Sunday, August 07, 2016

Evidence of Great Flood in Asia?

There's a flood tradition in many global cultures. In China, some recent archaeological evidence has been uncovered that suggests at least one major flood did indeed occur during the era of Emperor Yu, but that Emperor Yu's reign began hundreds of years later than previously believed.

As they note over at Gizmodo:
"There are different versions of the Great Flood myth, handed down through oral tradition for hundreds of years before finally being written down around 1000 BC. But all feature the heroic Yu, who figured out how to dredge and channel all the flooded rivers and tributaries to control the floodwaters—a task that purportedly took decades to accomplish, even with the help of a dragon to dig channels and a giant turtle to haul mud. (Myths have their fanciful elements.) This led to him becoming emperor and establishing the Xia dynasty in China."

This certainly has some interesting implications especially as cultures such as the Hmong reconstruct their history in greater detail from their time in what is now modern China.

You can read the full article in Science here. Per the abstract:

Meanwhile, here's a Japanese take on Yu the Great fighting a great dragon by Totoya Hokkei, possibly in 1820 or 1832.

No comments: