Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa

Mar 5, 2024 | sapiens.org | Rick Schulting |Marlaina Martin |Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia |Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa

This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. ✽THE IDEA THAT TWO different human species, Homo sapiens (us) and Neanderthals, coexisted in Western Eurasia 50,000–40,000 years ago has long captured the imagination of academics and the public alike.

Feb 27, 2024 | sapiens.org | Bridget Alex |Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia |Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa |Ang Dolma Sherpa

✽In the summer of 2022, one of us, Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia, brought gifts to his relatives with babies in northeast India. In their Sikkimese Bhutia community, new mothers receive chicken, cash, and other items known as Bya-kay—literally, “bringing a chicken.”Among the Bya-kay well-wishers presented, he noticed offering scarves, or khatak. Ritual specialists also raised prayer flags, or lungta, outside the residences of new babies.