The Great Flood myth, China's first dynasty
and good old-fashioned geology -- it all converges
in a new study published in the AAAS journal
Science.
First of all, humans have a shared heritage
of flood myths that stretch well beyond tales
of Noah and his Arc.
One such myth is that of China's Great Flood,
a catastrophic event that set the stage for
Yu the Great's legendary water management
prowess, his resulting rise to power and the
founding of the Xia Dynasty.
This is important because the Xia is
China's first dynasty, predating the second
millennium BCE Shang dynasty and
existing in a time
outside surviving written language.
As such, study of the period fell out of favor
with early 20th century Chinese scholars who
sought to expunge mere legend from the historical
record, but subsequent decades saw increasing
archeological evidence to align the legendary
Xia Dynasty with Early Bronze Age culture.
This research eventually shifted the Xia's
traditional start point by roughly a century-and-a-half
from 2200 BCE, to 2070 BCE,
and opened the dynasty to further study.
And this is where we return to the Great Flood.
If such catastrophic flooding actually occurred,
then geological evidence would attest to the
fact, potentially etching the start of Yu's
rule in the very bones of the Earth.
While no definitive scientific model outlines
the histo-ricity of China's Great Flood, Nanjing
Normal University Geology professor Wu Qinglong
and his team focused on one particular
theory: a second millennium BCE earth quake-induced
landslide dam (and ensuing outburst flood)
on the Yellow River in China's Northwest Qinghai
Province.
Having discovered sediment evidence of just
such an ancient occurrence, Qinglong's
team calculated the potential flood power
to 500 times average discharge and radiocarbon
dated human remains from decimated Late Neolithic
habitats positioned downstream.
Their findings date the event to roughly 1920
BCE.
If this is indeed historical evidence of the
Great Flood, it also advances the start point
of the Xia Dynasty even further -- 300
years earlier than the traditional timeline.
The findings would also align the flood with
Chinese archeological records that identify
1900 BCE as the transition point from the
Late Neolithic Period to Early Bronze Age.
Who knows how these findings will pan out,
but they present a tantalizing convergence
of geological science, ancient history and
mythology.
What's your take?
What other myths do you think we might find
evidence of?
Let us know and if you hunger for more myth-wrapped-scientific wonder,
be sure to check out now.howstuffworks.com each and every day.
