When I began researching lost civilizations, as a result of my interest in comparative mythology, about 25 years ago, I could not imagine that a series of archaeological finds would end up corroborating my speculations. I started writing the book Los Hijos del Edén in 1998, and I finished it and registered it in the Intellectual Property Registry in 2000. It was published (in Ediciones B) ten years later, in 2010. At that time there had been already news of the relevant discovery of Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey. Years later, the archaeological site of Karahan Tepe, and especially Gunung Padang, came to light. Well, both discoveries support my theory that the root of Civilization, as a result of the comparative and global study of myths, toponymy, and even the evolution of technology (the so-called Neolithic Revolution), is, on the one hand, much ancient than had been established, and on the other hand, its origin can be found in the Far East (in the former submerged continent of Sunda, today Indonesia and Malaysia), not in the Fertile Crescent, as was believed.

This article aims to corroborate how I anticipated - in parallel with an eminent academic from the University of Cambridge, named Stephen Oppenheimer - these very new archaeological finds, which endorse what were my "speculations" from 25 years ago, today validated.

Let's start with the archaeological finds. Here are two press releases from the newspaper La Vanguardia, in which the main discoveries made at the aforementioned sites are presented.

Regarding Göbekli Tepe:

Göbeklitepe, probablemente el templo más antiguo del mundo

(Göbeklitepe, probably the oldest temple in the world)

TURQUÍA PATRIMONIO (CRÓNICA)

REDACCIÓN 30/07/2019 12:27

Ilya U. Topper

Istanbul, July 30 (EFE).- It is probably the oldest temple in the world: the monumental complex of Göbeklitepe, in southeastern Turkey, is almost 12,000 years old and marks the time when humanity was discovering the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants, the basis for their future development.

The arid hill, a dozen kilometers northeast of the city of Sanliurfa, is home to several circular structures made up of a dozen stone pillars, carved in a T shape, up to 5.5 meters high.

And although only four of these sets have been excavated so far, analyzes using geo-radar indicate that there are still 16 others underground.

But the most striking thing is not the size of the monoliths, but their decoration: reliefs and engravings of foxes, bulls, lions, cranes, ducks, snakes and sometimes humans, a whole fauna carved in the limestone in a time without metals. Only with basalt or flint tools.

UNESCO registered Göbeklitepe as a "World Cultural Heritage" last year and, since then, it has also been opened to visitors and an access for visitors and awnings have been built to protect the complex.

The discovery of the sanctuary, which the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) has been excavating since 1990, has shattered many concepts in archaeology.

It demonstrates that the societies of the time, which had barely left the hunter-gatherer phase behind, were already capable of organizing themselves to build enormous monuments.

"Until now it was thought that at that time humans lived in groups of about fifteen people, without specialization in trades. But to build Göbeklitepe hundreds of well-coordinated people are needed," Turkish archaeologist Devrim Sönmez, a researcher at the DAI, tells Efe in Istanbul.

Possibly it was precisely the need to keep a large group of people in the same place for years - essential to carve the stones, transport them and erect them - that prompted the transition from ancient nomadism to sedentary lifestyle.

In any case, just at the time when Göbeklitepe was built, starting in 9,500 BC, signs of the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants emerged in this region of Anatolia, which is today Turkey.

However, the builders were still unaware of ceramics or, rather, they were not yet using it to make pots, although they did use it to make figurines, Sönmez details.

In addition, they knew textiles, bead necklaces and fine bone tools. "There is a tendency to think that humans were primitive at that time, but their brain capacity was similar to that of today, they were creative and knew how to solve problems very well," adds the archaeologist.

Carving monoliths weighing more than ten tons from the nearby rock formations, moving them a hundred meters up the hill, and arranging them in a circle required admirable planning and coordination.

The most mysterious thing is that we do not know where the builders lived: on the hill there are signs of fire and eating places, which could have been part of a ritual feast, but not of permanent homes or a continuous settlement. Of course, there are cistern structures to provide water to the place.

Göbeklitepe has been compared by experts to Stonehenge (England), but apart from the fact that the Anatolian monument is six millennia older, its enormous stone pillars probably had a roof and formed an enclosed area, says Sönmez.

In turn, the archaeologist is skeptical of recent theories that the groups of animals on the pillars represented constellations of stars.

"Of course, the stars were very important for humans at this time and they surely knew them well, but we have no evidence to confirm that precisely these reliefs or the alignment of the stones are related to astronomy."

Still, Göbeklitepe may still hold many surprises: only an estimated 5% has been excavated so far, and archaeologists prefer to proceed very slowly, leaving most of the hill untouched... and preserved for future generations. EFE

And as for Gunung Padang:

La pirámide más antigua conocida estaba en Indonesia 

(The oldest known pyramid was in Indonesia) 

Las partes más antiguas de Gunung Padang se construyeron en la cima de un volcán extinto hace entre 25.000 y 14.000 años. 

(The oldest parts of Gunung Padang were built on the top of an extinct volcano between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago.) 

ARQUEOLOGÍA 

09/11/2023 14:55 

David Ruiz Marull

Gunung Padang, in the province of West Java (Indonesia), is an 885-meter-high extinct volcano that stands out for the megalithic archaeological site located on its summit. Distributed over five terraces protected by retaining walls, this site considered sacred by the Sundanese, the native population, is accessed thanks to 370 stone steps.

The first archaeologists who worked at the site in the late 19th and early 20th centuries described it as an “ancient cemetery on the top of a mound” known as the “mountain of enlightenment” in the local language and which was declared a cultural heritage site. in 1998. But in reality it was much more than that.

Multiple layers of construction

A new multidisciplinary study has revealed “multiple stages of construction dating back to thousands of years before Christ, and whose initial phase dates back to the Paleolithic,” explain experts from the Bandung Institute of Technology and the University of Indonesia in an article. published in the journal Archaeological Prospection.

The team of archaeologists, geophysicists, geologists and paleontologists has dedicated years of study to finding evidence that shows that the site is actually the oldest known pyramid in the world, much more archaic than those in Egypt or Central America.

The tropical climate of this region of West Java, characterized by periods of abundant rain, the growth of dense vegetation and the sedimentation of the land, has led to ancient historical and cultural remains being buried for centuries.

Hence, experts studied the structure using seismic tomography, electrical resistivity tomography and ground penetrating radar. They also drilled into the hill and collected core samples that allowed them to use radiocarbon dating techniques to learn the ages of the layers that make up the mound.

By analyzing all the data collected, the researchers found what they describe as clear certainties showing that Gunung Padang was made primarily by human hands. They also found evidence showing that the structure was built in stages thousands of years apart. And they discovered that the oldest parts were built between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago, making it the oldest known pyramid.

More specifically, specialists discovered evidence of several remodelings that, over time, formed a complete structure. The first consisted of sculpted lava, where the builders had carved shapes into the top of a small dead volcano and probably surrounded them with underground chambers and cavities.

Then, several thousand years later, sometime between 7900 and 6100 BC, another group added a layer of bricks and rock columns. After some time, another community added a layer of soil to the hill, covering some of the previous work. Then, sometime between 2000 and 1100 BC, more topsoil, stone terraces, and other elements were added.The team of experts also found details that suggest there could be some hollow parts within the structure, indicating possible hidden cameras. That is why they propose to go deeper into them and then lower a camera to see what could be in these areas of the mountain.

Next, I will present some excerpts from my works, in which I allude to the existence of this primordial civilization, originating in Indonesia, and much older than previously believed:

LOS HIJOS DEL EDÉN (Ediciones B, 2010): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.joseluisespejo.com/index.php/libros-publicados/110-los-hijos-del-eden

Until now I have tried to adjust as closely as possible to the facts. From now on it is necessary to formulate a hypothesis and support it with the available resources. This may involve in a certain way "recreating History", that is, making assumptions about the probable course of historical events based on a given documentary base.

Unfortunately, the data we have is scarce and not entirely reliable, so these assumptions are subject to reasonable doubt. However, this work approach has the advantage of being able to compare this possible chain of events with the known historical evidence. In this way, it is possible to reconstruct the confusing puzzle of paleohistory.And what data do we have? They are of various types: mythological, toponymic, linguistic, historical, archaeological, genetic... Only a combination of all of them can serve as a basis for carrying out a study as ambitious as the one I intend to do.

I will start with the main conclusion I have reached so far: it seems that the so-called "origins of Civilization" are in a process of revision. And there is several evidence that points to Japan as a new candidate to be the "cradle of Civilization":

1) The first artificial structures - or modified by the hand of man - that we know to have been found (Yonaguni).

2) The oldest ceramics found to date.

3) There exists (in the submerged structure of Yonaguni) what could be the most primitive solar cult known.

4) There is what could be an archaic expression of a solar deity (Amaterasu, possibly a syncretism between the Mother Goddess and the solar cult).

However, curiously, no clear evidence of agriculture prior to the third millennium BC has been found in that country. Would this rule out the candidacy of the Far East to be the origin of Civilization? Yes and no. Yes, because it is impossible to conceive civilization without agriculture. No, if we accept that such a "cradle of civilization" could not be in the Japanese archipelago itself, but much further south, in the submerged subcontinent of Sunda - and adjacent areas -, as we will see shortly.

If we look at Figure 5-1 (note the continental shelf, currently submerged) we will see that between Indochina and Southern Indonesia there existed, until approximately 10,000 years ago, an area of land that would occupy several million square kilometers. The island of Yonaguni (where the monument of the same name is located) is located very close to Taiwan, and not too far from that now submerged subcontinent.

Why not assume that the existence of ceramics in southern Japan may be the result of the cultural influence of a more advanced society? History provides numerous cases in which a "primitive" society coexists with another more developed one, and is influenced to a certain extent by it, without changing its original way of life much (this is the case of the coexistence between Iberians and Greeks or Phoenicians, in the Iberic Peninsule). Is it not possible that the apparent contradiction of a society with ceramics but without agriculture can be resolved if we assume that a proto-civilization with more advanced technology existed nearby?

It is logical to think that the best agricultural locations are located in coastal areas, especially in alluvial plains and in the deltas of large rivers. Well, these areas could have disappeared with the rise in sea level, forever destroying the vestiges of that hypothetical primordial civilization. Suppose that such a protocivilization had really existed. Would it be extraordinary if, due to a series of circumstances that we are currently unaware of, a regression phenomenon had occurred that would have buried its main technological and cultural achievements in oblivion?

Let's continue assuming: what if this civilization had been destroyed by a natural catastrophe, in the same way that happened to the island of Thera during the Bronze Age? And in this case, what catastrophe could it be? I would propose -purely speculatively- two options:

1) The first would be a rapid thaw of the polar caps, which would have submerged the coastal strip that existed 10,000 years ago.

2) The second would be the catastrophic eruption of a volcanic caldera, with enough energy to devastate an environment located hundreds of kilometers around it. In this regard, the main candidate for such a phenomenon would be the Krakatoa volcano.

Let us provisionally accept that such events had actually occurred. In that case, the anomalous presence of ceramics in a collecting society, such as the case of Southern Japan, could have an easy explanation: either because this population had developed it with their own means under the influence of the supposed protoculture of the submerged subcontinent of Sunda; well because some survivors of this submerged subcontinent had settled in Japan.

However, we raise the same question again: why in this case are no remains of agricultural crops found? There is a possibility: it is generally easy to identify remains of crops or consumption of agricultural products when analyzing a "settlement", which means that the population that inhabits it has sedentary habits (in short, that it occupies towns for a long time). However, it is impossible to locate them when: 1) The population becomes nomadic (and lives in temporary shelters, built with perishable materials that leave no trace in the territory); 2) a slash cultivation system is practiced, with a mobile, non-sedentary way of life.

Let's continue assuming: what if indeed the remains of that disappeared civilization - practitioners of a solar cult - had abandoned their old place of origin, and had begun a journey in search of new lands? Suppose that they had arrived, in one way or another, in Japan, and that they had merged with the native population in that archipelago. In that case, a solar-lunar syncretism could have occurred that would explain the anomalous nature of the existence of a solar goddess (Amaterasu) in Japan.

If, on the other hand, this human group had acquired a nomadic habit of life, it could have spread its cultural patterns - its solar-lunar syncretism - throughout Eurasia, Polynesia, and possibly - sailing across the Pacific? - also to America.

Perhaps it was this population that spread the cult of the sacred mountain throughout the world, as well as megalithism, the myth of the Flood, and other important symbols of a universal nature (both solar and lunar). This is, of course, a hypothesis as valid - or as invalid - as many others.

From now on the reader will excuse me if I introduce more assumptions of this type into this book. In any case, I believe that with the data at my disposal I am in a position to demonstrate that such a hypothesis could have some real basis.

So far I have presented a series of evidence that lends certain plausibility to the possibility of a remote contact between civilizations, which would most likely not be sporadic or continuous, but definitive, as a result - for example - of a population transfer or of a long-distance cultural influence. Among this evidence we can list: the universal diffusion of certain myths and symbols, the extension of megalithism and the cult of the sacred mountain, the existence in all cultures of the figure of the "civilizing god", certain "relics" (such as the disk of Phaistos, the exempt sculptures from the Olmec culture, certain inscriptions that are difficult to catalogue...), the discovery in the New World of images of Eurasia (for example, of elephants in Copán)...

I have highlighted the strange coincidences between the Hebrew and Aztec Exodus; I had previously spoken of the striking similarities between the Iliad and the Ramayana... Are all of them expressive of real events that happened thousands of years ago? Will they be part of a common tradition shared by all advanced civilizations in history?

We cannot ignore that, according to a widely accepted opinion, more than 10,000 years ago, in the Eurasian area - and perhaps in America - the same language would have been spoken. And let's not forget that the classic myth of the Flood can only have one point of origin, as I mentioned previously.

We must not be afraid to carry out an approach like the one suggested here: reality often exceeds the wildest expectations. History is not linear: sometimes it suffers regressions, and sometimes we find hiatuses caused by changes in ways of life. Ultimately, a conclusion emerges from this reflection: perhaps civilization is older than we imagine. Below I will present evidence that will support the hypothesis that there could indeed have been a great Exodus from the Far East to different parts of the world more than 10,000 years ago.

ECOS DE LA ATLÁNTIDA (Base, 2018):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.joseluisespejo.com/index.php/libros-publicados/419-ecos-de-la-atlantida

If Yonaguni, in Japan (in the civilizational cluster that I call Ibar), has provided a possible scenario of civilization avant la lettre, the same can be said of Gunung Padang, in Indonesia (in the area that I call Samara). On the island of Java (Indonesia), the existence of a 25-hectare megalithic complex called Gunung Padang was known since 1914. It is a hill about 885 meters high, flanked at its top by terraces and a staircase with 400 andesite steps. Like Yonaguni (Japan) or Cahuachi (Peru), it could possibly be a natural enclave modified by the hand of man, thus forming a stepped temple (see above)...

The person in charge of the excavation, Danny H. Natawidjaja (coordinator of the Independent Research Team of Gunung Padang), affirms that Mount Padang represents a revolutionary change in the knowledge of the "birth of civilization", as it constitutes a monument built by an ancient culture , destroyed, thousands of years ago, by a great catastrophe. The aforementioned researcher places it in Indonesia, and adds: "It is not impossible that Indonesia had a civilization as advanced as the Egyptian, and that it was also much older."

In short, in light of this evidence, it is legitimate to think that at least 13,000 years ago there was a proto-civilization, located in the Far East (Yonaguni is located in Japan; Gunung Padang in Indonesia), which expanded to other places in the world (Göbekli Tepe), finally declining until it disappears. We must consider that Göbekli Tepe could represent the "swan song" of a proud but precarious culture, perhaps preserved by a few "sages" and "priests" condemned to oblivion. Later, as Plato points out, time would erase his traces. The seed planted by them would take millennia to sprout...

In Indonesia there are many names with roots from which Hebrew patronyms or eponyms could be derived. Among them JAVA, SARAtok, SARIpai, SARAn, SARAwak, SEMera, SEMitau, SEManu, SEMatan, SEMbuan, SEMpurna, Pulau SEMium, SEMuda, SEBAH, SABAH, SEBAyan, SEBAtik, TERATAK, TARAKan, NIAH, SAMARinda, SEMERU (volcano). .. Homophones, respectively, with JAVAN (or YAHVÉ), SARA, SHEM, SHEBA, TERAK, NOAH and SAMAREUS, from the lineages of JAFET, SHEM AND CAM, with the addition of the patriarch of all of them (NIAH-Noah) and the name of the god of the Hebrews (JAVA-Yahweh). All this allows us to think that the similarity between the name of the island of Java and that of the Hebrew tutelary god (Yahweh) is not accidental.

Although it seems that the Hebrew people would have preserved a good part of the toponymy of the Indonesian archipelago, perhaps because they considered it the Garden of the East (or the Garden of Eden), they would not be the only ones to do so. I have already mentioned that the toponym Java could be at the origin of numerous names of places (and even gods) in the world:

— Java (perhaps from the Sanskrit "millet", or "barley"), to refer to the island of the same name in Indonesia (Javadvipa).

— Yahweh, among the Hebrews.

— Javan (among the Hebrews), or Ion (among the Greeks), to refer to the Greek eponym.

— Yavana (in Sanskrit), to refer to the Greeks.

— Jove (better known as Jupiter) among the Romans.

— Yevus (among the Canaanites), to refer to Jerusalem before David.

— Yao (among the Chinese), mythical emperor during the times of the Flood.

— Yu Di (another name for the Chinese “Jade Emperor”).

— Iao (among the Gnostics), prince of the first heaven.

— Io (among Eastern Polynesians), to refer to the creator god.

— Jaungoikoa (“Lord of the High”), among the Basques.

— Havva (pronounced Java), the way Eve is pronounced in Hebrew.

— Jahu (“eminent dove”), Sumerian mother goddess.

Other place names characteristic of Indonesia, and more specifically of Java, are related to Meru and Sumeru: Merapi, Merakurak and Merbabu (MERU?), or Semarang (SAMARA?). In this regard, the most important character in Indonesian mythology is called Semar. It appears repeatedly in the wayang puppet theater... In short, here we are told that, more than 10,000 years ago, at the foot of Mount Merbabu (in Java), a god called Semar, "the father of everyone", cultivated his rice fields. Perhaps the memory of this god, who would possibly adopt the name of the place (Java, and hence the Hebrew Yahweh, or the Roman Jove), was transferred to distant places by ancient inhabitants of these lands (as "settlers" or "refugees"). In that case Semar would receive the name of Osiris among the Egyptians, or Dionysus (Dionesos, "god of the island") among the Greeks...

It is no coincidence that in the Malay (and Indonesian) language the word Taman literally means "garden". Could it perhaps be the Garden of Eden of the Hebrews, or the "delightful garden" (Aaru) of the Egyptians?... In the Library of Congress Subject Headings there are literally dozens of references to Taman, alluding to Indonesia. This is because, as I indicated above, Tamán is a generic name in the Malay and Indonesian language that means "garden". But Tamán is also the name of an ethnic group from Borneo (the Dayak), which I have called Tamoán above, as well as that of their language (Tamán Dayak). This language (Tamán) is also spoken in Vanuatu, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean whose inhabitants are of the Melanesian race. On an island in this archipelago (Tanna) we find the legend of Yasur ("old man" in the local language). Yasur is a volcano, and at the same time a creative deity, of fabulous antiquity. Significantly, both Tanna and Yasur are terms in common use in Israel: tana means "sing, praise" in the Hebrew language, and Yasur is a very common demonym in that language (and a district of Gaza).

The delightful garden

Throughout my research I have come to the conclusion that the primordial civilization basically is known by four names throughout the world. Three of them are related: Atala would be the Sanskrit form of the Greek Atlas; but unlike the latter it literally means "does not move, firm". This is because "tala" means "base". On the other hand, the Greek term Atlas, from a [not] and tla [support], means the opposite: "does not support". Eden is, in Hebrew, both a "delightful garden" (see below) and the base of a column (pedestal, foundation), as in the case of "tala". Tula, from my point of view, would be genetically related to the Sanskrit Tala, although its meaning is not exactly the same. Its symbol would be a T, the Tau, a universal and primordial emblem in different cultures of the world, as it refers to the column that supports the roof (the firmament). Thus, Atala (Atlas), Tula and Eden would be united by the same unit of meaning: the idea of "column", "sustaining" or "balance". Temán (among the Hebrews), or Tamán (among the Cimmerians, the Aztecs or the Indonesians), would derive from another concept: the Malay Tamán, which literally means "garden". That is why Taman is related to the other meaning of Eden: "garden, plain". Thus we have the Garden of Eden.

Perhaps both concepts (Tamán and Tala) are related: among the Tamán of Borneo the creator god was called Alatala (with the suffix Atala, or Tala, which we already know)...

Thus, Taman, the "land of the gods", would be the place from which the "civilizing heroes" of the white and black races would have left, who would have been affected by the Great Catastrophe that marked the end of their culture and its civilization. This Tamán acquired various expressions: Tamoanchan in America, Tamán in Cimmeria, or Zamán among the Persians. Their contact with other peoples gave rise to the myth of "angels" (literally "snakes"), those beings from the "beyond" (from the sea) who provided enlightenment and knowledge. Among the Sumerians they received the name Annedotus (fish), among the Hindus that of Nagas (snakes), among the Egyptians that of Shebtiu (falcons), among the Australian aborigines that of Nimis (spirits), among the Dogon of the Sudan the name of Nommo (fish), etc.

As we see, they were strange beings, incomprehensible to them. Perhaps, like the Annunaki of the Sumerians, they arrived from heaven, riding vimanas. This is what proponents of the “ancestral aliens” theory maintain. I'm not one to object to it. I rather think that the descendants of the country of Taman colonized other lands using their ships, which were everywhere called "ships of the gods" (or ships of the dead). We have seen them painted or engraved in Sweden, Egypt and Borneo (see above).

EL ÁRBOL DE LOS MITOS  (Base, 2022):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.joseluisespejo.com/index.php/libros-publicados/498-el-arbol-de-los-mitos

The geneticist and myth scholar Stephen Oppenheimer claims – rightly – to be the first to point out that the Mesopotamian civilization is the daughter of a much older culture, located in the Far East of the Eurasian supercontinent (Eden in the East, page XIV) : "I, anyway, claim some new ideas. I believe I am the first to affirm that Southeast Asia is the source of the elements of Western Civilization". Elsewhere the same author argues that this fundamental migration of prehistoric "missionaries" (or "Noahs") from the East took place at the end of the Ice Age (page 475): "I have suggested that there was a connection between prehistoric populations of the Southeast from Asia and the rest of the world. The people of Southeast Asia were forced to migrate west after the Ice Age, to India, Mesopotamia and possibly even beyond, and influenced the West beyond their [small] numbers". Likewise, he affirms that we find evidence of the physical transfer of said "prehistoric missionaries" from the East in numerous elements of Western folklore and in other stories. And even in the Bible itself (more specifically, in Genesis 2 or Genesis 11), which states that the Garden of Eden was “in the East” (in relation to the Near East). In Sumeria and Egypt there are similar stories, as we will see in due course. According to Stephen Oppenheimer, only in the last two thousand years has this influence of the East, its cultural influence, been reversed; It is now the West that imposes its worldview on the rest of the world. But as we have seen, this has not always been the case.

When carrying out a detailed study of the myths we find reasons that invite us to think that the root of the Tradition is not in Mesopotamia, as some still believe (mistakenly). (Let us not forget that, according to others, the fact that Civilization has appeared separately in the Middle East, the Indus area, China, or America, would be the product of what I called "deterministic convergence" above, in this case caused by environmental pressure. in some human populations, due to changing climatic conditions.) We find an example in a very common motif in Universal Mythology: the world serpent, which resides in the Primordial Ocean. This is a very repeated "mytheme" in different cultural environments; However, the further west you go, the smaller the monster is: this is the case of the biblical Leviathan, which is a shadow (a miniature) of its eastern counterpart, in the manner of the Naga Pahoda of Indonesian tradition. The only exception that we can find in the West is—perhaps—the serpent Jormungand of Norse mythology (or the Babylonian Tiamat). In Polynesia this snake (Hikule'o) stopped living in the sea to surround the World Tree (its oceanic role was adopted by the giant eel Te Tuna).

The same can be said of the World Tree, so common in mythical traditions around the world, which in the Near East and the West (again, with the exception of the Nordic countries) becomes a simple Tree of Life, or of knowledge (or in a mere symbol: the "rod of power"). In both cases we can observe a "miniaturization" of the symbol, which goes from being a snake that literally represents the Outer Ocean to a simple monster, accessible to gods or heroes (its last expression is the dragon against which the current hero fights, to conquer the treasure or rescue the princess). The same happens with the World Tree (see above), or with the Sacred Mountain, in the style of the Hindu Meru or the White Mountain, which the Korean hero Tan'Gun descends - through the sacred sandalwood tree. In Egypt the "sacred mountain",  called Benben, becomes the mound on which the creator god (Atum, Horus) rises, surrounded by the primordial waters (it is the Island of the Two Flames of Egyptian tradition). In Sumeria it is the É-Abzu, a hill surrounded by a lagoon, dedicated to the god Enki. And in the Near East it is the "mountain of Yahweh" (Isaiah 2, 2). Later, the "sacred mountain" became an artificial mound, the spiritual residence of the god and "stairway to Heaven."

In view of what has been said above, the source, the origin, the "root of the myth", must be an oceanic place, bathed by waters. Possibly an island, to which continental peoples from North America, Australia or Siberia (located thousands of kilometers from the coasts) allude. Over time, the myth became intellectualized: we have already seen that the "sacred tree" became a simple stick; the ocean that surrounds the world (represented by the "world serpent") in a symbol as complex as the ouroboros (the serpent that bites its own tail); and the "sacred mountain" a pyramid or a stepped temple. We could talk about myths or even more evolved symbols, such as the "Cosmic Egg", laid by a bird, on an island located in the "primordial ocean." Or even some more "bizarre", such as the "creation of the spouse (not always a woman) from the rib of the first human being", so common in the extensive area surrounding the Pacific Ocean (as well as in the biblical Genesis).

In short, everything suggests that this location (somewhere around the Pacific Ocean) would be the "root" of the Tradition. In the third part of this work I will go deeper into this question, and I will try to specify, with appropriate arguments, what I believe is the "source" of universal myths. I will only advance that this is located in the place where mythical themes of the "bird-tree-snake" type, or "snake-bird fight" are most abundant. Without forgetting that there are cultural environments, such as Oceania, where the "snake" motif has been transformed into others (such as the eel) since - quite simply - there are no snakes there (or if there are, they are not poisonous): (Snakes) "They have no role in the myths of Eastern Polynesia, presumably because of their absence in the fauna of these islands" (Stephen Oppenheimer. Eden in the East, page 311). On the other hand, this region does preserve the tradition of the "world serpent", since in its place of origin (called Hawaiiki) [literally, little Java, perhaps] snakes must have abounded. We cannot forget, on the other hand, that – as we have seen above – Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and a good part of Southeast Asia are part of the same – or similar – cultural environment, called Austronesia.

Once it has been established that the "root" of the myth, which is at the base of the "tree of myths", cannot be located in Mesopotamia, as some wise men supposed years ago, but much further to the East, it is legitimate to ask why there is no a genetic trace that links West and East. Both Stephen Oppenheimer (Eden in the East) and geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza maintain that it does exist, although very tenuous. These would be genetic markers that will be studied in the third part of this book. But there are also linguistic and—of course—mythical links. I will talk about all this in due course. Later I will try to support with data that the limited relevance of the "genetic imprint" of the "Noahs" who spread Civilization - and certain mythical motifs - to different places in the world, is based on the fact that at a certain moment a "population bottleneck" was produced, as a consequence of a great catastrophe (perhaps local), which in the myth is described with chilling terms: "fall from Heaven", giant waves that devastate everything in their path, submergence of the continents, and Emergence of the seabed, caused by the displacement of the Earth's crust. Yes, all of this is reflected in the Tradition (written and oral) of different peoples and cultures throughout the world. If such a population bottleneck had not existed, there would certainly be greater diversity—than there is—in universal myths and symbols.

If the homology in the mythical corpus is such, it is because, as the different myths of the Flood establish, the population (global, local?) at a certain moment was literally decimated. Only a few could be saved, to preserve something of the Science and Civilization of the past. Hence its scant genetic trace in the "diffusion zones" of universal myths (that is, eccentric to the "root of myths"). There is evidence that prior to said catastrophic event (or events) there must have existed a very "exotic" Civilization, and perhaps not a little advanced, in a certain place in the East (with respect to Europe). For example, both the Hopi of North America and the natives of Irian Jaya (Papua New Guinea) speak of a society of "powerful beings" before our era, who were "expelled from Paradise" or simply eliminated by the Flood. Not by chance—perhaps—the natives of Melanesia preserve a sexagesimal numbering very similar to that of the ancient Sumerians.

Should we not pay attention to Plato, when in the Timaeus he writes: "The genealogy of your people, Solon, which you have just established, hardly differs from the legends of children. First of all, because you remember only one flood of the many that have occurred before... Every time everything is arranged among you and among other peoples by means of documents and the cities are organized with everything they need, also again at the end of the usual years, like a disease, a current comes from Heaven, and leaves you illiterate and uneducated, so that you once again become children, unaware of the things here and of those that happen among you, as it happened in ancient times"? Can we be sure that this will not happen again?

(...)

New research indicates that the first signs of Civilization took place in Indonesia before other places in the world: the cultivation of yam or taro was practiced there about 15,000 to 10,000 years ago (Eden in the East, page 4); The first stones for grinding grain are 26,000 years old in the Solomon Islands (in Palestine they appeared about 12,000 years ago); The first signs of irrigation are 9,000 years old in New Guinea; Ceramics were invented in Japan about 12,500 years ago; bronze would have been developed in Ban Chiang (Thailand) almost 6,000 years ago, etc. (Pages 5, 19, 85 and 477). And this without taking into account that "most of the relevant [archaeological] sites are now under water" (page 4). We already know that a good part of this knowledge was developed throughout the world from the IX or VIII millennium BC (although there are regions, such as Polynesia, that - in a process of cultural regression - lost relevant features of the Civilization, such as ceramics or metallurgy). Some markers, such as Jomon pottery or the blowpipe, demonstrate interrelationships between Southeast Asia and Japan in very distant times; and they could show contacts with places as remote as America, where we also find Jomon-style ceramics and blowpipes (more specifically, in Valdivia, Ecuador, with regard to ceramics, and in the Amazon jungle with regard to blowpipes. ).

Stephen Oppenheimer refers to three major "Deluges" that took place after the end of the last ice age. The first took place about 14,000 years ago, and was interrupted by a new glacial phenomenon (the Younger Dryas) that lasted around a millennium; the second occurred 11,500 years ago and the third 8,000 years ago. This author maintains that the latter (the Agassiz thaw) represented the largest discharge of water (20 to 40 meters), and would be described in the myth of the Universal Flood. Subsequently, the Antarctic was ice-free, at least on the coast, around 7000 BC. The sea level was five meters higher than today, which would have ended up destroying the coastal areas (this would have caused "false archaeological horizons", which do not take into account the evolution of the coastline over time). The climate was warmer and rainier: it is the so-called Holocene Optimum. About 5,000 years ago the climate changed again. North Africa became arid, and what were savannahs, mighty rivers and lakes became a desert. The sea level lowered to —approximately— its current shores. This latest climate change coincides with the beginning of the first inventoried historical civilizations (Sumeria and Egypt). It would be then that it became necessary to centralize power, to promote more efficient irrigated agriculture, as a consequence of a drier climate (in relation to the previous two millennia).

Of course, such catastrophes, so repeated over time for at least seven or eight millennia, caused enormous cataclysms. Sometimes the thaw was not gradual, but rather abrupt, which could cause large tsunamis, with waves of 300 meters that, when reaching the coasts, can reach more than a thousand meters in height, devastating the interior of the continents even hundreds of  kilometers away. Likewise, the isostasy of the Earth (the compensation of the increase in altitude in the polar areas due to the melting of the ice caps) would cause an increase in volcanism and earthquakes.

As we have seen in the second section, the myths of the Flood are filled with giant waves, earthquakes, curtains of fire and even movements of the Earth's crust (and the axis of rotation). Thus, to the recurring question of why we do not find material evidence of such a primordial civilization in Southeast Asia, the author answers: "Because of coastal flooding, evidence of early agriculture in coastal areas is very likely to be submerged” (page 20). As proof of this, the oldest archaeological sites with agricultural remains are in interior or elevated areas; not in coastal areas. That, without taking into account that what was a subcontinent 18,000 years ago (the Sunda subcontinent), is now a group of islands (the Malay and Indonesian archipelago). Since the sea level has risen around 120 meters since then.

Thus, the destruction of the Sunda subcontinent, as an effect of the last ice age, would have left as a memory the myth of the Universal Flood. The demographic consequences of such cataclysms would have been devastating. Perhaps, as the myth claims, a few lucky sailors survived, or those who took refuge in caves or in the high mountains. Perhaps a good part of the surviving population began a migratory movement, which the Hebrews - perhaps - transferred to historical times, in the time of Moses (during the 18th dynasty of Egypt).

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