Sorry Nazis, the swastika is 11,000 years old and INDIAN
Researchers trace the peaceful, ancient roots of a symbol that has come to represent the most brutal hate and violence
Indian researchers claim they have found the oldest examples of swastikas ever discovered - and they predate the Nazis by 11,000 years.
A team of experts from a number of universities have revealed a "breakthrough" in the history of this notorious symbol, which was co-opted by Hitler and his fanatic armies.
They claim to have found evidence that the swastika was used in ancient "seals", or emblems, and also mentioned in scriptures called the Vedas.
The team suggested these swastikas are the oldest ever discovered and pre-date the Harappan civilisation, which thrived in the Indus Valley between about 3,300 and 1,300 BC.
"We have found the most mature and geometrically ordered Swastika in the pre-Harappan times in the form of seals," Joy Sen from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur
"We have also been able to trace the mention of the Swastika in the Vedas around the same time. These are scintillating findings that will help us announce that the Indian civilization is far more ancient than what is written in accepted history books, mostly by Europeans."
If Sen's research is correct, it means the swastika was first used in India as a religious symbol. It then spread across the world, eventually becoming so popular and widespread that Bronze Age people living on Ilkley Moor used it in their carvings
Until now, the oldest ever discovered was found in the Ukraine and is thought to have been produced at some point between 10,000 and 13,000 BC.
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But the Indian team suggested this famous artefact isn't as old as everyone thinks.
Sen added: "We retraced the swastika's footprints and have been able to graphically prove our claim through ancient seals, inscriptions, imprints, and religious symbolism in these countries."
Sadly, modern people have a very different idea about the meaning of the distinctive cross.
The swastika and the stories of an ancient people called the Aryans directly influenced Adolf Hitler and the distinctive iconography of the Nazi movement as well as its modern descendants.
"It inspired Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche and their progeny , Adolf Hitler, who started an inverted agenda of anti-Semitism based on a falsified Aryan invasion myth through seven years of war, terror, corruption and extermination," Sen added.
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