It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
ARTS Humboldt Forum tackles colonial issue with new museums
As it opens its new ethnological museum, Berlin's Humboldt Forum reacts to criticism surrounding its handling of colonial history. Will critics approve?
A centerpiece of the new museum, the violent history of the boat from the Luf island has only recently been exposed
Even before opening, Berlin's Humboldt Forum was embroiled in controversy for years. Beyond the public backlash related to its building costs of €680 million ($800 million), the state-of-the-art museum has been at the center of a debate surrounding the colonial-era items filling its exhibition halls.
The curatorial team's efforts to tackle the thorny issue are manifest as the Humboldt Forum now inaugurates two new sections. The museum halls feature some 20,000 African and Asian artifacts, which used to be housed in the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin's district of Dahlem.
Wednesday's inauguration ceremony featured addresses by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Grütters and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as guests of honor.
Focus on restitution
Before the opening event, the museums were introduced to the press on Monday.
Keywords such as provenance research, digitalization of the collection, transparency, transcultural projects and restitution were at the core of the presentation speeches of the three directors of the institution: Hartmut Dorgerloh, director and chief executive officer of the Humboldt Forum; Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation; and Lars-Christian Koch, director of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art.
Hartmut Dorgerloh and Hermann Parzinger at the presentation of the new museum halls
Addressing the difficult history of the exhibits should not be seen as a burden, but rather as "a true opportunity for a new intercultural dialogue," Parzinger said.
The museum is "fundamentally willing to restitute exhibits," he added, mentioning among other cases the infamous Benin Bronzes, which will be restituted in 2022 following a brief exhibition in Berlin next year.
Some of the pieces that are currently in the museum, Parzinger added, "may one day no longer be here, but that's part of this process and the result of this process is precisely that museums will be completely redefining themselves."
This appears to be a change of tone from the director, who previously preferred to use the term "circulation of items" over their actual restitution.
More dialogue needed
The topic of restitution was also taken up during the opening event on Wednesday. In his address to attendees, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for more dialogue when it comes to the topic of looted art. He said all Europeans must "overcome some patterns of thought and perceive and allow other perspectives." This also means talking to the countries and regions from which the artifacts originate, he clarified.
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke at the opening of the museums
Steinmeier also called for a reappraisal of Germany’s colonial past. "The truth is: when it comes to the colonial era, we Germans, who are otherwise so historically aware, have all too many blanks. We have blind spots in our memory and in our self-perception."
Speaking after the German president was award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who expressed similar sentiments. On the topic of art restitution, she called for fewer drawn-out discussions and more concrete actions, including more conversations with societies of origin. "We can’t change the past but we can change our blindness towards the past," she said.
She also praised the decision to return the Benin Bronzes. Her impassioned speech was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience. New team to push progress
Additional permanent positions have also been created to pursue the restitution process. As the new officer for transcultural cooperation, Andrea Scholz described her duty as "further pushing the door open, even if it means that the institution needs to be reformed a bit."
Cameroon's Mandu Yenu throne was "a gift" to the German emperor. But what were power relations in the former colony?
This responsibility, Scholz told DW, is shared with a new team of four provenance researchers. Set up in November 2019, it is led by researcher Christine Howald, who pointed out at the Monday press conference that, considering the thousands of items in the collections, they have their work cut out for more than a few lifetimes.
Priority is, however, given to "items coming from the context of German colonialism," she said, "as well as culturally sensitive items and human remains." A reexamination of colonialist perspectives
Among the efforts to address the loaded history of the collections is a free booklet that guides through the postcolonial provenance research related to the permanent exhibitions of the new Ethnological Museum and the Museum for Asian Art.
Provenance information is also made available through QR codes in the museum, and multimedia stations broach the issue of colonialism for children.
The temporary exhibition that opens the new Ethnological Museum was also designed in reaction to ongoing criticism. It focuses on traces of colonization in the former German territories of Cameroon, Namibia and Oceania.
Titled "Matter(s) of Perspective: An Overture," the installation examines the ways of seeing that not only contributed to colonialism, but still shape Western views today, quoting sociologist Robin DiAngelo's bestselling book, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (2018).
The first exhibition quotes "White Fragility," a bestseller on race relations, as an opening statement
Another temporary exhibition presents the results of a collaborative partnership between researchers from Berlin and the Museums Association of Namibia, looking into the Herero and Nama genocide. It includes work from internationally renowned Namibian fashion designer Cynthia Schimming. Calls for 'radical transparency'
But will the Humboldt Forum's defensive efforts convince critics?
This was a topic of discussion at Berlin's international literature festival during a panel titled "Decolonizing Worlds: Loot, Booty, Art," held on September 14. It brought together German historian Götz Aly, Ghanaian curator Nana Oforiatta Ayim and French art historian Benedicte Savoy.
Leading the restitutions debate, Benedicte Savoy is a prominent Humboldt Forum critic
Savoy, who resigned from an advisory board of the Humboldt Forum in 2017 in disagreement with the museum's way of dealing with colonial history, warned against "false transparency" that can be read in the institution's approach.
In her view, the museum's attempts to be transparent, which only came "following enormous public pressure," is "really not enough," she said. "It has to be honest transparency."
She pointed out, as an example, the euphemistic vocabulary used in the exhibition's short 500-character labels, which primarily describe violent colonialists as collectors "serving" in the German army.
"It's creating fog with words. That's almost worse than not having anything at all," she said.
The Luf Island boat
One of the most impressive exhibits of the Ethnological Museum is a 15.2-meter (50-foot) boat that was transported from the Island of Luf (part of today's Papua New Guinea) to Berlin in 1904.
Historian Götz Aly looked into how the boat landed in the Berlin museum. His book, Das Prachtboot (The Prestige Boat), describes the German army's massacre on the island, which took place 20 years before the boat was actually acquired.
Aly said it was "unbelievably easy" to find information on Germany's impact on the island, especially compared with his previous work, on the Nazi era, where documents have largely been destroyed. "It was precisely documented and the files are all there," he told DW at the Berlin literature festival. "But no one was interested."
Several others boats from Luf Island were destroyed by German colonialists
Published in May, Aly's research was another bombshell for the Humboldt Forum. During a tour for the press in June, the institution was criticized for not addressing the violent colonial history related to the boat that had been uncovered by the historian.
Meanwhile, the museum has reacted by sending a filmmaker, Martin Maden, to search for leftover traces of the culture that was decimated by German colonialists.
Maden actually managed to track descendants of the people who built the Luf Island boat. For now, the successors are not reclaiming the boat itself, lacking resources for its preservation and display, but they have stated their interest in regaining their lost tradition: "The knowledge has to be brought back to us," says Stanley Inum in the film that is part of the exhibition, adding that they plan to come to Berlin to examine the boat in order to build a new one.
Maden and Aly have both been invited to discuss their findings on the Luf Island boat at the museum on October 20.
Acceptance for the paradigm shift?
There will always be space for improvement in what the museum has described as an "ongoing process," but provenance researcher Christine Howald feels that the "paradigm shift has now been absolutely accepted" within the institution.
"For curators, it is clear, it is no longer a question of preserving the collections forever," Howald told DW. "We want to restitute where we should restitute, and even in cases of legitimate acquisitions when items are simply culturally important for another society. Many steps have been taken in this direction."
This article was updated on Sept.22, from a previous article published on Sept. 20.
Frida Kahlo self-portrait set to smash records at auction
Issued on: 22/09/2021 -
An undated photo released on September 22, 2021 courtesy of Sotheby's New York shows Frida Kahlo's self-portrait "Diego y yo"
Handout SOTHEBY'S/AFP
New York (AFP)
A Frida Kahlo self-portrait featuring her husband Diego Rivera is tipped to sell for more than $30 million at auction in New York, Sotheby's said Wednesday.
"Diego y yo" (Diego and I), painted in 1949, "is poised to shatter" Kahlo's current auction record of $8 million set in 2016, the auction house said in a statement.
The artwork, which will be the star lot of Sotheby's big November sale, is also expected to smash the record for a painting by a Latin American artist.
"Los Rivales," a 1932 work by Rivera, with whom Kahlo had a passionate and tumultuous love affair, is currently the most valuable -- Christie's sold it for $9.8 million in May 2018.
"Diego y yo" is emblematic of Kahlo's self-portraits, known for their intense and enigmatic gaze that made the Mexican painter, a feminist icon, famous around the world.
In the painting, Rivera's face appears on Frida's forehead, above her distinctive eyebrows and dark eyes from which a few teardrops fall.
The depiction of Rivera, who at the time was close to Mexican actress Maria Felix, as a third eye symbolizes the extent to which he tormented her thoughts, art experts say.
Kahlo and Rivera married each other twice. She died aged just 47 in 1954.
"Diego y yo" last sold at Sotheby's for $1.4 million in 1990.
Looted art: Mexico, Panama protest Munich house auction
Pre-Columbian artifacts are up for sale at an auction house in Munich, although Mexico claims to be the rightful owner of 74 pieces. Is this a case of stolen goods?
Numerous Latin American countries have called to stop an auction of pre-Hispanic artifacts in Munich, saying there is no legal basis for their sale.
The controversial auction was set to take place as planned on Tuesday. The 324 artifacts on offer in Munich, most of which are vessels, coins and jewellery, date roughly from 1500 B.C. to 1460 A.D. The stone face mask of an Olmec dignitary is the most valuable object in the auction, with an estimated price of €100,000 ($117,000).
Ambassadors from the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC) asked the auction house to suspend the sale at a press conference on Tuesday morning. They also called on German authorities and the German public to step in.
The auction of objects from seven countries violates the national laws of the respective countries, international law and "possibly German law," they explained during the conference, adding that it is "worrying that the moral right of our Indigenous people is being violated in this way."
Mexico claims auction items
The controversy began with a complaint filed with the Mexican Attorney General's Office and a letter from Mexico's culture minister, Alejandra Frausto.
Frausto informed the auction house in a letter that 74 items in the auction catalog had been identified as belonging to Mexico.
The auction house responded with a statement saying that all the artifacts on offer had "proof of provenance that the objects are in Germany legally." All objects had been investigated by the Art Loss Register, they said.
Mexico's Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto has called for the auction to be stopped
The Art Loss Register is a private database for lost and stolen artworks, founded in 1991 by the International Foundation for Art Research, art trade associations and auction houses. Dealers can use the database to research the provenance of artworks before a planned auction, for example.
If the respective object is not found in the database, the register confirms with a certificate that it was not reported as stolen or lost at the time of the search. However, this does not completely rule out the possibility that theft or loss occurred and was not included, as the register is not linked with other databases.
Panama calls for objects to be removed
Panama has also called for the auction house to withdraw from sale seven pre-Columbian artifacts, namely Cocle Parita and Cocle Conte-style pottery vessels.
In a statement on Monday, the Panamanian Foreign Ministry said it had informed its German counterpart about "the disagreement with the sale of these objects, as they could be part of Panamanian historical heritage," according to a statement reported by the AFP news agency. The Central American country's embassy said it wanted experts from the Panamanian Culture Ministry to determine their origin and the legal situation surrounding them.
According to the auction house's website, the seven Cocle Parita- and Cocle Conte-style pottery vessels are among more than 300 pre-Hispanic objects from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia and Peru set for auction on Tuesday.
Mexico's ambassador to Germany, Francisco Quiroga, warned potential buyers in a Twitter note on Monday: "To the potential buyers we say: This trade is tainted with illegality and insensitivity."
Referring to items dating back more than 500 years but valued at only a few hundred euros, he said: "If something sounds too good to be true, don't be surprised if it turns out to be false." The auction house was not available for comment.
It is unclear what concrete demands Mexico's Culture Ministry has made beyond the cancellation of the auction. In Mexico's view, the sale of the artifacts is a criminal offense under Mexican law, and such sales contribute to smuggling and cross-border organized crime.
Clothing brands also targeted
Mexico's Culture Ministry has already been making headlines with similar claims that reach beyond the art world. Back in June, it accused three international clothing companies, including the Spanish fashion chain Zara, of cultural appropriation. The ministry claimed companies had used patterns of Indigenous population groups in their collections without any benefit to the communities.
Mexico's Culture Ministry took a swipe at Zara for using a pattern based on an Indigenous design
The patterns are said to be based on traditional patterns of the Mixteca community in the southwestern state of Oaxaca. Culture Minister Frausto had announced last year that Mexico would no longer tolerate cultural appropriation without compensation. The ministry aims to protect the country's cultural heritage.
Mexico has previously objected to auctions of pre-Columbian art objects in France and the United States, as well as other countries. Latin America historian Stefan Rinke, speaking with German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk Kultur, said such protests have been seen as symbolic and are used by the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to secure the votes of Mexico's Indigenous population.
Germany's controversial past
Germany has been at the center of several controversies surrounding art restitution, which have continued to the present day. There have been numerous debates, for example, around the ethnological collections of Berlin's newest museum, the Humboldt Forum. Many of the items were acquired during the colonial period, including the Benin Bronzes, masterpieces taken during a savage plundering of the Kingdom of Benin by British troops in 1897.
Germany is also dealing with the topic of art restitution in the context of World War II, when the Nazis systematically plundered Jewish art collections in Germany. There have been many cases in which art dealers profited from the persecution of Jewish collectors, and it's not uncommon for auction houses to be involved.
This article was translated from German with additional information from AFP
GURLITT COLLECTION: GERMANY'S MOST INFAMOUS NAZI-LOOTED ART TROVE
Carl Spitzweg, Playing the Piano, ca. 1840
This drawing by Carl Spitzweg was seized in 1939 from Jewish music publisher Heinri Hinrichsen, who was killed at the Auschwitz death camp in 1942. It was acquired by Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt — and later found among the spectacular collection of works hoarded by his son, Cornelius Gurlitt. The work has now been handed over to Christie's auction house at the request of Hinrichsen's heirs.
Ancient Gilgamesh 'dream tablet' to go back to Iraq
UN and US officials will return a stone inscription bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh to their counterparts from Iraq at a ceremony in Washington this week.
The 'dream tablet' is imprinted with cuneiform script
UNESCO officials will return a stone inscription bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known works of literature in the world, to Iraq, the UN agency has said in a statement.
They will hand the tablet to their counterparts from Iraq at a ceremony in Washington on Thursday, September 23, at the Smithsonian Institution, the statement said.
Some 17,000 other artifacts that were also looted following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 will be returned to Baghdad at the event.
"By returning these illegally acquired objects, the authorities here in the United States and Iraq are allowing the Iraqi people to reconnect with a page in their history," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said, adding that this restitution was a "major victory over those who mutilate heritage and then traffic it to finance violence and terrorism." 'Unprecedented' restitution
In July, the US Department of Justice announced it would be returning the artifacts to Iraq.
Calling the restitution "unprecedented," Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nazim said in a press statement at the time that it was "the largest return of antiquities to Iraq" and a "result of months of efforts by the Iraqi authorities in conjunction with their embassy in Washington."
Speaking to DW, Iraqi historian Abdullah Khorsheed Qader, who is an archaeologist and professor at the Salah-al-Din University in Erbil, northern Iraq, and director of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage, said he was elated the objects were being brought back to his country. "Feeling great and hopeful because of the positive responses from the United States of America," he told DW in an email in July. Stolen during the US invasion
"Most of these artifacts were part of the materials that were looted from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad during the US invasion," Elizabeth Stone, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the Stony Brook University in New York, told DW.
Stone has been a part of various archaeological expeditions to Iraq, including a notable one in 2012, where she and her team excavated close to the site of Ur, the home of the biblical figure of Abraham.
According to Stone, these objects left Iraq as part of an illegal trade in antiquities. "It was clear to everyone that these had been stolen from the Museum since they had catalog numbers on them and so could not have come from illegal excavations."
Some objects were confiscated by customs officials, but others were bought by Cornell University and Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain, Stone said.
Hobby Lobby's involvement
Hobby Lobby was in the news recently after it was revealed the business had acquired a rare tablet in cuneiform script, inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The object was bought to display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC — the institution is funded by the family of David Green, Hobby Lobby's founder.
On July 27, a New York court ordered the forfeiture of the object, which was reportedly purchased from the family of a London coin dealer by an American antiquities dealer, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
"The antiquities dealer and a US cuneiform expert shipped the tablet into the United States by international post without declaring the contents as required. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognized it as bearing a portion of the Gilgamesh Epic. The tablet measures approximately 6 inches by 5 inches [15 x 12 centimeters] and is written in the Akkadian language," according to the press statement.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Sumerian poem is considered one of the oldest works of literature, and together with several thousand other objects, comprises one of the largest caches of archaeologically important artifacts stolen from Iraq during its turbulent years in the past few decades.
According to UNESCO, the Gilgamesh tablet was stolen in the 1990s, following the Gulf War, emerging fraudulently in the US market in 2007.
Illegal excavation, theft and smuggling of historical artifacts is an ongoing problem — especially in Iraq and Syria — with black market dealers, smugglers and members of the "Islamic State" (IS) exploiting the chaotic situation in the region, where it is relatively easy to find antiquities and sell them abroad.
WHAT'S LEFT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF PALMYRA?
IS strikes again
What is now left of the ancient ruins at Palmyra - known as the "Pearl of the Desert" - is uncertain after a new strike by IS militants on Thursday. This photo shows the face of statue at a destroyed museum in March 2016. Syrian government forces had recaptured Palmyra that month from jihadists, who view the UNESCO-listed site's ancient ruins as idolatrous. 12345
Iraqi officials prepare
Meanwhile, archaeologists like Qader are happy that efforts to bring back the treasures have borne fruit. "Iraqi contacts with the American side made it clear that the smuggled antiquities are in the safe hands of the American Homeland Security," Qader says. Embassy officials had been communicating for many years to recover these pieces and "this has become a reality, finally," adds Qader.
He hopes that the rest of the world, too, will step in and help recover other lost artifacts. Meanwhile, the archaeologist and his colleagues are busy laying the groundwork for re-establishing archaeological institutions that were damaged during years of war and conflict.
Together with US organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Delaware, Qader is training young professionals and educating the community.
One important goal of his program is "restoring confidence and self-belief in the Iraqi Museum community and archaeological professionals by building and strengthening a national conservation program for cultural heritage."
EXCITING ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES OF 2021
Hellenistic-era warship in sunken city
A Greek warship found in the sunken city of Heraklion in the Abi Qir Bay in Egypt, is the latest discovery of very rare Hellenistic-era ships. Heraklion - also known as Thonis - was hit by earthquakes, tsunamis, rising sea levels, and soil liquefaction at end of the 2nd century BC. The ship was docking near the temple of Amun, when the entire city collapsed, burying it under the debris.
This article was updated from a previous version published on July 30, 2021.
Early humans moved into subarctic climates earlier than thought, study says
Excavations at Bacho Kiro Cave have unearthed new artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal occupations, some of which have shown early humans moving through subarctic climates earlier than thought. Photo by Tsenka Tsanova/MPI-EVA
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Humans have been living on all but one of Earth's continents for thousands of years, but exactly how Homo sapiens successfully dispersed across the planet remains an open question.
Most models suggest early humans relied on warmer climatic conditions to move into northern environs, but a new survey of archaeological materials suggests humans were enduring frigid conditions -- like those typical of present-day northern Scandinavia -- much earlier than previously thought.
According to the new research, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, early human populations were surprisingly adaptable and resilient.
"Using these new insights, new models of the spread of our species across Eurasia will now need to be constructed, taking into account their higher degree of climatic flexibility," study co-author Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute, said in a press release.
For the study, scientists focused on human habitation inside Bacho Kiro Cave, an important archaeological site in Bulgaria.
Researchers analyzed archaeological materials dating back thousands of years, including the remains of herbivores butchered by human occupants.
From these materials, scientists extracted paleoclimate data, which allowed researcher to produce a detailed record of what local climate conditions were like at the times when humans were occupying the cave.
The technique offers a better idea of the context of local climates, as opposed to more common correlations made between archaeological data and climatic archives from different locations, said study co-author Kate Britton.
"It really gives us insight into what life was like 'on the ground,'" said Britton, who is also a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of Aberdeen
Few archaeological sites can offer both evidence of human habitation and reliable paleoclimate data, making it difficult to do the kinds of analysis conducted since Bacho Kiro Cave.
"Due to the time consuming nature of the analysis and the reliance on the availability of particular animal remains, oxygen isotope studies or other ways of generating climatic data directly from archaeological sites remain scarce for the time period when Homo sapiens first spread across Eurasia," said lead study author Sarah Pederzani, who is also a researcher at the Max Planck and Aberdeen.
Pederzani spent a year drilling into the teeth of ancient animals recovered from the cave. Using stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry, researchers were able to precisely date the animals remains, as well as collect details about the local climate conditions.
"Through this time intensive analysis that included a total of 179 samples, it was possible to obtain a very highly resolved record of past temperatures, including summer, winter and mean annual temperature estimates for human occupations spanning more than 7,000 years," said Pederzani.
The latest analysis followed a multiyear effort to recover archaeological materials from Bacho Kiro Cave. Deposits from the cave's lowest portion yielded a variety of animal bones, stone tools, pendants and even human remains.
The artifacts suggest humans had begun spreading into southeastern Europe from the Levant as early as 45,000 years ago -- tolerating subarctic conditions as they moved into the region.
Island-hopping: Genetics reveal how humans settled remote Pacific
Issued on: 22/09/2021 -
People in the Marquesas islands are genetically close to the people of Easter Island nearly 4,000 kilometres away
GREGORY BOISSY AFP/File
Paris (AFP)
Easter Island's famous megaliths have relatives on islands thousands of miles to the north and west -- and so did the people who created them, a study said Wednesday.
Research showed that over a 250-year period separate groups of people set out from tiny islands east of Tahiti to settle Easter Island, the Marquesas and Raivavae -- archipelagos that are thousands of miles apart but all home to similar ancient statues.
"These statues are only on those islands that are closely connected genetically," the study's lead author Alexander Ioannidis of Stanford University told AFP.
Using cutting-edge analysis of modern DNA, Ioannidis and his team were able to map and date the first Polynesians' path of settlement, which began in Samoa and fanned out across the Pacific between the years 830 and 1360.
"This had been an open problem since Captain Cook first noticed that the people on the Polynesian islands were all speaking the same language," Ioannidis said.
The expansion happened rapidly -- over about 17 generations -- outpacing major changes in language or culture that could have served as markers, the findings show.
The researchers were able to piece together the puzzle of trans-Pacific migration by comparing the genetic material in 430 present-day inhabitants across 21 islands.
The outward expansion from Samoa unfolded westward to Fiji, Tonga in the south, and then to Raratonga in the east around the year 830. - 'Small, ring-like islands' -
A few hundred years later, descendents on Raratonga travelled to settle present-day Tahiti and the Tuamotu archipelago just beyond.
It is from the small, long-overlooked sand-bar islands of Tuamotu that the most ambitious forays set out, Ioannidis said.
Now sparsely-populated thanks in part to their role as nuclear test grounds, the Tuamotus span an area equal to the distance between England and Greece.
The study notes that the low-lying islands likely emerged from below sea level only a few hundred years before Polynesians spread there.
Ancient Polynesians expanded to remote islands from the Tuamotu archipelago GREGORY BOISSY AFP/File
"They needed to have a maritime culture to get in between these small, ring-like islands," Ioannidis said.
"I think that explains in some part why it's from there that we see the longest-distance voyages going out."
This became ground zero for the megalith-building peoples who came to inhabit the Marquesas, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Raivavae.
The timing of those expansions fits with earlier DNA-based findings by Ioannidis and his team showing that Native Americans -- probably from the northwestern coast of South America -- and Polynesians mingled around the year 1200.
- Ancient clues in modern DNA -
"The date we found for that contact is very close to the dates we find for these voyages out from the Tuamotus to settle these remote islands," Ioannidis said.
Today's Polynesian populations have mixed heritage, with traces of Europe, Africa and other places in their ancestry.
While genetic studies of ancient peoples have tended to focus on ancient DNA samples unearthed from archaeological sites, Ioannidis said his team had been able to home in on telltale sequences buried in modern DNA.
They used a software to analyse samples from 430 inhabitants across 21 different islands to identify recurring gene patterns specific to Polynesians, blocking out DNA sequences associated with European or other ancestry.
Otherwise, "you would just find that the islands with the 'most Polynesian' DNA were more related," Ioannidis explained.
Map of Polynesia showing early eastward migration which began in the IX century
Cléa PÉCULIER AFP/File
"That's not interesting from a historical perspective."
His team used the genetic clues to draw a kind of family tree across the Pacific, east-to-west.
Since DNA strands shorten as they are re-combined over generations, the length of shared segments revealed how many generations passed between each settlement.
GIRLS & Women's skateboarding soars in Brazil after Tokyo Olympics
Issued on: 22/09/2021 -
Young girls are embracing skateboarding in Brazil in the wake of the silver medal Olympic performance by their compatriot Rayssa Leal, at age 13
Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
Sao Paulo (AFP)
When she saw 13-year-old Brazilian Rayssa Leal win silver in the first-ever street skateboarding competition at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Giovanna Alves Farias only had one wish: to start flying around a skate park herself.
"I nearly cried. Seeing a 13-year-old girl like me win a medal was so unexpected!" Giovanna told AFP. "Before the Games, I was already interested in skateboarding, but after seeing that, I told my dad: 'Let's go!'"
Leal's success is fueling a boom in skateboarding -- long a sport dominated by men -- among women and girls in Brazil, who see themselves soaring to new heights, maybe even at the Olympics.
Right after the Olympics ended in Tokyo, the teen started to test out her abilities at a park in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near the mega-city of Sao Paulo.
Ana Clara Agostinni, who is only 12, had already been working on her skateboarding tricks for some time, but the frenzy around Leal -- known as the "Little Fairy" -- kickstarted her desire to put her skills to the test in competition.
"I am thinking about what it would be like to take part in the Olympics, and I am training," she said.
Young girls in Poa, a suburb of Sao Paulo, get ready to take their turn skateboarding Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
Clad in her helmet and wrist guards, Ana Clara admits she is also looking for the adrenaline rush that hurling herself off obstacles in the park gives her.
"I love the feeling of going fast and going higher and higher, so I get more confident and try some new tricks," she says.
- 'Mission accomplished' -
Leal first jumped to viral fame at the age of seven, thanks to a video of her doing skateboarding tricks dressed as Tinker Bell from the Peter Pan's children stories.
Brazilian skateboarder Dora Varella, who was on the Olympic team in Tokyo, says seeing all the young girls take up the sport is rewarding
Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
Julia de Souza Lima Martins, who is eight, wants to follow in her footsteps.
"My aunt recorded the Olympics, I watched the competition and I'm trying to imitate the tricks," Julia says at the Sao Bernardo do Campo park with a smile. Her helmet is bubble gum pink.
For 20-year-old Dora Varella, another member of Brazil's Olympic skateboarding team in Tokyo, seeing more and more young girls take up the sport has been one of the greatest rewards.
"When we came back from Japan, I saw there was a real bump in interest in skateboarding, and I said to myself: 'Mission accomplished!'"
"There are more and more skateboarding classes for small kids and I see there are often more girls than boys. That's what is really awesome about the Olympics," added Varella, who is a professional.
Dora Varella was one of the only girls at the skate park when she started 10 years ago Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
When Varella started skateboarding 10 years ago, she was one of the only girls out on the ramp, but she says she never worried about it.
"In skateboarding, everyone shares the same passion. Whether you are five or 40, man or woman, we're all treated equally," she says.
- 'Do something good with my life' -
But male chauvinism was certainly alive and well in skateboarding in the past, according to 46-year-old Renata Paschini.
Skateboarder Marcela Rosa is just seven years old
Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
"When I was younger, boys said to me, 'Hey, look at the girl here bugging us' or 'the girl trying to pick us up'," she said.
In the 1980s, skateboarding was considered a sport for delinquents in Brazil, and was even banned at one point in Sao Paulo by city officials.
"I come from a very traditional family and I ran the risk of dishonoring them if they found out I was skateboarding. I had to hide my board in a backpack instead of carrying it under my arm," Paschini said.
In 2009, she created the Association for Women Skateboarders, which organized competitions for women and girls and made sure the Sao Bernardo do Campo skate park had hours reserved for women.
The sport also became an outlet for at-risk youth, such as those served by the non-governmental organization Social Skate, created in 2012 in Poa, a poor suburb of Sao Paulo.
This young girl is wearing sneakers from the Disney movie "Frozen" as she skateboards Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP
The group gives free skateboarding lessons to nearly 150 youths, 44 of them girls like 13-year-old Keila Emilyn Amaro da Silva.
"I'm devoting myself to training so I can go to the Olympics and do something good with my life," she says.
US ex-defense secretary testifies in Theranos fraud trial
Issued on: 22/09/2021 -
Former US defense secretary Jim Mattis, shown in this 2019 file image, testified in the Theranos fraud trial in California
ALEX WONG GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
San José (United States) (AFP)
Former US defense secretary Jim Mattis took the stand Wednesday in the high-profile fraud trial of fallen biotech star Elizabeth Holmes, telling a Silicon Valley court he was captivated by the promises she made about her blood testing system.
Mattis served on the board of Holmes's now defunct startup Theranos, which looked set to revolutionize medical testing before it crashed in a blaze of fraud claims.
"I had been rather taken with the idea that with one drop of blood and remote capability you could basically test for a broad array of problems," Mattis told the court in California's San Jose, the city at the heart of Silicon Valley.
He added that he invested nearly $85,000 in the startup, noting that was significant amount of money for him. Political grandees like Henry Kissinger and Mattis were drawn to the Theranos's board and even media mogul Rupert Murdoch invested his cash in what seemed to be a sure-fire winner. The bold name backers are potential witness in Holmes' fraud trial.
When Holmes launched the diagnostics firm Theranos in 2003 at age 19, the charismatic Holmes promised results that were faster and cheaper than traditional laboratories, running an analytical gamut on just a few drops of blood.
Trouble is, prosecutors say, the tests did not do what was promised, and she now faces fraud charges that potentially carry decades in prison.
Holmes was lauded as a visionary, drawing comparisons with Apple founder Steve Jobs, but the company unraveled as fraud allegations stacked up.
At one point, she had a net worth estimated at $3.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine. At the time, she was the youngest billionaire not to have inherited her fortune.
In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission presented the Theranos case as a lesson for Silicon Valley, a warning against the "fake it till you make it" culture.
EXPANDING THE ISLAND Canaries volcano razes hundreds of buildings as lava creeps to sea
Issued on: 22/09/2021
Although there have been no casualties, the damage to land and property has been enormous
DESIREE MARTIN AFP
Los Llanos de Aridane (Spain) (AFP)
A vast wall of molten lava creeping down the slopes of Spain's La Palma island has now destroyed 320 buildings, as distraught residents watched the flow inching towards the sea on Wednesday.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Sunday in the south of La Palma, one of seven islands that make up the Canary Islands archipelago off the coast of Morocco.
The EU's Copernicus observation programme said the lava now covered 154 hectares and had destroyed 320 buildings, double the figure it had given 24 hours earlier.
Experts are expecting the number to rise as the slow-moving mass slides towards the island's western coast, when its interaction with the sea is likely to cause explosions and trigger toxic gas emissions.
So far, 6,100 people have been evacuated, among them 400 tourists who were taken to the neighbouring island of Tenerife, the Canaries regional government said.
Although there have been no casualties, the damage to land and property has been enormous, with the Canaries regional head Angel Victor Torres estimating the figures to be well over 400 million euros ($470 million).
In a desperate attempt to divert the flow, firefighters could be seen using heavy machinery to dig a channel towards a nearby ravine as the advancing lava glowed in the background.
"It's not for a want of trying," they tweeted alongside a video of the digger hard at work. - 'Battle of titans' -
Experts working on the Pevolca volcanic emergency plan say there are two lava flows: one to the north and one further south, which is barely moving.
David Calvo, an expert with the Involcan volcanology institute, said the lava had "slowed down a lot because it is reaching a very flat area but it is gaining height. There are areas where it is already 15 metres thick".
If the lava -- which has a temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit) -- continues to move at the same pace, it will reach the sea later on Wednesday or possibly Thursday.
When the lava reaches the shore, it will send clouds of acidic, toxic gas into the air DESIREE MARTIN AFP
And when it gets there, there will be "a huge battle of the titans between the water and the lava," he said.
"With those contrasting temperatures, it causes massive explosions and a fragmentation of the lava which shoots out like missiles."
- Exploding fragments -
Involcan experts witnessed the same phenomenon in 2018 at the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii where 16 people were hurt by the explosion of fragments and one person "almost lost a leg", he said.
When the lava reaches the shore, it will also send clouds of acidic, toxic gas into the air, generated by the interaction with the seawater, which can be dangerous to inhale, experts say.
The volcano was also putting out some 10,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide emissions per day which showed "the pace, the intensity of the eruption is not going to decrease", Calvo said.
Involcan believes the eruption of La Cumbre Vieja could last "between 24 and 84 days".
The eruption on this island of some 85,000 people, the first in 50 years, may have caused huge damages over a vast area, but so far nobody has been hurt.
"Dealing with this crisis won't end when the lava reaches the sea," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.
"It will end when we've managed to rebuild everything the volcano has destroyed and will destroy."
EXPLAINER: Wide dangers ahead for Spanish volcanic island 1 of 6
FILE - In this Monday Sept. 20, 2021 file photo, lava erupts from a volcano near El Paso on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain. A long-dormant volcano on a small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean erupted on Sunday Sept. 19, 2021, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Huge plumes of black-and-white smoke shot out from a volcanic ridge where scientists had been monitoring the accumulation of molten lava below the surface. (Kike Rincon/Europa Press via AP, File)
MADRID (AP) — A small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean is struggling days after a volcano erupted, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, and authorities are warning that more dangers from the explosion lie ahead. Here is a look at the volcanic eruption on La Palma and its consequences:
WHERE DID THE VOLCANO ERUPT?
The eruption occurred Sunday afternoon on La Palma, one of eight volcanic islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago, which is strung along Africa’s northwestern coast. It was the second volcanic eruption in 50 years for the island, which has a population of 85,000.
A 4.2-magnitude quake was recorded before the eruption. Huge plumes of black-and-white smoke shot out from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge after a week of thousands of small earthquakes. Unstoppable rivers of molten lava, some up to 6 meters (20 feet) high, are now flowing downhill toward the ocean, engulfing everything in their path.
The Canary Islands are a volcanic hot spot popular with European tourists due to their mild year-round climate. Mount Teide, on the nearby island of Tenerife, is one of the world’s tallest volcanoes and Spain’s highest mountain. On La Palma, people live mostly from farming.
WHAT CAUSED THE ERUPTION?
Scientists had been closely monitoring a build-up of underground magma in La Palma for a week before the eruption, detecting more than 20,000 earthquakes — most too small to be felt. That is known as an “earthquake swarm” and can indicate an approaching eruption.
Three days before the eruption, the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported that 11 million cubic meters (388 million cubic feet) of molten rock had been pushed into Cumbre Vieja.
After the 4.2-magnitude earthquake, two fissures belched bright red magma into the air. The lava flowed in streams down the mountain slope.
HOW BAD HAS THE DAMAGE BEEN?
The close scientific monitoring meant that authorities were able to quickly evacuate people when the volcano erupted and no casualties have been reported.
But the damage to property, infrastructure and farmland has been considerable. So far, the eruption has destroyed around 190 houses and forced the evacuation of 6,000 people. The molten rock has also entombed banana groves, vineyards and crops of avocado and papaya. Some irrigation networks have been lost, groundwater contaminated and roads blocked.
The rivers of lava are now moving toward the island’s more populated coast and the Atlantic Ocean, where they could cause new problems.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS NOW?
Authorities say residents face a host of dangers in the coming days and weeks.
When the lava reaches the Atlantic Ocean, it could cause explosions and produce clouds of toxic gas. Scientists monitoring the lava measured it at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit). In the island’s last eruption in 1971, one person died after inhaling the gas emitted as lava hit the water.
Earthquakes on the island have continued, rattling nervous residents. A new fissure opened late Monday after what the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said was a 3.8-magnitude quake, and began spewing more lava. Scientists say more new lava vents and cracks in the earth could emerge, endangering new areas.
The volcano has been producing between 8,000 and 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide a day, the Volcanology Institute said. Sulfur dioxide is smelly and irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat. It can also cause acid rain and air pollution.
The eruption has also produced volcanic ash, which can cause respiratory problems. Authorities on La Palma told people in the wide areas where the ash was falling to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed.
HOW LONG WILL THE ERUPTION GO ON?
Scientists say the lava flows on La Palma could last for weeks or even months. The last eruption on the island, in 1971, went on for just over three weeks.
The last eruption on all of the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. It lasted five months. ‘My whole life in a van’: Islanders flee Spanish volcano
Lava from a volcano eruption flows on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. The volcano on a small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean erupted on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Experts say the volcanic eruption and its aftermath on a Spanish island could last for up to 84 days. The Canary Island Volcanology Institute said Wednesday it based its calculation on the length of previous eruptions on the archipelago. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
TODOQUE, Canary Islands (AP) — A wall of lava up to 12 meters (40 feet) high bore down on a Spanish village Wednesday as islanders scrambled to save what they could before the molten rock swallowed up their homes following a volcanic eruption.
The lava, which was still spewing from Sunday’s eruption in the Canary Islands archipelago off northwest Africa, advanced slowly down hillsides of La Palma to the coast, where Todoque was the last village between it and the Atlantic Ocean. Residents hoping to save some belongings queued up so they could be escorted briefly into the village.
In the distance, the lava grew thicker and slowed down to 4 meters (13 feet) per hour after reaching a plain. Smoke poured out of its leading edge as it destroyed everything it touched.
Experts said the lava could either take several days to cover the remaining 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) to the sea or it could instead spread more widely on land, burying more residential areas and farmland.
Javier López said his house for the past three decades appeared to be in the lava’s path. He and his relatives had been staying at a friend’s house with the few documents, photos and basic belongings they had grabbed Monday as they were evacuated.
“I’ve put my whole life in a van,” López told The Associated Press, waiting for his turn to try to recover a vehicle and other valuables he had left behind.
“This is probably going to be the last time I see my home,” he said. “Or, in the best-case scenario, the house will remain isolated by the lava and inaccessible for who knows how long.”
Firefighting crews trying to save as many houses as possible worked nonstop to try to open a trench to divert the lava flow.
Melisa Rodríguez, another Todoque resident, was trying to stay positive and calm.
“It’s hard to think straight about what you want to save, but we are only allowed in for one hour and you don’t want to take longer because that would be taking time away from others,” she said.
The eruption was following an “expected pattern” but there were still many uncertainties, said Vicente Soler, a volcanologist with Spain’s top scientific body, CSIC.
“It is difficult to say if the lava will reach the sea,” he told the BTC broadcaster. “If the source remains active and with a steady flow, it will be easy for it to arrive at the ocean. But if there are new lava diversions, that will slow down the flow’s head.”
But authorities and locals were taking no chances. As the lava headed toward the island’s more densely populated coast, 1,000 people were evacuated late Tuesday from Todoque, bringing the total number of evacuated on the island of La Palma to over 6,800.
The few evacuees not staying with relatives or friends were being relocated Wednesday from a military barrack to a hotel, with the most vulnerable being moved to a nursing home. Island officials announced a plan to purchase unused housing to accommodate those who lost homes due to the eruption.
Speaking in New York after attending the U.N. General Assembly, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was confident that local, national and European authorities would contribute to the response to the eruption and the area’s reconstruction.
Authorities say more dangers lie ahead for residents, including more earthquakes, possible new lava flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain. The lava, whose temperature exceeds 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 F), could cause explosions, trigger landslides and produce clouds of toxic gas when it hits the ocean.
As volcanic ash fell over a wide area, authorities advised people to keep children inside as much as possible due to possible breathing difficulties.
The volcanic eruption and its aftermath could last for up to 84 days, the Canary Island Volcanology Institute said, basing its calculation on previous eruptions in the archipelago that were also followed by heavy lava flows and lasting seismic activity.
Tuesday night saw a sharp increase in the number of smaller volcanic eruptions that hurl rocks and cinders high into the air, it said.
The lava has swallowed up around 320 buildings so far and now covers 154 hectares (380 acres), the institute said. It has also ruined banana groves, vineyards and other crops. Prompt evacuations have helped avoid any casualties.
The volcano has also been spewing out up to 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide a day, which also affects the lungs, it said.
Life on the rest of La Palma, which is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point, has been largely unaffected, with undeterred tourists landing for previously scheduled holidays. Air traffic remained normal.
The Canary Islands are a popular destination for European tourists due to their mild year-round climate.
___
Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.
Toxic gas, new rivers of molten lava endanger Spanish island
Lava from a volcano eruption flows destroying houses on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. A dormant volcano on a small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean erupted on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Huge plumes of black-and-white smoke shot out from a volcanic ridge where scientists had been monitoring the accumulation of molten lava below the surface.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
EL PASO, Canary Islands (AP) — As a new volcanic vent blew open and unstoppable rivers of molten rock flowed toward the sea, authorities on a Spanish island warned Tuesday that more dangers lie ahead for residents, including earthquakes, lava flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain.
Several small earthquakes shook the island of La Palma in the Atlantic Ocean off northwest Africa on Tuesday, keeping nerves on edge after a volcanic eruption on Sunday. The island, with a population of 85,000, is part of the Canary Islands archipelago, a key tourist destination for Europeans.
Authorities said the new fissure demonstrated that the area was unstable and unsafe, and kept people at least 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away.
The rivers of lava, up to six meters (nearly 20 feet) high, rolled down hillsides, burning and crushing everything in their path, as they gradually closed in on the island’s more densely populated coast. One was bearing down on Todoque, where more than 1,000 people live, and where emergency services were preparing evacuations.
So far, the eruption has destroyed around 190 houses and forced the evacuation of 6,000 people.
“The truth is that it’s a tragedy to see people losing their properties,” said municipal worker Fernando Díaz in the town of El Paso.
The lava’s advance has slowed to about 120 meters (400 feet) an hour, according to the head of the Canary Island Volcanic Emergency Plan, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, and wasn’t expected to reach the Atlantic Ocean before Wednesday.
Canary Islands government chief Ángel Víctor Torres said “when (the lava) reaches the sea, it will be a critical moment.”
The meeting of the lava, whose temperature exceeds 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 F), with a body of water could cause explosions and produce clouds of toxic gas. Torres asked locals to remember the island’s last eruption in 1971, when one person died after inhaling the gas emitted as lava met the water.
A change in the wind direction blew the ashes from the volcano across a vast area on the western side of the island, with the black particles blanketing everything. Volcanic ash is an irritant for the eyes and lungs.
The volcano has also been spewing out between 8,000 and 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide — which also affects the lungs — every day, the Volcanology Institute said.
Adding to the dangers, the emergence of new cracks in the earth spewing lava cannot be ruled out, said Nemesio Pérez, head of the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, who noted there is “important superficial seismic activity in the area.”
The new fissure that appeared Monday night is 900 meters (3,000 feet) north of the Cumbre Vieja ridge, where the volcano first erupted Sunday after a week of thousands of small earthquakes. That earthquake swarm warned authorities that an eruption was likely and allowed many people to be evacuated, avoiding casualties.
The new fissure opened after what the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said was a 3.8-magnitude quake.
Scientists say the lava flows could last for weeks or months.
Torres described the lava-hit region as a “catastrophe zone” and said he would request money to rebuild roads, water pipes and create temporary accommodations for families who have lost their homes as well as their farmland.
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are to visit the area on Thursday.
___
Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.
Canary islanders flee as volcano vents its fury
Issued on: 20/09/2021
Evacuations from residential areas flanking the volcano had go on through the night
DESIREE MARTIN AFP
Los Llanos de Aridane (Spain) (AFP)
Throwing a handful of belongings into her car alongside goats, chickens and a turtle, Yahaira Garcia fled her home just before the volcano erupted, belching molten lava down the mountainside.
She and her husband, who live near the Bodegon Tamanca winery at the foot of La Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, decided to leave on Sunday afternoon just before the eruption kicked off.
"We decided to leave even before they gave the evacuation order after a really terrible night of earthquakes... my house shook so much it felt like it was going to collapse," the 34-year-old told AFP by phone.
"We were on our way when we realised the volcano had erupted." He left in his car and she took hers to go and pick up her parents and their animals: four goats, two pigs, 20 chickens, 10 rabbits, four dogs and a turtle.
Police shot video of the slow collapse of a building as the walls caved in under a wall of red hot lava
DESIREE MARTIN AFP
"I am nervous, worried, but we are safe," Garcia said.
In residential areas flanking the volcano, hundreds of police and Guardia civil officers were charged with evacuations, with the work continuing well into the night, police footage showed.
"This is the police. This is not a drill, please vacate your homes," they shouted through loud speakers, their vehicles flashing blue lights on the drove through the dark streets.
Elsewhere, the footage showed officers evacuating goats in pick-up trucks in an area which is above all agricultural.
They also filmed the slow collapse of a building whose walls caved in under a wall of red hot lava.
- '700 metres from our home' -
Although some 5,500 people have been evacuated and "around 100 homes destroyed", there have so far been no reports of injuries.
As the lava beat an unstoppable path down the mountainside, Angie Chaux, who wasn't home when the alarm was raised, rushed back to try and salvage some possessions.
Experts don't know how long the volcano will remain active nor when the flow of lava will stop
DESIREE MARTIN AFP
"When we got there, the road was closed and the police gave us three minutes to get our things," said the 27-year-old.
It was 4:30 am and there were people and cars everywhere.
"Right now, we're watching the news and the lava is 700 metres from our home. I'm really worried because I don't know what's going to happen to it."
Miriam Moreno, another local resident, said they had been ready to leave when the order came with emergency backpacks stocked with food and water.
"You can hear a rumble as if planes were flying overhead and see smoke out of the window although at night you could actually see the lava about two kilometres away," she said, admitting they were worried about "toxic gases".
Evacuees face an anguished wait with no-one sure when they will be able to go home -- or what they will find when they get there
DESIREE MARTIN AFP - Anguished wait -
For the evacuees, it is an anguished wait to see what happens with no-one sure when they will be able to go home -- or what they will find when they get there.
"The worst of it is the anxiety about losing your home. My house on the beach is fine for the moment but I don't know when I'll be able to go back," said 70-year-old Montserrat Lorenzo from the coastal village of El Remo.
And experts do not know how long the volcano will remain active nor when the flow of lava, which officials said was "about six metres (20 feet) high", will stop.
"Now they are saying the volcano could continue erupting for three months... we don't know when the volcano will settle down," said Garcia.
"There are volcanoes in the Canary Islands that have erupted for days and others that have continued for several years," he told Spain's public television.
Toxic gas, new rivers of molten lava endanger Spanish island
EL PASO, Canary Islands (AP) — As a new volcanic vent blew open and unstoppable rivers of molten rock flowed toward the sea, authorities on a Spanish island warned Tuesday that more dangers lie ahead for residents, including earthquakes, lava flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain.
Lava from a volcano eruption flows destroying houses on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Several small earthquakes shook the island of La Palma in the Atlantic Ocean off northwest Africa on Tuesday, keeping nerves on edge after a volcanic eruption on Sunday. The island, with a population of 85,000, is part of the Canary Islands archipelago, a key tourist destination for Europeans.
Authorities said the new fissure demonstrated that the area was unstable and unsafe, and kept people at least 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away.
The rivers of lava, up to six meters (nearly 20 feet) high, rolled down hillsides, burning and crushing everything in their path, as they gradually closed in on the island's more densely populated coast. One was bearing down on Todoque, where more than 1,000 people live, and where emergency services were preparing evacuations.
So far, the eruption has destroyed around 190 houses and forced the evacuation of 6,000 people.
“The truth is that it’s a tragedy to see people losing their properties,” said municipal worker Fernando Díaz in the town of El Paso.
The lava’s advance has slowed to about 120 meters (400 feet) an hour, according to the head of the Canary Island Volcanic Emergency Plan, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, and wasn't expected to reach the Atlantic Ocean before Wednesday.
Canary Islands government chief Ángel Víctor Torres said “when (the lava) reaches the sea, it will be a critical moment.”
The meeting of the lava, whose temperature exceeds 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 F), with a body of water could cause explosions and produce clouds of toxic gas. Torres asked locals to remember the island's last eruption in 1971, when one person died after inhaling the gas emitted as lava met the water.
A change in the wind direction blew the ashes from the volcano across a vast area on the western side of the island, with the black particles blanketing everything. Volcanic ash is an irritant for the eyes and lungs.
The volcano has also been spewing out between 8,000 and 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide — which also affects the lungs — every day, the Volcanology Institute said.
Adding to the dangers, the emergence of new cracks in the earth spewing lava cannot be ruled out, said Nemesio Pérez, head of the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, who noted there is “important superficial seismic activity in the area."
The new fissure that appeared Monday night is 900 meters (3,000 feet) north of the Cumbre Vieja ridge, where the volcano first erupted Sunday after a week of thousands of small earthquakes. That earthquake swarm warned authorities that an eruption was likely and allowed many people to be evacuated, avoiding casualties.
The new fissure opened after what the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said was a 3.8-magnitude quake.
Scientists say the lava flows could last for weeks or months.
Torres described the lava-hit region as a “catastrophe zone” and said he would request money to rebuild roads, water pipes and create temporary accommodations for families who have lost their homes as well as their farmland.
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are to visit the area on Thursday.
___
Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.
Aritz Parra And Renata Brito, The Associated Press
