We’re all seeing just how powerful the myth of the independent American man is, and how deep it runs in the culture. Because when the mythic independence of the American man is threatened, watch out. Every country is defined by its origin story and America’s is all about getting out from under the boot-heal of the British, escaping the tyranny of kings and the church. George Washington was a strong, tall man who employed a heady mix of espionage, trickery,... Read more
During the depths of the pandemic I spent two weeks playing with Google Earth, focusing on the landscapes where fossil or tool evidence of our most distant ancestors has been found. I was excited to find that the landscapes were virtually all the same. They were located at a tributary in a serpentine river system draining from the headwaters and springs of volcanic mountains. Another favorite spot was at an elevated position overlooking the entire river system. That made sense... Read more
Popular interest in the healing properties of rock crystals emerged as part of the 1960s counter-culture and remained a steady market until more than 50 years later when the pandemic catapulted the industry to multi-billion-dollar status. Few realize that human fascination with crystals began at least 12,000 years ago in the Hula Valley of northern Israel where people applied plaster and calcite crystals to human skulls, then polished and buffed until they sparkled. Similar skulls were found in the modern-day... Read more
Water was once perceived as a divine substance – infused with vital life-giving power. In medieval days a horse’s hair that fell into a stream was thought to transform into a worm. The 20th century Romanian historian Mircea Eliade related this telling bit of information to drive home his point: it’s hard to imagine today just how much people once venerated water. For millennia the ailing traveled incredible distances to reach sacred springs and wells. Less than a century ago,... Read more
In ancient springtime rituals of dismemberment, the breaking apart and death of the deity is associated with storm clouds ripped apart by thunder and pouring out life-giving rain. Creation stories effectively tell the story of the very first spring and in most cases the supreme being is either slain and dismembered, commits an act of self sacrifice or simply dies. In many cases the creator’s body transforms into the sun and the moon (often the god’s eyes), the air, the... Read more
Before the advent of modern science, no one knew the moon was 238,900 miles away or that traveling millions of light years was required to reach the stars. The celestial bodies, it was commonly believed, were in the general neighborhood of Earth. About 900 years ago, Irish scribes wrote in the Saltair Na Rann that the earth was round like an apple and the stars were less than a thousand miles away. Across cultures and continents, people once believed the... Read more
Beginning about 12,000 years ago, the intentional shaping of the human head known as cranial deformation may have been an attempt to reproduce the egg-shaped skulls of Neanderthals and channel their ancient wisdom through sympathetic magic. For more than a century western scholars were dead wrong about Neanderthals, speculating that modern humans had superior brain power and either killed them off or took control of food resources. Coincidentally, this dark theory emerged when European colonists were killing off and otherwise... Read more
More than 50 years ago Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? claimed the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines in southern Peru were ancient airfields for UFOs. Däniken and his “ancient alien” followers ask a simple question: The massive designs can only be seen from the sky, so who was intended to see them if not ancient aliens? The answer is migratory birds. A range of direct evidence shows the Nazca Lines were likely the backdrop for ritual celebrations welcoming migratory birds... Read more
Three Neanderthal teenagers left more than 50 footprints in rain-softened pyroclastic ash and mud about 350,000 years ago on a slope of the Roccamonfina Volcano in southern Italy. One took a switchback route down the slope, another went straight and the third took a wider, curved path, almost as if they were playing a game: Who can get down quicker? The young trio left their footprints in the ashy mud very soon after the volcano erupted and may have witnessed... Read more
As a former newspaper editor I understand the barely contained glee of using the word “defleshing”or “dismemberment” in a headline. Absolutely no question it would turn heads all over town. Unfortunately the media’s tendency to overplay the significance of the defleshing or dismemberment in question casts a bloody pall on our distant ancestors and deprives readers of the true motivation behind these grisly deeds. A closer look suggests the bodies were processed and prepared for an annual funeral for the... Read more
Adventures in Eco-Mythology
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