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The mysterious culture of Xiaohe of the Tarim Basin depicts a fascinating glance into ancient funeral traditions. The Xiaohe’s boat-shaped burials and symbolic artefacts make it different, dating back to 1950-1400 BCE. These tombs preserved in the hyperarid desert offer rare spiritual clues and organic materials. The research done by Dr. Gino Caspari restructures their symbolism through ecological and cultural lenses. This new perspective connects Xiaohe rituals to cattle, water, and mirrored concepts of their afterlife. Their inclusion could also mean anchorage and guidance in the journey of the afterlife.

Revisiting Xiaohe Burial Practices

As per the study, the first excavation was done in the 1930s for the Xiaohe culture, and completely explored in the early 2000s, has intrigued scientists with its unusual burial customs. The burial customs, characterised by boat-shaped coffins, upright poles, and cattle remains, went contrary to the cultures in ancient Central Asia.

Symbolism of Coffins and Poles

Interpretations in the past saw these forms as possibly representing a spiritual journey, through symbolic boats. Poles fixed to coffins, sometimes interpreted as a vulva, were found inconsistently across the gender lines. Dr. Caspari, however, predicts that these poles might represent mooring posts or paddles, which originated from Xiaohe telling about their existence from the oasis.

Water, Cattle, and the Desert Edge

Xiaohe people were completely dependent on the cattle for their survival in the oasis, at the edge of the desert. Burials included cattle hides and skulls quite often, mainly for honouring this symbiotic relationship. In such an environment, water was spiritually potent and also a life-giving element. Dr. Caspari proposed that the coffin shapes the burial adornments actually reflected this kind of significance, and the funerary rites were structured to ensure the  safe passage into a water-themed afterlife, completely inverted.

Legacy and Future Research

Even after these breakthroughs, many graves remained unpublished, and the site’s access to these remains was limited. Dr. Caspari found that the Xiaohe culture’s sudden disappearance around 1400 CE is still unknown. Each interpretation, such as the afterlife’s water-centric model, brings scholars closer to delving into the beliefs of Xiaohe and their daily lives of the elusive desert civilisations.

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Axiom-4 Mission Launch Postponed for the Sixth Time, Know Why

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June 18, 2025

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Axiom-4 Mission Launch Postponed for the Sixth Time, Know Why

Axiom-4 mission, which will carry India’s Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS) has now been delayed for the sixth time. The spacecraft is now scheduled to take-off on June 22. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 with the Dragon lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and was delayed while the teams worked through data from recent testing of on-orbit Russian Segment hardware. The crew members are still quarantined in Florida, following rigorous medical and safety protocols, Axiom Space mentioned. All four astronauts are in excellent health, with Shukla in “very high spirits” as they proceed with their pre-flight training for the historic mission.

India’s Shukla to Fly on Ax-4 Mission as NASA Eyes June 22 Launch After ISS Repairs

As per an official statement from SpaceX on Thursday, NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom are aiming for a new launch window at 3:42 a.m. ET Sunday, June 22, with a backup opportunity at 3:20 a.m. ET the next day. The postponement enables NASA to finish a series of reviews of operations inside the station’s Zvezda service module following maintenance work on the module. It is the maiden flight for this Dragon spacecraft and the second flight for this Falcon 9 rocket. Two hours before the launch window opens, live broadcasting will start.

Earlier, the spacecraft was scheduled to take-off on June 19, however, following Thursday’s announcement, that has once again been delayed. Once the mission reached its destination, the crewmembers will perform several experiments to gain knowledge about the outer space and its effects. The crew is being commanded by Peggy Whitson, with India’s Shukla as pilot and Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu and Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski as specialists, has been beset by a Falcon 9 oxygen leak and the ISS’s ageing Russian section.

The crew is expected to perform more than 60 experiments on the ISS, such as human physiology, Earth observation, biology, and materials science. Falcon 9’s first stage will land at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1 while Dragon will dock withthe lab.

The launch countdown for SpaceX’ Dragon spacecraft will include propellant loading, engine chill, and ignition commands. The mission will reach “Max Q” following launch, demonstrating international collaboration in the commercialisation of space, in which Shukla will play a pivotal role for India.

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Ancient Scrolls Found in Qumran Caves Unlock Secrets of Jewish History and Biblical Texts

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June 18, 2025

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Ancient Scrolls Found in Qumran Caves Unlock Secrets of Jewish History and Biblical Texts

Found almost 80 years ago in the cliffs bordering the Dead Sea, the Scrolls remain among the most stunning discoveries of the 20th century. Found in 11 caves near Khirbet Qumran by a young Bedouin shepherd, the ancient scrolls are composed of over 900 texts written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 70. Together they’re composed of books of the Hebrew Bible (the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Genesis), apocryphal writings and a cryptic copper scroll. Over time, the site has produced fascinating historical, religious, and cultural discoveries that shed light on ancient Judaism and a potential Jewish monastic sect.

Dead Sea Scrolls Origins Linked to Qumran Sect, AI Uncovers New Clues About Ancient Texts

As per a Live Science report, the West Bank history site of Khirbet Qumran was first settled in the Iron Age and also served as a fortress in 100 B.C. by the Hasmoneans. Based on archaeological artefacts, such as a scriptorium and inkwells, it is believed that it was the home of a monastic Jewish sect called the Essenes. Many scholars posit the authors or guardians of the scrolls. The community, it seems, buried the manuscripts to protect them from an attack by the Roman army in A.D. 68 that levelled the town.

The discovery of a twelfth cave in 2017 has renewed interest in the Qumran site of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek scrolls written on leather. The linen wrapping in which the scrolls were found testifies to the Essenes.

New computer methods of analysis would not be able to examine authorship and dating as easily as the above fields, as seen with studies on the Great Isaiah Scroll and Enoch, which discovered older scrolls. Still, human expertise is important, experts say, since AI predictions are not infallible.
Important in religious and historical literature and as rare surviving examples of the Jewish sectarians that flourished before the fall of Jerusalem, the canonical Scrolls of the Qumrân community are unperturbed evidence for Second Temple Judaism.

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Supernovas May Have Triggered Deadly Ancient Climate Shifts, and They Could Happen Again

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June 18, 2025

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Supernovas May Have Triggered Deadly Ancient Climate Shifts, and They Could Happen Again

Earth’s ancient climate was influenced by unexplained ‘mystery particles’ from outer space. Explosive stellar events may be forecasted by analysing iron isotopes in interstellar dust. New research indicates that nearby supernovas, the giant death explosions of stars, may have upset the planet’s atmospheric balance thousands of years ago. These bursts, creating torrents of high-energy radiation, may have triggered global cooling, wildfires, and mass extinctions, researchers have mentioned. By tracking down those cosmic footprints of the past, scientists say, they may even be able to learn more about the environmental hazards posed by future supernovas and be readier to deal with them.

Cosmic blasts from nearby supernovas may have eroded Earth’s ozone layer and disrupted ancient climate systems, scientists say

As per a report by Space.com, supernovas occur when stars more massive than our sun collapse in on themselves under the force of their own gravity, leaving behind either black holes or neutron stars and ejecting extremely powerful radiation. If such a blast occurred within 30 light-years, researchers warn, it could strip away Earth’s atmosphere entirely. But even explosions hundreds of light-years away, such as from Betelgeuse, 700 light-years away, could alter climate patterns and increase ultraviolet exposure on Earth.

Robert Brakenridge, a senior researcher at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, studied 15,000 years of tree ring data and identified 11 spikes in radioactive carbon. These anomalies, he suggests, may be evidence of Earth being struck by cosmic radiation from past supernovas. “We have abrupt environmental changes in Earth’s history,” Brakenridge pointed out. “We see these changes. So, what caused them?”

His model suggests that high-energy photons from supernovas could irradiate and destroy the ozone layer, allowing more ultraviolet radiation to reach Earth’s surface, and erode the stratosphere, which stores a decent amount of methane, both crucial contributors to Earth’s greenhouse gas regulation. The plunge in methane would have cooled the planet, possibly setting in motion climatic changes and die-offs of many species.

Although solar flares are another potential candidate for the carbon spikes, Brakenridge explains that more geological evidence, such as ocean sediment and ice cores, could tie the supernovae to these events. Insight into this relationship could assist scientists in predicting atmospheric consequences. If/when Betelgeuse or another nearby star goes supernova.

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