Who were the victims of Maya sacrifice? Ancient DNA reveals an unexpected finding

Katie Hunt

CNN
Wed, June 12, 2024 

The ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has long been associated with human sacrifice, with hundreds of bones unearthed from temples, a sacred sinkhole and other underground caverns.

A long-held misconception is that the victims were often young and female — an impression that has stuck in the contemporary imagination and become hard to dislodge even as more recent research has suggested that both men and women were among those sacrificed as well as children. A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature adds unexpected detail to that more complex picture.

The new analysis, based on ancient DNA from the remains of 64 people who archaeologists believe had been ritually sacrificed and then deposited in an underground chamber, found the victims were all young boys, many of whom were closely related.

“There were two big moments of surprise here,” said lead study author Rodrigo Barquera, a researcher in the department of archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

“We were thinking, influenced by traditional archaeology that we would find, a non-sex-biased burial or mostly girls,” he said.

“And the second one (was) when we found out that some of them were related and there were two sets of twins.”

The El Castillo pyramid towers over the ruins at Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Chichén Itzá was one of the largest Maya cities. - Donald Miralle/Getty Images
Analysis of skeletons can only reveal so much

The lurid notion that the Maya only sacrificed young women or girls is largely a myth that originated from early and romantic accounts of Chichén Itzá’s sacred sinkhole, or cenote, said Rubén Mendoza, an archaeologist and professor in the department of social sciences and global studies at California State University, Monterey Bay. He wasn’t involved in the study but is an editor of a new book on ritual sacrifice in Mesoamerica.

“This characterization of Maya sacrifice was catapulted to the forefront through media depictions of young maidens (aka virgins) being hurled to their deaths at the Sacred Well,” he said via email.

However, the mystery of exactly whom the Maya sacrificed has been hard to untangle because it’s impossible to identify the sex of a child’s skeleton by analyzing bones alone.

While the pelvis and a few other bones can reveal whether the skeleton was an adult male or female, the telltale differences only emerge during puberty and, even among adults, natural variation can make accurate identification difficult.

This difficulty makes genetic analysis particularly valuable, said study coauthor Christina Warinner, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences and Anthropology at Harvard University and a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. But the impact of ancient DNA, which has revolutionized archaeology in Europe and higher latitudes, has been more limited in tropical areas because DNA degrades more easily in warm conditions. However, recent advances in ancient DNA technology are expanding its reach, she said.

“We’re getting better and better at retrieving even very small amounts of DNA. And suddenly, we now have the ability to do these large-scale genomic studies and apply ancient DNA as a tool to help us understand the past in Mesoamerica,” Warinner said. “I am so excited about that because this is an area of the world which has this incredibly rich history.”

The sacred cenote, or sinkhole, in Chichén Itzá was found to contain human remains and offerings of valuable goods. - Geography Photos/Universal Images Group Editorial/Getty Images
Boys were younger than 6 when they were sacrificed

The team behind the new study was able to extract and sequence ancient DNA from 64 out of around 100 individuals, whose remains were found scattered in a water chultún — an underground storage chamber discovered in 1967 about 400 meters (437 yards) from the sacred sinkhole in Chichén Itzá.

With radiocarbon dating, the team found that the underground cavern was used for 500 years, although most of the children whose remains the team studied were interred there between AD 800 and 1,000 — during the height of Chichén Itzá’s political power in the region.

All the children were boys, who had been drawn from the local Maya population at that time, according to the DNA analysis, and at least a quarter of them were closely related to at least one other child in the chultún. The group also included two pairs of twins as well as siblings and cousins. Most of the boys were between 3 and 6 years old when they died.

Analysis of variants or isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the bones also suggested that the related children had similar diets. Together, according to the authors, these findings suggested that related male children were likely selected in pairs for ritual sacrifices linked to the chultún.

“It is surprising to me to see family members, given the enormous time breadth of the deposit, which by radiocarbon dates is now confirmed to have been used over a time span of 500 years, during which these bodies slowly accumulated,” said Vera Tiesler, a bioarchaeologist and professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán, in an email. She wasn’t involved in the research.

While the study authors believe this finding reveals the only known burial of sacrificed male children, Tiesler said that the ancient Maya ritual calendar was complex, likely with different “victim profiles” for different religious occasions throughout the year and time cycles.

Skull racks, like the reconstructed one here at Chichén Itzá, were used to display skulls publicly. - Johannes Krause
How twins were identified

To avoid sampling the same child twice, the team used the same bone from each child — the petrous bone in the base of the skull.

“Since each child only has one of those, you can be sure that we didn’t double sample any individuals,” Warinner said. “And that’s actually what allowed us to identify identical twins.”

Twins hold a special place in the origin stories and spiritual life of the ancient Maya, Warinner added, particularly a story called the “Hero Twins” in which two brothers descend into the underworld to avenge their father’s death.

It’s not clear how or exactly why the children were sacrificed, but sacrificial methods in use at the time included decapitation and removal of the heart.

“I think we have to remember that death, and everything that these rituals imply, were completely different to us, because we have a very different view of the world than the one that they had,” Barquera said. “For them, it was not losing a child, not losing one of their kids, but an opportunity given by whatever forces to be part of this special burial.”
Connections to present-day community

Warinner said the study was the first time that genetic material recovered from ancient Maya remains was detailed enough to be sequenced, providing a richer picture of who the victims were and to whom they were — and are — related.

The team compared the ancient DNA with that of 68 residents of the present-day Maya community of Tixcacaltuyub. The researchers found the two shared a close genetic signature.

“They were super happy to learn that they were related to the people that once inhabited Chichén Itzá,” Barquera said.

The team also showed how the residents’ immune systems had been shaped by the biological consequences of diseases that European colonizers brought. The researchers found the local Indigenous population today has genetic variants that may have protected them against salmonella infection, thought to be the pathogen behind the devastating 1545 cocoliztli epidemic.

María Ermila Moo-Mezeta, a Mayan coauthor of the study and research professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán, said the new analysis was significant for her, as a professor of Indigenous origin, to preserve the “historical memory of the Mayan people.”

It was fascinating to learn how past suffering had left a stamp on the immune system of present-day Maya communities, Tiesler added.

“This study is decisively new; a starting point for further, more specific inquiries about the convoluted trajectory of the Maya,” she said.

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4,000-year-old 'Seahenge' in UK was built to 'extend summer,' archaeologist suggests

Tom Metcalfe
Tue, June 11, 2024 

People excavating seahenge on a beach.


A mysterious Bronze Age wooden circle known as "Seahenge" on England's east coast was built more than 4,000 years ago in an effort to bring back warmer weather during an extreme cold spell, a new study suggests.

The theory is a new attempt to explain the buried structure — a rough circle about 25 feet (7.5 meters) across, made from 55 split oak trunks surrounding a "horseshoe" of five larger oak posts around a large inverted oak stump — that was controversially dug up and moved into a museum in 1999.

Other researchers have suggested it was built to commemorate an important individual who had died, or that it was a place for "sky burials," where the dead would be pecked by carrion-eating birds.

But the idea that Seahenge and another circle of buried timbers found beside it were built to "extend summer" fits with what's known about the climate at the time, said David Nance, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom and the author of the new study.

Related: Prehistoric henge accidentally discovered in England in search for Anglo-Saxon hermit

The construction took place during "a prolonged period of decreased atmospheric temperatures and severe winters and in late springs placing these early coastal societies under stress," he said in a statement. "It seems most likely that these monuments had the common intention to end this existential threat."

Nance detailed his study of the two Seahenge structures — known formally as Holme I and Holme II — in a research paper published April 2 in GeoJournal.
Ancient timbers

Nance said dating with dendrochronology — a technique that studies the annual growth rings of trees still visible in ancient timbers — showed that both Seahenge circles were built from trees felled in the spring of 2049 B.C.

He noted that the horseshoe of five larger posts inside the main Seahenge circle seems to have been aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice. It may have mimicked a cage for a young cuckoo, designed to extend summer by keeping the bird singing — a belief described in ancient folklore, he suggested.

Seahenge exhibit in museum

Nance explained that the cuckoo — a symbol of fertility to the ancient Britons — was believed to stop singing on the summer solstice and to return to the "Otherworld," taking the warm summer weather with it.

He proposed that Seahenge and the second wooden circle built beside it were used for different rituals, but with the same intent: "to end the severely cold weather."

Seahenge gained national attention in late 1998 when erosion at the site near the village of Holme-next-to-the-Sea exposed its timbers and central tree stump. However, local people had known about it for many years.

The structure got its name from British newspapers, which likened it to the famous Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire that many archaeologists now think was a Neolithic ceremonial center and burial ground.
Controversial excavation

In the 1990s, Seahenge occupied a salt marsh near the beach, which was protected from the sea by sand dunes and mudflats. Authorities were concerned that further erosion at the site would destroy the wooden monument, so it was completely excavated in 1999.

But the excavation was controversial because many people thought the monument should have stayed in place, and questions have been raised about the role of the archaeological television show "Time Team," which featured the excavations in a special episode.

Partly as a result of that controversy, the ancient wooden circle built next to Seahenge — Holme II — has been left in place near the beach and is being monitored for erosion.

Archaeologist Brian Fagan, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara who wasn't involved in the latest study, told Live Science that fine-grained climate data from recent studies meant researchers could now look more closely at links between archaeological sites and climate change in a way that would have been unthinkable even a generation ago.

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"This is an imaginative look at a complex problem, which brings in interpretations from the intangible as well as climatology," he said in an email. "It's an original approach, but it is bound to be controversial."

And Stefan Bergh, an archaeologist at the University of Galway in Ireland who also wasn't involved, said the paper created a "highly useful framework" for insights into the beliefs and religions of Bronze Age peoples.

"We as archaeologists too often shy away from pushing the envelope beyond our comfort zone of hard material evidence," he told Live Science in an email. "It is, however, often when reaching outside that comfort zone that archaeology really comes alive, which Nance's paper is an excellent example of."


‘Incredibly fascinating’ Roman, Iron Age and Bronze Age settlements unearthed in UK dig

Issy Ronald, CNN
Wed, June 12, 2024 

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Roman, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements in Essex, southern England, in findings described as “incredibly fascinating.”

The settlements, discovered during excavations before a planned water pipeline was laid, provide a “real picture into what ordinary people’s lives were like,” Benjamin Sleep, a senior archaeology and heritage consultant at Stantec – the company employed to oversee the archaeological element of the scheme – told CNN Tuesday.

Evidence suggests that there was Late Bronze Age activity in the area, dating back roughly 3,000 years, Sleep said.

It was already widely known that the Romans had settled in Essex, but excavating an area as part of a pipeline project offered the opportunity to investigate a huge swathe of the countryside, rather than the more common archaeological sites in or around towns and cities, he added.

The largest settlement found was a farmstead with surrounding buildings that archaeologists believe housed livestock and provided space for metalworking or pottery making, Sleep said.

And the artifacts they uncovered show “that the Romans didn’t come in and wipe everything out and then set up their own settlements,” he said. “It’s very much they’re integrating with communities.”

There was a continuation of certain pottery types, he added, explaining that objects made from locally sourced material continued to be used alongside imported Samian pottery from northern France.

“It’s sort of like you’d have your fine china, then you’d have your everyday pottery,” he said. “These things tend to melt into one another in the archaeological records, which shows there’s continuity there.”

Pottery allowed archaeologists to learn more about the interactions between Roman and British culture. - Oxford Archaeology

This pottery from northern France, or Gaul as it was known in Roman times, also highlights the level of international trade present at the time, even in the countryside and not just in port cities, he added.

Archaeologists excavated 14 areas across the 19.5-kilometer (12.1-mile) pipeline.

“Not all of those 14 areas turned up absolutely amazing archaeology… the reason they were chosen was because they showed something was going on,” Sleep said. “And then in a couple of these locations we found really interesting stuff.”

The excavation then took place over seven months, with four months of trial trenching from April to September 2023 – where archaeologists investigate the potential of the site – before three months of further excavations, Daniel Wilson, a project manager at the Essex and Suffolk Water Company, told CNN.

“We were all quite excited by the fact that the team had found these finds,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to engage with local communities on another level and embellish their local history… We already knew of Roman activity in the area… but this adds to it and confirms it.”

Now, the pottery, objects and coins that archaeologists unearthed will go to the local museum, while all the features uncovered have been recorded, photographed and mapped so they will be available to use by future researchers, Sleep said

WASHINGTON STATE

History of abandoned concrete barge in DuPont was mystery for years. Finally, answers

Becca Most

THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Tue, June 11, 2024 

An abandoned concrete barge has been sitting off the coast of DuPont for more than 60 years. If you time it right, at low tide you can follow a long sandbar littered with barnacled logs and metal debris from an old wharf that sat in the Nisqually Reach and climb inside or on top.

The ship’s walls are scaly with slick black mussels and oysters peppered with crustaceans. Water drips off rusting steel beams that splay out from what remains of the concrete interior. Gulls and bald eagles squawk overhead as long-legged birds dip for fish in the surf nearby.

Not much is known about how the barge got there, what it carried, why it was made of concrete and how it came to rest, now split in half at the end of the Nisqually Spit. The News Tribune talked to nearly a dozen researchers and historians to find the answers.

Kaz Griffin of Tacoma climbs aboard The Cement Ship, the remains of a scuttled concrete barge on the beach in DuPont, Washington, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

The search for truth about ‘Concrete Hulk’

There’s been a lot of speculation about the “The Cement Ship” or “Concrete Hulk” over the years, and finding its history has stumped many archivists.

The News Tribune reached out to the DuPont Historical Society, Navy Region Northwest, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Archives at Seattle, the Tacoma Public Library, the Foss Maritime Co., the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum and Pretty Gritty Tours before finding some answers. Most of those organizations had little to no information about the ship’s origins and history, sometimes to the surprise of their own researchers.

Carol Estep, with the DuPont Historical Society, told The News Tribune last week there wasn’t much information about the ship in the city’s archives. A visitor told her a couple years ago it might have been a cement oil barge used by the Navy.

Cmdr. J. Overton, with the Navy Region Northwest, told The News Tribune the local Navy museum had no information on the ship but believed it was a U.S. Army ship rather than a Naval vessel and recommended contacting the National Archives.

From there, the Branch Chief of the National Archives, Onaona Guay, told The News Tribune its textual-reference archivists suggested the barge was likely a merchant ship called the Captain Barker, but did not find any direct record matches in their archive branch.

A later search of the National Archives in Seattle found the “Cement Ship” in a list of merchant vessels of the United States under the name Captain Barker, according to director of Archival Operations Valerie Szwaya. It was built as a water tender in 1919 by the Great Northern Concrete Shipping Co. in Vancouver, Washington. Later it served as Foss 103 Barge and was home-ported in Seattle, Szwaya said.

Spencer Bowman is a reference and archivist librarian with the Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room. Bowman told The News Tribune after reviewing Northwest Room collections, including shipwreck literature, Foss maritime histories and the Ships and Shipping Database, “Regrettably, I found very little information on this cement ship, which was very surprising.”

The book “Exploring Maritime Washington” by Erich Ebel briefly listed the ship as a water tender built in 1919 that was later renamed Captain Barker and sunk in the 1970s, Bowman said. He recommended contacting the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum.

Nikola Troup, the operations and collections coordinator of the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum told The News Tribune on Friday she couldn’t find any mention of Captain Barker or Foss 103 in Foss logs or the museum’s database.

Foss Maritime chief operating officer Chris Mack Jr. told The News Tribune on Friday the company also did not have any supporting information on the ship nor any records of ownership.

Michael Ogle of Tacoma, brings his brother William Ogle of Carmel, Indiana, explore around The Cement Ship, a scuttled concrete barge on the beach in DuPont, Washington, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

A concrete ship experiment gone wrong

Chris Staudinger is co-founder, researcher and tour guide of Pretty Gritty Tours. Staudinger said after he received questions from locals about the concrete barge a few years ago, he started his own deep-dive investigation. What he found was consistent with other sources: The ship was indeed built by the Great Northern Concrete Shipbuilding Co. in 1919 and named the Captain Barker.

Staudinger pointed to a blog article written by concrete-ship enthusiasts Richard Lewis, an Irishman, and Erlend Bonderud of Norway, who have chronicled the history of concrete ships around the world, including the Captain Barker and several sister ships built in the same time period.

One of “The Crete Fleet” blogs titled, “WWI Concrete Water Tank Boats - Built in Vancouver, Washington” and published Aug. 13, 2023 explores the history of the first ocean-going concrete “tank boats” built to transport fresh water in the United States following World War I. Concrete ships were built as an experiment after a scarcity of vessels during wartime combined with a shortage of steel, the article said. Staudinger said people were also interested in exploring the durability and affordability of concrete as a shipbuilding material.

The Great Northern Concrete Shipbuilding Co. of Vancouver built five “tank boats” designed to carry 52,000 gallons of fresh water each. They were launched between Feb. 20, 1920 and May 31, 1920, according to the article. Only two of those ships survived more than one year and the rest sank as a result of storms.

“The boats were not properly constructed for sea trips, and the trip down the coast should never have been undertaken,” sea captains told the News-Pilot on Jan. 29, 1920 after the fact.

Staudinger said the shape of the ships made them ride too low in the water and made them easy to tip. He also believed there were no baffles inside the ships, which would have prevented the volume of water inside from causing a rocking motion with its kinetic force, thus making it less likely to flip over.

The interior of The Cement Ship, a scuttled concrete barge on the beach in DuPont, Washington, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

Captain Barker was one of the ships to survive longer than a year. It launched on March 3, 1919 but was placed in dry dock after its first sea trials found its steering ability unsatisfactory, according to “The Crete Fleet” article. Enos Crawford was assigned captain on Jan. 18, 1920 and the Captain Barker arrived in Astoria from Vancouver on Jan. 21, 1920, towed by tugboat USAT Slocum.

In October 1921 Captain Barker was offered for sale at Fort Canby, Astoria, and in June 1923 it was bought by Rouse Towboat Co., which was part of Foss Launch and Tug Co., with the plan to have the ship towed from Astoria to Seattle for use in local waters, the article said.

It was renamed Foss 103 and used as a sludge-disposal barge. In the mid-1960s it was scuttled as breakwater at the end of Nisqually Spit. At some point the boat split in two, likely the result of yawing in the tide, the article said.

A petition to dissolve the Great Northern Concrete Shipbuilding Co. was filed Oct. 9, 1920, bringing an end to the building of concrete tanks in Vancouver, according to the article. Another one of the ships’ sisters’ wrecks, the Captain Bootes, survives today in the breakwater of Everett, Washington.

Staudinger said Foss 103 was scuttled intentionally in an effort to stop ship traffic and waves from eroding the Nisqually Reach shoreline.

“This one was especially favorable for the action because of it being concrete,” he said. “They knew it was going to stick around for longer.”

Each of the ‘tank boats’ cost about $80,000 at the time, which equates to about $1.4 million today, according to “The Crete Fleet” article.

Walkers on the DD-Wilkes Observatory Trail, where a cutoff down a steep hillside takes you to The Cement Ship, a scuttled concrete barge on the beach in DuPont, Washington, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
If you visit

At the lowest tides you can walk to the “Concrete Hulk” by parking at DuPont Civic Center and following the Sequalitchew Creek Trail through a forested canyon to Puget Sound along Pebbles Beach. The trail follows the historic route of the Dynamite Train, which was owned by the DuPont Co. and ended at a wharf on Puget Sound to ship dynamite worldwide.

Explorer Ernest Shackleton's last ship found off Labrador's south coast, says expedition

CBC
Wed, June 12, 2024 

Royal Canadian Geographical Society announced on Tuesday it found polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Quest 390 metres off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. (Royal Canadian Geographical Society/X - image credit)


Royal Canadian Geographical Society announced on Tuesday it found polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Quest 390 metres off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society says it has found polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final ship, the Quest, off Labrador's south coast, 390 metres underwater. (Royal Canadian Geographical Society/X)The last vessel helmed by famed Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton — lost for more than 60 years — has been discovered on the ocean floor, less than half a kilometre off Labrador's south coast, says the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Expedition leader John Geiger, the society's CEO, said the wreck was found in the Labrador Sea, lying at a depth of 390 metres. He added it was in the vicinity of where the ship had been reported to have sunk.

''This is a very important vessel. Historically it was the final expedition ship of Sir Ernest Shackleton," he said Wednesday morning at a news conference at the Marine Institute in St. John's. "As many of you know, he died on this ship on his final expedition of the Shackleton–Rowett expedition, which set out to initially explore Canada."

Using sonar operated by Marine Institute staff, the international team say they found the Quest off the coast near Battle Harbour, on Sunday, five days into its expedition, which left June 5.

Shackleton died at the age of 47 aboard the Quest in 1922 near island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic.

Shackleton died at the age of 47 aboard the Quest in 1922 near island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. (Getty Images)

Shackleton died of a heart attack aboard the Quest in 1922, at the age of 47, near the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic during a voyage to Antarctica.

The Quest, a schooner-rigged steamship, remained in service for decades, including as a minesweeper in World War Two and as a sealing vessel. In 1962 it struck ice and sank off Labrador's coast.

Search director David Mearns said he's certain the vessel the team found is the Quest.

"It's largely intact. We'll be very excited for the second phase of the expedition, which is to actually photograph and visually document the shipwreck and the artifacts," said Mearns.

Mearns hopes that will take place later this summer.

They were searching in an area of about 24 square nautical miles, he said.

"That search box was determined by our analysis of the uncertainty of the navigation position where the ship was lost. We only had a single position, just one position, for the sinking."

Mearns said the team had to determine how accurate the position was.

"Because when we go out searching for shipwrecks we don't search for X's. We don't go to spots. We search for boxes. And those boxes have to give us the highest possible chance of finding the shipwreck."

Expedition leader John Geiger, the society's CEO, says the Quest was found in the Labrador sea and near where it was reported to have sank in 1962.

Expedition leader John Geiger, the society's CEO, says the Quest was found in the Labrador Sea, near where it was reported to have sun in 1962. (Royal Canadian Geographical Society)

Shackelton's granddaughter Alexandra Shackleton was a patron of the expedition to find the Quest.

"It is perhaps fitting that the ship should have ended its storied service in Canadian waters. I have long hoped for this day and am grateful to those who made this incredible discovery," she said in the statement.

Traditional Chief Mi'sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nation, another expedition patron, said he was happy the vessel had been found, noting it had sunk in waters off Mi'kmaw, Innu and Inuit territories.

"I was happy to share local knowledge with the captain and crew of the search vessel ahead of time to find Quest and honoured that Miawpukek Horizon Marine assisted in planning the expedition."


Wreck of the last ship of famed Anglo-Irish explorer Shackleton found off the coast of Canada

Associated Press
Updated Wed, June 12, 2024 









Sir Ernest Shackleton, a noted explorer and writer, is shown as he arrived in New York on the Aquitania, on a hurried business trip to Canada, Jan. 30, 1921. The wreck of the last ship belonging to the famed explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, June 9, 2024, sitting on its keel under 390 meters of churning, frigid water. 

(AP Photo, File)

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland (AP) — The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica, has been found off the coast of Labrador in Canada, 62 years after it went missing. The wreck was found by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, sitting on its keel under 390 meters (1,280 feet) of churning, frigid water, the society said. Its towering mast is lying broken beside it, likely cracked off as the vessel was sucked into the depths after it struck ice on May 5, 1962.

“I heard that some Americans were interested in finding Quest, and I just had this picture in my mind of a few billionaires on yachts, up in the Labrador Sea,” John Geiger, leader of the Shackleton Quest Expedition and the chief executive of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, told an audience at the Memorial University’s Marine Institute in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Wednesday.

“We’ve done it the right way. It’s not about anyone’s ego, it’s about telling great stories and celebrating some of the finest human attributes,” Geiger said.

He called the Quest a historically very important ship.

Shackleton’s death aboard the ship in 1922 marked the end of what historians consider the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration. The explorer led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and he was in the early stages of a fourth when he died of a heart attack. He was 47.

The Norwegian-built Quest was a schooner-rigged steamship, and Shackleton bought it specifically to travel to Canada’s High Arctic, Geiger said. But the Canadian government at the time axed those plans, and Shackleton decided to set sail once again for the Antarctic.

He died when it was just off South Georgia, east of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

After the explorer’s death, the Quest was used for Arctic research and then returned to its original intended use as a sealing vessel. It sank in 1962, after it was damaged by ice in the Labrador Sea while on a whaling trip.

The vessel appears to be in “incredible condition,” though it was damaged when it slammed into the seabed, Geiger said.

It won’t be brought to the surface — that would be far too expensive, he added — but it will be thoroughly documented and studied. A crew will likely head out some time before the end of summer to begin taking footage of the vessel with a remotely operated vehicle.

In 2022, researchers discovered another one of Shackleton’s ships, the Endurance in 10,000 feet — about 3,000 meters — of icy water, a century after it was swallowed up by Antarctic ice.

A team of marine archaeologists, engineers and other scientists used an icebreaker ship and underwater drones to locate the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, near the Antarctica Peninsula.

The expedition Endurance22 embarked from Cape Town, South Africa, in early February in a ship capable of breaking through 3-foot (1-meter)-thick ice.

The team, which included more than 100 researchers and crew members, deployed underwater drones that combed the seafloor for two weeks in the area where the ship was recorded to have sunk in 1915.

Shackleton never achieved his ambition to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. In fact, he never set foot on the continent during the failed Endurance expedition, though he did visit Antarctica during earlier voyages.

Wreck of polar explorer Shackleton’s last ship found

THE TELEGRAPH

Rozina Sabur
Wed, June 12, 2024

The Quest during the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic expedition in 1921-1922 - Royal Geographical Society


The ship on which Sir Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage has been rediscovered off the coast of Canada.

Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack aboard the Quest in 1922, aged 47, while trying to reach the Antarctic for a fourth expedition.

The vessel remained in use for another 40 years until it sank, but its link to the British-Irish adventurer has made the wreck legendary.

Locating Quest represented the “last discovery in the Shackleton story”, said Alexandra Shackleton, his granddaughter.

Shackleton has been lionised as a leading figure of the so-called “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration.

Shackleton leaving London on the Quest on Sept 17, 1921 - Central Press

“His final voyage kind of ended that heroic age of exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south,” said David Mearns, who directed the search to find the wreck.

He told the BBC the Quest was “in the pantheon of polar ships”.

The 111ft-long, schooner-rigged steamship was built for seal hunting, but continued sailing in various capacities for decades after Shackleton’s death, including in other exploratory voyages.

By 1962, the ageing vessel had returned to its original purpose and was being used by Norwegian sealers when thick sea ice pierced her hull and sent her to the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

All its crew were rescued, but the wreck has remained a last mystery of the age of polar explorers, until it was rediscovered in the depths of the Labrador Sea on Sunday by a team led by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).

The ship was located using sonar equipment in 1,280ft of water, sitting almost upright on the seafloor.

Other than damage to its mast, the vessel appears broadly intact.

The RCGS search team had scoured the Quest’s logs, navigation records, photographs and other documents to find its final resting place.

The Quest was found almost exactly where their research had suggested, but its exact coordinates are being withheld.

The vessel is a protected area for marine and wildlife, and the search team said it did not intend to touch the wreck.

However, it is planning a second visit later this year, using a remotely operated vehicle to photograph the ship.

Mr Mearns (R) directing the search for the Quest - Jill Heinerth

Alexandra Shackleton, the closest living relative to the explorer, and a patron of the RCGS survey, said she was thrilled by the discovery.

“For me, this represents the last discovery in the Shackleton story. It completes the circle,” she told the BBC.

Ernest Shackleton’s Lost Ship Found in Labrador Sea

Ash Routen
Wed, June 12, 2024

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society has announced the discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Quest, resting at the bottom of the Labrador Sea. The storied British polar explorer died aboard of a heart attack in 1922. The missing vessel was discovered off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on June 9. It is upright and well-preserved at a depth of 390 meters.

The Quest sank on May 5, 1962, after suffering ice damage while hunting seals. It is located in the traditional waters of the Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit people.

Following Shackleton’s death, the Quest was used in several polar expeditions, such as the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by the largely forgotten British adventurer Gino Watkins. It served in World War II and eventually did more routine maritime jobs before its demise as a sealing vessel.

“Finding Quest is one of the final chapters in the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton,” said John Geiger, the expedition leader and CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. “Shackleton was known for his courage and brilliance as a leader in times of crisis. The tragic irony is that his was the only death to take place on any of the ships under his direct command.”

A map illustrates Quest’s final voyage and the search area in the Labrador Sea. Map: Chris Brackley/Can Geo

Painstaking research pinpointed the ship

The search team, led by renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, consisted of many international experts. Through meticulous research, including analysis of historical documents, ships’ logs, and weather data, lead researcher Antoine Normandin identified the Quest’s location with impressive precision.

Mearns confirmed the find, stating, “Data from high-resolution side-scan sonar imagery corresponds exactly with the known dimensions and structural features of this special ship and is also consistent with events at the time of the sinking.”

The Quest embarked on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition from London on September 17, 1921. Shackleton referred to it as his “swan song,” and he died unexpectedly aboard on Jan. 5, 1922, while the ship was anchored at Grytviken Harbour, South Georgia.

In her final voyage, the Quest became trapped and crushed by ice, ultimately sinking after Captain Olav Johannessen and his crew evacuated. Johannessen noted the ship’s last recorded coordinates in a telegram.

The search for the Quest was not without its challenges. The team faced mechanical issues and a tight schedule, but persistence paid off. On June 9, after an extensive sonar scan, the Quest was found 2.5km from its last reported position.

The next phase of work will involve a detailed survey of the wreck using remotely operated vehicles. This will hopefully reveal the ship’s name on the wheelhouse and further illuminate Shackleton’s enduring legacy.

The post Ernest Shackleton’s Lost Ship Found in Labrador Sea appeared first on Explorersweb.

 

1,600-year-old fragment identified as oldest written account of Jesus Christ's childhood

NO MENTION OF TRUMP

Sheri Walsh

UPI
Wed, June 12, 2024 

A papyrus fragment, dating from the 4th to 5th century, was recently deciphered after being stored for decades in a university library in Hamburg, Germany. It has been identified by researchers as the earliest surviving writings about Jesus Christ's childhood. Photo courtesy of Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg/Public Domain Mark 1.0


June 12 (UPI) -- A recently deciphered manuscript, dating back to the 4th or 5th century and stored in a university library in Hamburg, Germany, has been identified by researchers as the earliest surviving account of Jesus Christ's childhood.

"Our findings on this late antique Greek copy of the work confirm the current assessment that the 'Infancy Gospel of Thomas' was originally written in Greek," said papyrologist Gabriel Nocchi Macedo from the University of Liège in Belgium.

The papyrus fragment, dating back more than 1,600 years, had gone unnoticed for decades at the Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library, until Macedo and Dr. Lajos Berkes from the Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin identified its true origin.

The small fragment, which measures just over 4 inches by 2 inches, contains thirteen lines of Greek letters from late antique Egypt. The content was originally thought to be part of "an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting is so clumsy," said Berkes. "Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized it could not be an everyday document."

The researchers believe the copy of the Gospel was created as a writing exercise -- given the clumsy handwriting and irregular lines -- in a school or monastery, which would make it a much earlier surviving copy of the gospel than the 'Infancy Gospel of Thomas' manuscript from the 11th century.

"The fragment is of extraordinary interest for research," said Berkes. "On the one hand, because we were able to date it to the 4th to 5th century, making it the earliest known copy. On the other hand, because we were able to gain new insights into the transmission of the text."

While the words in the document are not from the Bible, they describe a "miracle," according to the Gospel of Thomas, that Jesus performed as a 5-year-old child as he moulded soft clay from a river into sparrows and then brought them to life.

Newly deciphered manuscript is oldest written record of Jesus’ childhood: ‘Extraordinary’

Andrew Court

NY POST
Tue, June 11, 2024 




A newly deciphered manuscript dating back more than 1,600 years has been identified as the earliest known account of Jesus Christ’s childhood.

The manuscript, written on papyrus in either the 4th or 5th century, had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany, for decades and was long believed to be an insignificant document.

However, two experts have now decoded the text and say it is the earliest surviving copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

“The papyrus fragment is of extraordinary interest for research,” Lajos Berkes, a theology lecturer and one of the two men who deciphered the document, declared in a press release.

“It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,” the expert explained. “We first noticed the word Jesus in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized that it could not be an everyday document.”

The papyrus manuscript had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany. Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg / PD

The piece of papyrus contains a total of 13 lines in Greek letters and originates from late antique Egypt, which was a Christian society at that time.

The manuscript describes the beginning of the “vivification of the sparrows” — a story from Jesus’ childhood in which he turns 12 clay sparrows into live birds.

According to the text, Jesus was playing beside a rushing stream where he molded the sparrows from soft clay. When rebuked by his father, Joseph, the 5-year-old Jesus clapped his hands and brought the clay figures to life.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas describes Jesus’ childhood, but it is not included in the Bible. 

That story, described as Jesus’ second miracle, is a well-known part of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT).

The IGT describes Christ’s childhood, and its stories were both popular and widespread in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

However, the apocryphal text was not officially included in the Bible as some early Christian writers were doubtful of its accuracy.

The IGT is believed to have been first written down during the 2nd century; however, until now, a codex from the 11th century was the oldest known Greek version of the text.

“Our findings on this late antique Greek copy of the work confirm the current assessment that the Infancy Gospel according to Thomas was originally written in Greek,” Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, the other expert who helped decode the papyrus fragment, said. Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg / PD

The newly deciphered papyrus fragment predates that document by an astonishing 600 years.

“Our findings on this late antique Greek copy of the work confirm the current assessment that the Infancy Gospel according to Thomas was originally written in Greek,” Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, the other expert who helped decode the papyrus fragment, declared.

Both Macedo and Berkes believe the manuscript was written onto the papyrus fragment as a writing exercise at either a school or a monastery.

“From the comparison with already known manuscripts of this Gospel, we know that our text is the earliest,” Berkes stated.

German researchers decode earliest known written record of Jesus' childhood

Anders Hagstrom

FOX  NEWS

Wed, June 12, 2024 

German researchers decode earliest known written record of Jesus' childhood


Researchers in Germany have decoded what they say is the oldest-ever manuscript detailing Jesus Christ's life as a child.

The papyrus manuscript dates back more than 1,600 years old to the 4th or 5th century. The document had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany, as no one believed the document was of any significance.

"The fragment is of extraordinary interest for research," Lajos Berkes, a professor and one of the researchers who decoded the document said in a press release. "On the one hand, because we were able to date it to the 4th to 5th century, making it the earliest known copy. On the other hand, because we were able to gain new insights into the transmission of the text."

"It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy," he continued. "We first noticed the word Jesus in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized that it could not be an everyday document."


Researchers in Germany have decoded what they say is the oldest-ever manuscript detailing Jesus Christ's life as a child.

Berkes said the document is a fragment of the Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal book that was not included in the Bible. The gospel offers details about Jesus' life as a child before his ministry.

The poor handwriting in the document led Berkes to believe the manuscript was made as part of a writing exercise in a monastery or a school.

While there are only a handful of words in the manuscript, the researchers were able to determine that it is retelling the apocryphal story of the "vivication of the sparrows."

"Jesus plays at the ford of a rushing stream and molds twelve sparrows from the soft clay he finds in the mud. When his father Joseph rebukes him and asks why he is doing such things on the holy Sabbath, the five-year-old Jesus claps his hands and brings the clay figures to life," the press release stated.

While there are only a handful of words in the manuscript, the researchers were able to determine that it is retelling the apocryphal story of the "vivication of the sparrows."

Original article source: German researchers decode earliest known written record of Jesus' childhood


SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for JUDAS 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for GNOSTIC JESUS 

San Francisco becomes one of the first major US cities to declare 'sanctuary' status for transgender people

Taylor Penley
Wed, June 12, 2024 

FOX NEWS

San Francisco recognized Pride Month differently this year — by declaring itself a sanctuary for transgender and gender non-conforming people.

The city's Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday in favor of the sanctuary status, making San Francisco one of the first major cities in the nation to do so. The resolution symbolically indicates those identifying as transgender, gender non-conforming, intersex and two-spirit are safe to seek transitioning health care and that providers are similarly safe, Los Angeles' FOX 11 reported.

"We have seen an influx of refugees, not just from other countries, but from other states who are seeking care and seeking sanctuary," said San Francisco's director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives, Honey Mahogany, said.

Intersex-inclusive Pride Progress flag alongside a Transgender Pride flag on 10th June 2024 in London, United Kingdom.

The resolution comes as liberal-run communities express concern over laws cracking down on gender procedures, particularly for minors, in red states across the nation.

Lawmakers in Tennessee passed a bill criminalizing adults who help minors get transgender procedures. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure banning transgender treatments for minors, though a federal judge recently ruled key parts of that law unconstitutional.

San Francisco became one of the first major cities in the U.S. to declare sanctuary status for transgender people.

Other states have addressed transgender issues in other ways, including measures to ensure sex-segregated participation in sports.

Sacramento and West Hollywood have also declared themselves sanctuaries for transgender people, but San Francisco is the first major city to do so, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.



Those who support gender-transitioning care for minors insist it is crucial to their mental wellbeing.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2022 protecting transgender procedures in California by blocking state officials from enforcing other states' laws that crack down on transgender surgeries and drugs.

While proponents of such surgeries and medications insist they are crucial to protect the mental health of transgender children, opponents argue minors are not old enough to consent to body-altering treatments, especially those that could potentially leave them sterile.

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas fails in challenge to rules that bar her from elite women's races

Graham Dunbar
Wed, Jun 12, 2024

Swimming CAS Transgender Rules
University of Pennsylvania athlete Lia Thomas prepares for the 500 meter freestyle event at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, March 17, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas failed in her challenge against rules that stop her competing in elite women’s races because judges ruled she did not have standing to bring the case. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Wednesday, June 12, 2024, its panel of three judges dismissed Thomas’ request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing body.

 (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas failed in her challenge against rules that stop her from competing in elite women’s races because judges ruled she did not have standing to bring the case.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport panel of three judges dismissed Thomas’ request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing body, in a ruling released Wednesday.

World Aquatics banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races. It also created an “open” category for which transgender athletes would be eligible.

Thomas had asked the sports court in Switzerland to overturn the rules approved in 2022 that she said were invalid, unlawful and discriminatory.

Thomas called the CAS' decision “deeply disappointing” in a statement provided by her legal team. "Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities.” Thomas said the decision should be viewed as a call to action for trans women to ”fight for our dignity and human rights.”

Athlete Ally founder and executive director Hudson Taylor called it a “sad day for sports and for anyone who believes that trans athletes should have the opportunity for their experiences of discrimination to be heard and adjudicated like everyone else."

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president/CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement that Thomas deserves a chance to participate in her sport like all human beings who work hard and follow their dream.

“World Aquatics continues to spread disinformation about transgender people as a distorted way to ‘protect women,’" Ellis added. ”Transgender women are women and all athletes who want to play and follow the rules should have a chance to do so."

Thomas swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won an NCAA title in meets that are outside the World Aquatics competitive system, in which she was not registered.

The world swim body argued to CAS that Thomas was not a member of its member federation USA Swimming when the legal case was started. She also had not competed in female events “for the purpose of qualification or selection” for World Aquatics competitions, such as the Olympics or world championships.

“The panel concludes that she lacks standing to challenge the policy and the operational requirements in the framework of the present proceeding,” the court said in its ruling.

In January, the ruling said, USA Swimming granted her request for “self-identity verification” as part of its policy on athlete inclusion.

The judges said USA Swimming had no authority “to modify such scope of application” of the world governing body’s rules.

World Aquatics said it welcomed the CAS decision in a case “we believe is a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport.”

“World Aquatics is dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this pledge,” the governing body based in Lausanne said in a statement.

Swimming's policy on transgender athletes was followed by other top-tier Olympic sports, track and field, then cycling, in excluding from women's events those who have potentially gained lasting physical advantages from male puberty.

The International Cycling Union noted last year "it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes.”

Thomas was represented at CAS by Toronto-based Tyr, the legal firm that has represented two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya. Semenya is excluded from running in her specialist 800-meter event by World Athletics rules on athletes with differences in sex development who have elevated levels of testosterone.

The CAS judges declined World Aquatics' request for Thomas to pay its legal costs and other expenses incurred in the case.

The judging panel included two of the highest-profile CAS arbitrators: Thomas selected Richard McLaren, the Canadian investigator who helped prove the Russian doping scandal at the Sochi Olympics; and World Aquatics chose Ulrich Haas, a German law professor who helped judge celebrated cases involving Manchester City and Grand Slam tennis champion Simona Halep.

The CAS panel, which held a hearing in March, was chaired by a Paris-based Spanish arbitrator Carmen Núñez-Lagos.

The ruling was dated Monday, five days before the U.S. trials meet for the Paris Olympics starts in Indianapolis.

___

AP Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games


6 ways to know if you're transgender, according to Schuyler Bailar

Educator, author, and advocate Schuyler Bailar lays out six important points to consider from his new book "He/She/They."

Liberation from the gender binary in which we’ve all been placed is challenging and takes time, energy, and a lot of healing.

6 ways to know if you're transgender, according to Schuyler Bailar


The following is an excerpt from Schuyler Bailar’s new book He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters, on sale now. Bailar is an educator, author and advocate, as well as the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. His work has earned numerous honors, including NYC Pride Grand Marshall, the Out100, LGBTQ Nation’s Instagram Advocate of the Year and the Harvard Varsity Director’s Award.

One morning during the second month of my stay at the residential eating disorder treatment facility, I was on my way to the therapy center. I was wearing my “man jeans” — the one pair of jeans I had bought from the men’s section at the time. They had a tie-dyed pattern of aqua blue and light green. I looked down at my lap and legs as we drove and felt overwhelmingly negative toward my body. I tried to use the coping mechanisms my therapist had taught me about body disconnection and body dissatisfaction.

Why am I feeling this way? I asked myself. I also tried reframing, reminding myself that there was nothing wrong with my body. I thought about all that my body does for me and began repeating gratitude statements.

But then a question began burning in the back of my mind: “What if I don’t like how I look because I don’t look like a man?” And in that moment, my stomach turned and everything sank. I knew.

If I was honest with myself then, I knew unequivocally that I am transgender.


This knowing was a mapping of language and articulation to feeling — a feeling I’d had for as long as I could remember gender, one that had been nebulous until that moment. If I was honest with myself then, I knew unequivocally that I am transgender.

Over the coming years, I’d realize that this feeling and knowing was not situated in my jeans and how they fit me. In fact, contrary to popular belief about us, being transgender is not solely about one’s body and one’s physicality. For many, including myself, being transgender is a spiritual, emotional, as well as physical experience.

Of course, realizing that I was transgender in that moment did not immediately translate into words or declaration of identity. It most definitely did not mean I was ready for disclosure or teaching others about my experience. Like most of us, I needed time to let my brain catch up to my heart. In the coming months, I would meet more trans people, go to a few more gender workshops, and spend time digesting what it would mean to claim my truth for myself … and then in front of others. In finding community, I would continue to accumulate the language to understand and explain myself — something I am deeply grateful for today.

While some trans people feel that coming out is discovering a completely new part of themselves, for a majority of trans people, “coming out” is less a process of becoming something new than an unearthing of a part of ourselves we’ve buried, finally finding the words to express who we’ve always been.

When I came out as transgender, I did not become a new person. I did not become transgender. I did not change who I was. Instead, I found the language, courage, and resources to share who I’ve always been. I have always been transgender and I’ve always been a boy. I just haven’t always been able to express this to myself and the world.

Usually, when I state this and perhaps go on to explain that my manhood is not defined by my genitals, my mannerisms, or my physical nature, many folks will respond with questions similar to that of the tall, curly-haired man after one of my very first speeches: “Well, what does being a man mean to you, then? How do you know you’re a man?”

When I am teaching, I work diligently to hear curiosity in this question, but it’s crucial to understand that while most do not intend malice or invalidation by asking this question, intent does not bar impact. Asking a trans person to describe their understanding of their gender usually comes across as demanding we defend ourselves, and is often a microaggression.

A cis person asking a trans person to define their personhood for them can feel incredibly invalidating because, again, regardless of intent, this implies “I don’t believe you. Your declaration of yourself and your gender is not enough for me. You must explain and prove to me the validity of your gender.”


We are repeatedly demanded to explain, prove, and validate something we simply know to be true in our hearts.


I have never met a cis person who demands other cis people verify their man- or womanhood. (Except, of course, when they think a cis person is trans and interrogate them as if they were trans.) In contrast, I don’t think I’ve met a single trans person who has not been asked to do so. No one asks cis people, “Why are you cisgender?” Meanwhile, trans people are almost never granted the space to know ourselves simply by knowing. Instead, we are repeatedly demanded to explain, prove, and validate something we simply know to be true in our hearts. This is something I encourage cis folks to consider whenever they can.

Microaggressions also most often reinforce systems of oppression— racialized hierarchies, the gender binary, socioeconomic strata, and so on. Given that cisgender folks are a dominant identity group, a cisgender person demanding a trans person’s explanation of the very thing that marginalizes them perpetuates that system of oppression. Though not the “fault” of the cisgender question-asker, the existence of this power dynamic cannot be ignored. It is the responsibility of the cisgender person to recognize it and carefully consider its impact.

When I am asked how I know I am transgender, I employ the same line of questioning as I do when people ask me how I know I am a man without a penis — I just know.

Explaining this further is difficult. In the beginning of my gender-affirmation journey, I had not yet developed a resistance to the transphobic assumptions the world had fed me, and so I decided that I could not truly be transgender if I could not defend my transness well.

“I don’t know why I am not a girl — I don’t know how or what systems have resulted in my being this way, so it must not be real,” I told myself. “My biology says ‘female’ — how do I explain what I can’t comprehend?”

Late one night in 2014, I found myself on a website filled with information targeting trans men.

“Trans ‘men’ are really just abused girls with eating disorders who hate their bodies. There is no such thing as trans,” the article read. At the time, I lay wide awake in my rehab dorm in my fourth month of eating disorder treatment. Reading this crushed me. Am I just a “messed up woman”? Am I really a man or do I just “hate my body”? Almost a decade later, I can see the web page so clearly in my mind.

For weeks after first reading it, I used this logic against myself. Despite not hating my body, I couldn’t figure out how to justify my identity in a way that I felt would make sense to the people who wrote that article. So instead, I invalidated myself using everyone else’s tools of transphobia. As you might expect, this neither changed how I felt about or what I knew of my identity, nor improved my quality of life.

After several painful months, I realized that maybe it didn’t matter.

What if I am just making it all up? I thought to myself. And so what? I don’t think this is made-up — millions of other people are also transgender—but let’s just pretend for a moment that I am. That this isn’t real. So what? Who do I hurt?

This brought me to the most powerful realization of all: It does not matter if I can justify my manhood in words that others will accept. I know that living my life in this way is far better for my mental health, for my very survival, than how I was living before. And in some ways, it’s that simple.

As I’ve continued along my path, I’ve also learned that my early attempts to justify my manhood used parameters that were already designed to disenfranchise and exclude people whose gender did not conform to the Euro-colonial gender binary: transphobic biology, studies done exclusively by cis people about mostly cis people, through misogynistic and patriarchal lenses.

I know I am transgender because I feel this to be true in my heart.

I know I am transgender because I feel this to be true in my heart — the same way that someone might know that they love the person they have married, or that they love the ocean and the mountains. These are types of intrinsic knowing that no one else can take from me. Allowing myself to realize this, accept it, and then share it with the world demanded the privilege of language and support, as well as perhaps the most crucial factor: trusting myself.

Cisgender folks trust their feelings about their genders so thoroughly that they almost never doubt their gender. They never ask themselves, “Am I actually cisgender?” I encourage cisgender people or those who have never wondered about the validity of their gender to ask yourself this question: How do I know I am not transgender? How do I know I am the gender I was assigned?

You need not ask this question with judgment or ire. Ask it with childlike curiosity. How do you know?

Investigating your own gender and reminding yourself that you, too, have a gender and a gender experience are crucial parts of stepping into this journey with us. Here are a few points to help you introspect:
Remember there is no singular narrative of what it means to be a trans person.

Gender (regardless of how society wants to box it) is not binary — it’s a spectrum, a continuum.
Remember that no one else truly has the power to tell you who you are or how you are most comfortable.

Only you can know and declare that. This can be scary and difficult. In a world that prescribes us our gender (and a lot of other facets of our identities) without much consent, granting ourselves even a hair of freedom to choose — or even just to wonder — begs a realm of possibility that many have yet to explore.
Disrupt your certainty of your own gender — trans people aren’t the only people who can question their own identities.

Ask yourself: What if I’m not a man/woman? How do I know I’m a man/woman? What does being a man or woman mean to me? What gendered messaging did I receive as a kid? You might find that the answer to this last one is either very little or none at all: What gender-neutral messaging did you receive?

Invest in who you are outside of other pressures.

Who are you and who do you want to be when the lights go off at the end of the day and you’re alone with your thoughts in bed? Don’t focus only on your body and its shape or your genitals or your hormones. That’s only a fraction of this. Ask yourself the questions that pull at your heart, that disturb you: Who are you inside? What will make you live the happiest, most authentic life? When have you felt the most like yourself and what contributed to that feeling? If nothing else could stop you — if other pressures didn’t exist, how would you present yourself? How would you live your life and carry yourself? What would make you happy? Take your family, your sport, your significant other, your peers, everyone, out of the equation, just for a moment. What would you do just for you? I always imagined myself on an island alone, trying to survive on my own, just as me. Who did I see? I always saw myself as a man. Of course, this line of questioning works for more than just gender, but try to focus on gender for a little while. See what insights emerge.
Consult your younger self.

I always choose my eight-year-old self because I think he knew a lot about who he was, and his knowing wasn’t yet hindered by all that the world told him he had to be. Think about who your younger self imagined you to become. Who have you always dreamed of growing up to be? What would your younger self think of you today? Why?

Remember that the questions are often more important than the answers.

This might sound strange, but if you keep asking and wondering about the questions, you’ll eventually stumble into the answers. Don’t rush. Most of us are taught that chaos and confusion are bad and should quickly be resolved and/or left behind, but unsettled states are actually where we can learn the most. Work to appraise confusion as good—as exploration without judgment.

Ultimately, the singular question you’re asking is: What makes me feel the most like myself and what barriers do I experience to accessing this feeling?

If you don’t know the answers or if your answers waver, that’s okay. Take your time. Learning about your own gender—regardless of whether or not you are transgender—can be an exhausting experience.

Liberation from the gender binary in which we’ve all been placed is challenging and takes time, energy, and a lot of healing.

Lily Herman
Thu, Nov 30, 2023·