Roman Coins Found in Japanese Castle

 Since 2013, a team of archeologists has been excavating Katsuren castle in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture. Recently ten Roman coins were found at the site.

According to the scientists an Ottoman coin had inscriptions that dated it to 1687, while the Roman coins appeared to be much older -- from at least 300 to 400 AD.

The finding of these coins confirms speculation that the area of Okinawa had trade relations with the rest of Asia. Archeology is similar to genealogy in that even a tiny find can lead to huge revelations and provide more clues for future research.

Continue reading this archaeological story at Ancient Roman coins found in ruined Japanese castle

The Origins of Red-Haired Mummies in China

 Archaeologists and scientists  have found the oldest and best-preserved mummies in the Tarim Basin area of China. Within a Bronze Age cemetery first discovered by Swedish archaeologists in 1934, some of the oldest mummies every found have had their DNA tested. The findings were a surprise. 

Previously the origins of the earliest settlers in this area were thought to be either  nomadic herders from the steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan, or from modern Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. But DNA results indicate the most common mtDNA haplogroup was C, suggesting origins in southern Siberia.

“Considering the presence of haplogroups H and K in the Xiaohe people and the geographical distribution of shared sequences, we conclude that the west Eurasian component observed in the Xiaohe people originated from western Europe, and maternal ancestry of the Xiaohe people might have close relationships with western Europeans,”

Continue reading at DNA Reveals These Red-Haired Chinese Mummies Come From Europe And Asia

Credits: Image is a screenshot from Forbes.com

New Season of Who Do You Think You Are Starts February 24

NEW CELEBRITIES GET THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME ON NEW SEASON OF “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” ON TLC

All-new season set to premiere February 24

The two-time Emmy nominated series is back with eight new hour-long episodes and a brand new batch of celebrity contributors. Executive Produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? continues to shed light on the mysterious, and often surprising, family histories of some of America’s famous faces. The season premieres Tuesday, February 24 at 10/9c. 

Screen Capture from TLC New Season Teaser

Today TLC announces half of the featured celebrity contributors in the upcoming season, which includes:

·        Julie Chen, who brings the series to China for the first time ever and learns about her grandfather’s brave and generous contributions to his country.

·         Angie Harmon, who meets a family member she didn’t know existed, and learns that he fought under George Washington.

·         Sean Hayes, who travels to Ireland to learn more about his father’s side of the family.

·         Bill Paxton, who reads captivating first-hand accounts of wartime battles in which his four times great grandfather was involved, and walks in his footsteps at the site where he fought a battle in the American Revolution.

Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, is teaming up again with TLC as a sponsor of the upcoming season. As part of the show sponsorship, Ancestry provides exhaustive family history research on each of the featured celebrities, which is used to build out the story of each episode.

Watch the new season teaser

Last summer’s season of WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? averaged 1.4M P2+ viewers. The series is produced for TLC by Shed Media and Is or Isn’t Entertainment, and is based on an original format created by Wall to Wall Media and Alex Graham. More information can be found at TLC.com/WDYTYA. 

 ‘Like’ Who Do You Think You Are? on Facebook.com/WDYTYA and follow @WDYTYA on Twitter.

Update of New Records from FamilySearch

FamilySearch Adds More Than 4.3 Million Indexed Records and Images to Chile, China, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States

FamilySearch has added more than 4.3 million indexed records and images to collections from Chile, China, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States. Notable collection updates include the 687,546 indexed records and images from the new Chile, Cemetery Records, 1821–2013, collection; the 541,382 images from the Portugal, Beja, Civil Registration and Miscellaneous Records, 1609–1950, collection; and the 579,293 indexed records and images from U.S., BillionGraves Index, collection . Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.

Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the worldís historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org.