It is all connected.
We are all connected.
Everything in the Universe.
That wise man John Muir, once said:
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
And so it goes.
As I sit here in North America, I wonder about all the people who may have come before me.
People have been living in the continent of North America for a long, long time. Recent archeological finds have expanded our understanding of when people reached the Americas.
We know that humans may have arrived in North America at least 20,000 years ago. A long, long time.
And so it was, on this date, January 31, 2018, a new group of people was discovered. Yes, a previously unknown ancient Beringian group of people. They were unearthed in Alaska and dated, at the very least, around 11,500 years ago.
Who were they?
The ancient Beringians were a Native American group that lived here between 21,000 and 11,500 years ago. They stuck around for quite some time, probably living in Alaska until about 6000 years ago. The Beringians were a genetically unique group.
As I mentioned, a “find” on this date led to their discovery. Genomic analyses were performed on two infants discovered at the Upward Sun River dig site. The definition of genomic is “the complete set of genes in a cell or organism.” Any way. The discovery was two infants, both female.
They were compared with ancient and modern populations and were found to be most closely related to Native Americans. It is not known how they got here, but there are all sorts of speculation. However, they may have come from Northern Asia initially. The scientists determined this genetically.
But what was life like for those people? Obviously, it was cold. But they were hunters and subsisted on big game like bison and elk and small mammals, like squirrels and birds.
The archeologists found a residential camp where women and children were present. Campers. Hopefully, happy campers.
As I mentioned, they faded away around 6,000 years ago. But what happened to them? Well. Scientists just don’t know. Some theories say they were “replaced” by other people coming in, and the gene pool died out over time.
This may have bored you to tears, but it is always interesting to me to think about the people of the past. Not only our ancestors but the people such as these that went away. Throughout our history of humans and their being, about 117 billion people have lived. That’s enormous. Considering that our big planet today, with all the people crammed upon it, accounts for only 7% of all people that have ever lived.
The lives. The lives. The lives.
Think about how significant our life is to us. How precious. This 117 billion isn’t just a number. It is people like us. Feelings, emotions, sickness, and health. Joy and sorrow. Living. Their lives. Over and over again — 117 billion times.
This world, this Universe, these people. All tremendous.
And we are a part of it. Connected.
Our being here today means we will be here, somehow, forever to come.
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“I love mankind, he said, “but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness
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Lots of us. Now. Then. Forever.
