it this way”, I say.
“There’s purpose to actions; rape and pillage are more than sexual.”
Yes, the over-powering of women as they lost their husbands
to knives, the planting of conquering progeny in the wombs of victims,
serves to extinguish the mother’s heritage doubly. In killing the males
those men are replaced by joining blood lines, by new sons.
That ancient reign of terror is revealed through the roots of DNA,
the descendants of any war altered through mass murder, rape,
and slavery. David Reich notes a similar outcome in Central or South
America, as European DNA mixed with the local populations.
Once again, the DNA of Europeans introduced to Americans of African
descent is 20%, 80% of their DNA proven to be pregnancies imposed
by white slave owners. Yes, DNA provides a gentler presentation,
yet undeniable proof, of rape and subjugation through colonization.
Sharon Berg’s work appears in Canada, USA, Mexico, Chile, England, Wales, Amsterdam, Germany, Siberia, Romania, India, Persia, Singapore, and Australia. Her poetry includes To a Young Horse (Borealis 1979), The Body Labyrinth (Coach House 1984), and four poetry chapbooks (2006, 2016, 2017, 2025). Stars in the Junkyard (Cyberwit 2020) a 2022 International Book Award Finalist. Her short fiction is Naming the Shadows (Porcupine’s Quill 2019). The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School (BPR Press 2019) won a 2020 IPPY Award for Regional Nonfiction. She’s Resident Interviewer for tEmz Review (London, ON, Canada) operating Oceanview Writers Retreat in Charlottetown, Newfoundland, Canada.
Sharon Berg
Poet/ Story Writer/ Editor & Book Designer
Resident Interviewer for The tEmz Review
Owner of Oceanview Writer Retreat in NL
https://sharonbergauthor.wixsite.com/my-site/
No comments:
Post a Comment