Ice Age Edens!
July 28th 2010 14:46
Ice Age Edens!
Were Glacial Refugia the origin of the Eden myths?
Many cultures in Euasia have myths about hidden paradises or edens in caves or valleys from which humans either migrated or were driven forth from.
The Tibetans have their bayals, the Han Chinese Peach Blossom Spring and Taoist and Buddhist beliefs in a Western Paradise. The Celts and other Europeans believed in Otherworlds and Blessed Islands in Lakes or over an sea or ocean or lake. Some cultures have sacred forests.
What lies behind these stories?
Many palaeoanthropologists and archaaeologists believe that during ice ages hominids and early humans took refuge from the two extreme of hyper aridity and massive glaciers in what biologists call refugia sheltered isolated areas where species that have become extinct elsewhere could survive.
Now the latest addition to this theory is the suggestion hominids retreated to Southern Africa about 195000 bce when glaciation caused deserts to expand in Africa.
However there were other areas on the planet that were not even at the peak of glaciation arid deserts wind swept tundra or savannas or plateaus of moving ice or impenetratable jungle or forest with no large game.
I think researchers should also look at these areas.
The Wei river valley parts of the Gansu corridor and Sichuan basin in China.
South eastern Yunnan.
Valleys in Japan that could have been ice free due to heat from volcanoes or hot springs and had mountains blocking extreme storms.
The Shan plateau in northern Burma.
The areas of Armenia around Lake Van and Kurdistan.
The southern slopes of the mountains between the Caspian Sea and the rest of Iran.
Your ideas?
Were Glacial Refugia the origin of the Eden myths?
Many cultures in Euasia have myths about hidden paradises or edens in caves or valleys from which humans either migrated or were driven forth from.
The Tibetans have their bayals, the Han Chinese Peach Blossom Spring and Taoist and Buddhist beliefs in a Western Paradise. The Celts and other Europeans believed in Otherworlds and Blessed Islands in Lakes or over an sea or ocean or lake. Some cultures have sacred forests.
What lies behind these stories?
Many palaeoanthropologists and archaaeologists believe that during ice ages hominids and early humans took refuge from the two extreme of hyper aridity and massive glaciers in what biologists call refugia sheltered isolated areas where species that have become extinct elsewhere could survive.
Now the latest addition to this theory is the suggestion hominids retreated to Southern Africa about 195000 bce when glaciation caused deserts to expand in Africa.
However there were other areas on the planet that were not even at the peak of glaciation arid deserts wind swept tundra or savannas or plateaus of moving ice or impenetratable jungle or forest with no large game.
I think researchers should also look at these areas.
The Wei river valley parts of the Gansu corridor and Sichuan basin in China.
South eastern Yunnan.
Valleys in Japan that could have been ice free due to heat from volcanoes or hot springs and had mountains blocking extreme storms.
The Shan plateau in northern Burma.
The areas of Armenia around Lake Van and Kurdistan.
The southern slopes of the mountains between the Caspian Sea and the rest of Iran.
Your ideas?
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