One thing I really love reading about is different cultures myths and legends. Especially those that were separated from the civilized world until relatively recently. These people saw things that we cannot even fathom and their legends and myths reflect that. Take New Caledonia for example. Just a scant 2000-3000 years ago their drop crocodiles and giant tortoises went extinct. These were not ordinary animals. Meiolania were truly huge spiky headed turtles. We know next to nothing of them save some fossils and legends. Seriously Wikipedia that shit. Wow. So close we can taste it. Mekosuchus inexpectatus was an arboreal crocodile. Imagine that. Arboreal. Went extinct a thousand years after the pyramids were built. Whilst the history of Greece was happening. We had writing then but did not know these islands existed. Hell, the last of the mammoths died around then. What would history and science be like if someone could have written about them? How much else have we lost to the ravages of time? The old legends die with each generation. Thought of as myths and nothing more. But you have to remember. Those people that lived back then were just as smart and clever and interested in the world as you and I. They tried to explain things in their terms. Once something was truly gone, a few generations of oral history and it becomes a monster. A legend. A myth. Food for thought I guess. Things lost to time. But fascinating nonetheless...
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 04:43:00 +0000
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