Some Ancient Myths are Based in Historical Fact

As some of you might have guessed by now, I am interested in a wide variety of topics. These range from geology and paleontology to astronomy and mythology. As you will also see, this range of interests has a lot to do with the topic of this post. With that out of the way, let us talk about something which occasionally comes up in “respectable” (timid and conformist) scientific circles from time to time. In it basic form, this takes the form of the following question- were some ancient myths based in historical fact, even if the legends were subsequently distorted and exaggerated? While nobody is claiming that every single creation myth of ancient cultures or very old stories such as the Cosmic Hunt are based in fact, the same cannot be said for some others. The rest of this post talks about three specific examples of myths which almost certainly had a basis in reality- whether it was as a distant memory or observations.

1] Myths about dragons and other fantastical animals: Almost every major culture in the world has multiple myths about dragon-like creatures and other large beasts which sound too fantastical to be true. There are, of course, considerable differences between descriptions of these beasts between cultures. For example- dragons in Chinese and east-Asian mythology are more serpent like and either don’t have wings or have tiny ones and can’t breathe fire unlike those in European mythology which have wings and can breathe fire. Some are culture specific such as the Taotie, Basilisk, Yeti, Nāgas etc. Today, some “credentialed experts” give some lip-service to the idea that some of these myths might owe their existence to discovery of fossilized remains of large prehistoric creatures by people before 18th century.

In my opinion, most myths about large monstrous creatures from past were due to the repeated discovery of partial fossilized remains of prehistoric creatures ranging from dinosaurs and mosasaurs to prehistoric whales and other large mammals. While people in the pre-scientific era did not subject these fossils to careful and systematic study or reconstruction like today, they were just as smart as us and recognized that these were the remains of large animals unlike any around them. Not only that, some myths can be traced to large animals which were around when modern human beings first reached those areas. For example, an extremely large species of straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon namadicus, was around when modern humans reached India about 70-50k years ago. A similar species might have survived as late as the bronze age in a few isolated parts of China.

Human beings in past (especially before 9,000 BC) would have routinely encountered large animals, which are today extinct, such as Mammoths, Mastodons, Ground Sloths, Megalania and many more. In fact, some of these large creatures such as the Elephant Bird of Madagascar or the Giant Moa of New Zealand were around as late as 1,000 AD. My point is that there are very good reasons to believe that a significant percentage of the myths about odd and large creatures in the ancient world came from the discovery of the fossilized, and almost always incomplete, remains of real animals which existed. I am not suggesting that fire-breathing dragons which could fly were based on real life. However, it is easy to see how an exaggerated and embellished story about such as creature could have arisen from the discovery of partial fossils of large dinosaurs, mosasaurs, prehistoric whales or other large extinct creatures.

2] Myths about other humanoid species: Many ancient cultures also have myths about interactions, both occasional and prolonged, with other humanoids. For example, a humanoid species known as the Vanaras have an important place in Indian mythology. Similarly, myths about ape men such as the Yeren and Yeti are common in east-Asia. European mythology, too, has no shortage of myths about wild men of the forest. In many cases these creatures are larger or around the same size as humans, while in some they are noticeably smaller in stature. Based on what we now know about the ancestry of modern human beings, it is clear than we have interbred with at least two other spices (Neanderthals and Denisovans) in the past. So all those myths about interactions and even sex with wild men and women of the forest seem to be based in reality. Once again, there is a lot of exaggeration and embellishment, but the core of those stories are based in reality.

3] Atlantis and other flood myths: Accounts of a global deluge are among the oldest human stories and occur across multiple cultures who had no possibility of contact prior to the industrial age. While there are various proposed explanation for the origin of this myth, the simplest one is the most likely one. To make a long story short, at the peak of the last ice age (around 19,000 BC) sea levels were over 100 meters lower than today. Consequently the coastline of world looked very different from today. For example- Australia, New guinea and Tasmania formed one continent and many of the islands in Indonesian archipelago were connected by a lot of dry land which has since submerged. Similarly, the Persian gulf was a fertile delta and the coastline of India extended noticeably beyond what we see today. There was a small and discontinuous microcontinent made up of many low-lying islands known as Mascarene Plateau between what is today Seychelles and Mauritius.

The black sea coastline looked noticeably different from today and even the British Isles were connected to mainland Europe by a now submerged area known as Doggerland. However as the last ice age ended and sea levels started to rise, much of this previously prime coastal and almost certainly inhabited land areas ended up underwater. While the overall process was gradual, there were multiple instances of sudden large increases in water levels as well as evidence of serious and prolonged weather disturbances during this transition. You can be very sure that people living in those areas, in many cases for thousands of years, saw these changes (especially the massive changes in weather patterns and occasional instances of rapid water level increases) as divine punishment or retribution. The survivors of multiple proto-city states and civilizations who were affected by this climatic shift almost certainly passed down increasingly exaggerated and embellished stories of these events giving us our current myths about lost and sunken cities and civilizations.

What do you think? Comments?