OK, wait a sec here. So dinosaurs looked like oversized peafowl, primordial humans grew bigger brains by honey-maxxing, and the art of Graeco-Roman antiquity was multi-colored rather than austerly white???
It´s almost as if Earth history is...I don´t know...gay or something?!
An essay on various Native American / American Indian legends about the Little People. And not just from southern Ontario, either! I suppose it *is* interesting that many (all?) cultures around the world have legends of both Little People and Giants. At the very least, we´re dealing with a very powerful psychological archetype here.
But I couldn´t help noticing something else...
Yes, the Iroquoian Confederation (extolled by feminists and romantic leftists) genocided other American Indian nations.
More on Hinduism and human sacrifice. Source: ChatGPT.
Go one step deeper and give me 5–10 specific alleged cases from ancient and medieval India with dates, rulers/temples, original sources, and historical credibility.
Yes. I dug into this more carefully, and the picture is actually more interesting—and more uncertain—than the usual popular accounts suggest.
One correction to my previous answer is important: some famous claims about particular temples (especially Tanjore, Kalighat, and Danteshwari) are repeated endlessly in secondary literature, but when you trace them back, the evidence can become surprisingly thin. So below I distinguish documented practice, contemporary literary evidence, textual prescription, and later allegation/legend.
Location: North India / Vedic ritual culture
Date: roughly late 2nd–1st millennium BCE for the relevant Brāhmaṇa literature
Deity/ritual: the Puruṣamedha, "human sacrifice"
Primary sources: Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 13.6.2; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa; Śrauta Sūtras
This is the most important ancient textual case. The ritual texts describe human beings being selected and assigned to sacrificial roles alongside animals and other victims.
But there is a crucial twist: the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa describes the human victims being released. Consequently, the strongest interpretation today is that the ritual had become symbolic rather than an actual killing.
There is a long-standing scholarly debate about whether the rite originated from an actual human sacrifice that was subsequently transformed into a harmless ritual. Older scholars such as Rajendralala Mitra argued for an originally genuine human sacrifice; modern scholarship is considerably more cautious.
Assessment:
🟢 Human sacrifice as a ritual concept: certain.
🟡 Actual human killing: unproven.
Date: probably 1st millennium BCE literary preservation
Source: Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 7.13–18; later versions in the Rāmāyaṇa
King Hariścandra promises Varuṇa that he will sacrifice his son. When the son refuses, Śunaḥśepa is purchased as a substitute victim.
He is taken to the sacrificial ground and bound to the sacrificial posts. He then recites hymns to the gods and is miraculously released.
This is not evidence that the historical event actually happened. But it is extremely valuable evidence for the conceptual world of Vedic religion: human beings could be conceived as sacrificial victims, and the narrative makes the rescue of the human victim the dramatic resolution.
In other words, it is evidence for the possibility and imagination of human sacrifice, rather than evidence for a particular historical killing.
Assessment:
🟢 Very strong evidence for the existence of human-sacrifice concepts.
🔴 Not evidence that Śunaḥśepa was historically sacrificed.
This is considerably more interesting because we have a datable Indian literary work depicting an apparently contemporary religious environment.
Date: c. 700–750 CE
Author: Bhavabhūti
Location: fictionalized Padmāvatī, but reflecting North Indian religious culture
Shrine: a terrifying goddess shrine associated with a Kāpālika ascetic
In Act V, the heroine Mālatī is abducted for sacrifice by the Kāpālika Aghoraghaṇṭa, who intends to offer her to Cāmuṇḍā/Karālā.
The Kāpālika cult depicted by Bhavabhūti is associated with cremation-ground imagery, skulls, blood and transgressive Śaiva practice. Bhavabhūti was writing in the 8th century, and the play is consequently an important early literary witness to the reputation and perceived practices of Kāpālikas.
But there's a major caveat:
It's a drama.
The villain is deliberately horrifying. We cannot simply take Bhavabhūti's plot as an ethnographic report saying "Kāpālikas regularly sacrificed people."
Nevertheless, it is significant that human sacrifice was sufficiently recognizable as a religious motif for Bhavabhūti to use it in this context.
Assessment:
🟡 Strong evidence that human sacrifice was associated with certain fierce Śākta/Śaiva cults in the cultural imagination of 8th-century India.
🟡 Possible reflection of real practice, but not proof of routine Kāpālika sacrifice.
This is probably my favorite medieval textual example, because it is more elaborate than Mālatīmādhava.
Date: c. 959 CE
Author: Somadeva Sūri, a Jain author
Text: Yaśastilaka
Location: fictional Rajapura
Deity: Candamārī, identified with Cāṇḍikā
Temple: a shrine called Mahābhairava
The story describes King Māradaṭṭa being persuaded to conduct a magical sacrifice in order to obtain a supernatural sword. The intended sacrifice involves animals and human beings.
The description is extraordinarily gruesome: human victims are brought to the temple and guarded alongside large numbers of animals awaiting slaughter.
What makes this particularly valuable is that Somadeva is not a Hindu propagandist. He was a Jain author presenting a dramatic critique of non-Jain religious practices.
K.K. Handiqui's study of the work explicitly notes that the Candamārī cult is presented as involving human sacrifice, while also cautioning that some of the description is fantastic.
Assessment:
🟡 Very good evidence that the idea/practice of human sacrifice to fierce goddesses was culturally plausible in 10th-century India.
🟡 Actual frequency remains uncertain.
This is probably the strongest textual evidence for explicitly sanctioned human sacrifice in medieval Hinduism.
Date: probably 10th–11th century
Region: Kāmarūpa/Assam
Text: Kālikā Purāṇa
Section: Rudhirādhyāya ("Chapter of Blood")
Deities: especially Kāmākhyā, Cāṇḍikā and Bhairava
The text doesn't merely mention human sacrifice. It gives a ritual framework in which a human victim can be offered.
The text is unusually specific about the victim, ritual eligibility and the circumstances under which the sacrifice is permissible. It even describes the victim as being ritually identified with the gods before being killed.
A contemporary scholarly discussion of Assam quotes the Rudhirādhyāya as prescribing the decapitation of a human victim and offering the head to the goddess.
However, there's an important qualification: the Kālikā Purāṇa is a prescriptive religious text, not a police report. It proves that a Hindu Śākta tradition could legitimize and ritualize the idea of human sacrifice; it doesn't by itself establish how often actual sacrifices occurred at Kāmākhyā.
Assessment:
🟢 Very strong evidence for a medieval Hindu textual tradition explicitly permitting human sacrifice.
🟡 Does not by itself prove routine sacrifices at the Kāmākhyā temple.
This is where things become especially difficult.
There are longstanding accounts that human sacrifice occurred among several groups in Assam, including the Koch, Kachari, Chutiya, Tripuri and Jaintia peoples. Edward Gait's historical discussion specifically connects some of these practices with the ritual system represented by the Kālikā Purāṇa.
The connection with Kāmākhyā is particularly plausible because the Kālikā Purāṇa explicitly identifies Kāmākhyā among the deities who can receive human victims.
But we should not leap from that to "the Kāmākhyā temple regularly sacrificed humans."
The evidence establishes:
Kāmākhyā-centered Śākta theology → human sacrifice was conceivable and ritually elaborated.
It does not establish:
Kāmākhyā temple → routine historical human sacrifice.
That's a much stronger claim and needs independent evidence.
Assessment:
🟢 Strong evidence for human-sacrifice traditions in historical Assam.
🟡 Specific claims about the Kāmākhyā temple itself are less secure.
This is one of the most famous stories—and one of the most problematic.
Location: Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Deity: Danteshwari
Alleged date: around 1830
Ruler: the Bastar raja
Alleged event: 25 men sacrificed at the goddess's shrine
You'll find the claim repeated in numerous books: a Bastar ruler supposedly offered 25 human victims to Danteshwari in approximately 1830.
But historian Radhika Singha has examined the colonial evidence surrounding the Danteshwari accusations and the broader politics of the British campaign against "human sacrifice." The archival record is considerably more complicated than the popular story suggests. British officials interpreted alleged sacrifice as a royal practice involving kidnappings and offerings to the king's tutelary goddess.
This is a textbook example of why I wouldn't simply reproduce the "25 men" claim as historical fact.
Assessment:
🟡 There is genuine historical evidence of colonial allegations and investigations concerning human sacrifice in Bastar.
🔴 The famous "25 men in 1830" story is not sufficiently secure to present as established fact.
This technically falls outside "ancient/medieval," but it's too important to omit because it is probably our best historical documentation of actual human sacrifice in India.
Region: Odisha
People: Kandha/Khond
Victim: Meriah
Purpose: especially fertility/agricultural prosperity
Period of documentation: 1830s onward
British officials collected extensive evidence concerning Meriah victims. The sacrifice appears to have been integrated into local political structures, with local rulers and chiefs sometimes involved and specialist networks supplying victims.
A recent scholarly study in Comparative Studies in Society and History notes that a 1837 colonial report already describes the sacrifice as organized through local political units and discusses the role of rajas, patras and the people who supplied victims.
But again, historians have become much more critical of the old colonial narrative. The British had strong political reasons for representing the practice as widespread and barbaric, and some victims may have been captives or bonded people rather than the stereotypical "purely religious volunteers" of older accounts.
Assessment:
🟢 Very strong evidence that actual ritual killing occurred.
🟡 Its scale, frequency and exact religious meaning remain debated.
There are two claims you will encounter constantly that I wouldn't put in the same evidentiary category.
This appears in later popular literature, sometimes attributed to Joseph Campbell. The claim is that children were sacrificed before a goddess at the great Chola temple.
I cannot find adequate primary evidence for it.
Verdict: 🔴 unsubstantiated.
It should not be repeated as an established fact simply because it appears in books about Hinduism.
As above, there is a real colonial record of allegations concerning Danteshwari and human sacrifice, but the specific dramatic number and date are not sufficiently secure.
Verdict: 🟡 alleged, not established.
The really interesting pattern is that the evidence becomes stronger if we move through four levels:
| Evidence | Example | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Myth/ritual text | Puruṣamedha | 🟢 certain as text |
| Religious prescription | Kālikā Purāṇa | 🟢 certain |
| Contemporary literary depiction | Mālatīmādhava, Yaśastilaka | 🟢 genuine historical evidence for the cultural phenomenon; 🟡 actual practice |
| Administrative/forensic documentation | Khond Meriah | 🟢 actual practice |
And there's an important chronological progression:
Vedic period
→ human sacrifice appears as a ritual concept, but is progressively symbolized/substituted
Early medieval period
→ literature depicts human sacrifice in fierce goddess and Kāpālika contexts
10th–11th century
→ the Kālikā Purāṇa provides an explicit ritual theology of human sacrifice
Later medieval/early modern period
→ reports of localized practices become more concrete, especially in Assam and eastern/central India
19th century
→ colonial authorities document and suppress actual practices such as Meriah
That is a much more defensible history than either "Hindus never practiced human sacrifice" or "human sacrifice was widespread throughout Hindu India."
And given our preceding discussion of Bhairava, Aghori and Tantra, there's one especially striking detail: the Yaśastilaka actually calls the Candamārī shrine Mahābhairava, while the Kālikā Purāṇa places human sacrifice within the same broad religious universe of Cāṇḍikā/Kālī/Bhairava worship.
That doesn't mean that Bhairava worship = human sacrifice—far from it—but it does show that the terrible/transgressive side of medieval Śaiva-Śākta religion wasn't merely a modern Western projection. Some of its most extreme ritual possibilities really are present in the Indian sources.
Vi har ju hört om könsglappet när det gäller "värderingar". Men enligt denna antropolog finns det en slags X-faktor som ingen tagit hänsyn till. De unga tjejerna ljuger.
Sedan kan man ju undra om *detta* glapp (mellan "idealen" och verkligheten) verkligen är något nytt? Man kan också undra varför "Generation Bianca" ändå verkar rösta på vänsterblocket istället för att smygrösta på moderaterna. Eller talar vi om två olika socialgrupper här...?
Det kanske finns mer än en X-faktor.
Something new is always coming out of Africa. Or something old. Primordially old. Muh-hah-hah!
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| - Nah, I´m a Vajrayana yidam, so you see, I´m not really here! Credit: Maitreya Fields / YouTube |
This is interpretation (c/o ChatGPT), but I suspect something like this myself. That is, Shaktism is "monist", "pantheist" and "idealist" at least in its philosophical forms. Which may be derived from "high" Shaivism (Non-Dual Shaiva Tantra). Matter isn´t an illusion as in "absolutely unreal", but a temporary appearence/manifestation of Consciousness, which is God. The wave and the ocean, that kind of thing.
Is there any form of Shaktism which argues that matter is robustly real in the above sense?
Yes, although it is less common than in Vaiṣṇava realism. There are certainly forms of Śāktism that affirm the full reality of matter, but they usually do so in a different way from Viśiṣṭādvaita. Instead of saying, "matter is a distinct but real creation of God," they tend to say, "matter is one of the real powers of the Goddess." That is a subtle but important distinction.
There are roughly three broad tendencies.
Many forms of Śrī Vidyā reject the idea that the world is merely an illusion.
The universe is understood as the manifestation (ābhāsa or vikāsa, depending on the author) of Tripura Sundarī.
The emphasis is often:
However, most classical Śrī Vidyā philosophers would probably stop short of saying that matter has an ontological status independent of consciousness or Śakti.
Instead they would say:
Matter is real because Śakti really manifests as matter.
That is a robust realism compared with Advaita Vedānta, but it is not realism in the dualistic sense of Nyāya or Sāṃkhya.
The nondual Śaiva traditions of Kashmir, which deeply influenced many Śākta traditions, are often misunderstood.
People sometimes assume they say:
"The world is an illusion."
Actually they generally deny this.
They argue that:
So they reject māyā as "mere illusion" in the Advaita sense.
Nevertheless, they also insist that matter is fundamentally consciousness.
So this is not the kind of realism you're asking about.
If you move away from philosophical nondualism and into devotional traditions centered on the Devī Māhātmya or the Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the tone often becomes more realist.
The Goddess creates, sustains, and withdraws the universe.
The universe is genuinely real as her creation.
Many devotees simply regard mountains, rivers, animals, and human bodies as real creations of the Mother.
These traditions often do not engage in detailed metaphysical analysis, but practically speaking they treat the material world as genuinely meaningful rather than as something merely apparent.
This is where things become interesting.
To my knowledge, there is no major Śākta philosopher who develops exactly the same ontology as Rāmānuja, in which:
are permanently distinct yet inseparably related, with matter serving as the real "body" of God.
Śākta philosophers generally move in a more monistic direction.
Matter is affirmed as real, but because it is Śakti rather than because it is a separate ontological category.
Historically, many Śākta traditions inherited ideas from Sāṃkhya.
Remember that in Sāṃkhya:
Many Śāktas identified the Goddess herself with Prakṛti.
This creates an interesting synthesis.
Instead of saying:
Prakṛti is merely unconscious matter,
they say:
The eternal Prakṛti is the Goddess herself.
This gives matter an extremely robust reality.
However, it also changes the classical Sāṃkhya picture because Prakṛti is no longer unconscious; she is divine and conscious.
From our conversations, I think you're looking for something like this:
Matter is genuinely real—not merely a temporary appearance or mode of consciousness—but it is also sacred because it is grounded in God.
That combination is actually somewhat unusual within Śāktism.
Most Śākta systems prefer one of these formulations:
Rather than:
If you wanted the strongest possible affirmation of both the independent reality of the material cosmos and its divine grounding, Viśiṣṭādvaita still comes closest among the major Hindu philosophical systems.
If, on the other hand, you are comfortable saying:
"Matter is fully real precisely because the Goddess truly becomes or manifests as matter,"
then Śrī Vidyā and related Śākta traditions come surprisingly close. They reject the notion that the physical universe is something to dismiss as unreal. Instead, they invite the practitioner to recognize the world as a living expression of the Divine Mother, whose presence is disclosed through—not despite—the richness of embodied existence.
That´s where you´re wrong, kiddo. Seriously, though, this is a YouTube video narrated by a scholar of religion, dealing with the Buddhist hell-realms. Also note the discussion on Orientalism.
An analysis of the Star Wars-related TV series "The Mandalorian" from the viewpoint of anthropology and religious studies.
OK, so I have a few objections...
I never watched "The Mandalorian", so I have zero opinions on that one, but what about the anthropology? It simply can´t be true that the strictest religions are the most succesful ones. The most extreme cults (say the Exclusive Brethren or Heaven´s Gate) are always much smaller than the less strict ones (say the Presbyterian Church USA or some New Age network). Or take the Catholic Church. Most Catholics aren´t monks or nuns, obviously. The strictest monastic orders are the smallest ones (the Carthusians). Maybe the *illusion* of strictness is more succesful than outright "liberalism", but that´s a different proposition entirely. The illusion of strictness is good for identity politics, just blending in with broader society isn´t. To maintain the illusion, some "creds" have to be thrown in, but not nearly as many as in a *really* and grimly strict group. "Fish on Friday" isn´t the same thing as veganism or fruitarianism.
Or what about "the routinization of charisma"? The first generation of a religious group might be super-committed, but in order to survive beyond that initial charismatic push, it needs to create institutions which overtime will become bureaucratic, et cetera. It struck me when watching the video that some of the strict religious groups mentioned probably solve the problem by becoming free riders on the rest of society. How hard is it *really* to be an Orthodox Jew if you don´t have to do military service, get welfare money for your large family, and so on? I´m sure the Amish are free riding in some way, too. It´s just that US media are too uncritical and romantic in their attitudes towards them, so we haven´t heard anything about it.
Finally, a complaint about "fictive kinship". Sociologists and anthropologists usually assume that this somehow overrides biology. But does it? First, most fictive kinship systems seem to be practiced within the same population, which means that there *is* a level of genetic kinship between the participants. Group selection could explain this. Second, even when "fictive kinship" is practiced more broadly (say in a missionary religion), the converts will tend to marry other people of the same faith, which means that the kinship ties will become genetical in the normal sense over time. Again, no mystery for evolutionary theory.
In the science fiction TV series "The Mandalorian", one of the characters apparently adopts a baby of an *entirely different species*, treating him as his own son. Which is *highly* unlikely from an evolutionary viewpoint. Showing us that it´s indeed science *fiction*...
So nah, not convincing.
Vilka låtar / sånger är *egentligen* mest populära? Det verkar vara...vaggvisor! Åtminstone i Sverige där duon "Humlan Djojj" dominerar stort. Åååkej...
"The goddess will not ask you for your passport. If you are present, she will find you".
A Spanish woman recently went viral when she was "possessed by Kali" at a traditional Hindu festival in southern India. The content-creator has a supranaturalist (or supranaturalist-sounding) explanation for the incident.
It struck me that Hindu temples - and many other religious buildings - might be built in such a way that alternate states of consciousness may be triggered naturally. Which of course doesn´t disprove that they may also be "spiritual".
Of course, a more prosaic explanation is that the Spanish woman wanted to "go native". I mean, she was wearing a red sari, had adopted a part-Indian name, and was interested in Hindu spirituality. A skeptical British reporter getting possessed by Ma Kali might have been more interesting...
This wouldn´t be controversial, had it not been for the fact that chimpanzees are our evolutionary cousins. So a "civil war" between chimps in darkest Africa is a thing. Should I or you tell the non-paying public about the bonobo, the vegan-bisexual chimpanzee and their matriarchal chimp outs?
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| - Gotta problem with pachyderms, huh huh? |
Why animal rights and veganism doesn´t work. The brains of our ancestors (Homo erectus again) became big thanks to hunting and feasting on primordial elephants...
Without "speciesism", no Man. Deal with it.
A sequel to the previous blog post. Homo erectus collected crystals already 800,000 years ago. Other hominins have also valued these little trinkets. Here is a quote from the paper linked below: "Notably, none of those crystals was used as a tool, weapon or ornament. They were neither worked, modified or repurposed in any way, nor do they show signs of use as jewels. Yet, hominins valued these stones enough to transport them from the geological outcrops to the caves used as refuges. These findings suggest that, almost 800,000 years ago— possibly earlier if additional claims are confirmed—, H. erectus displayed attraction to quartz and calcite crystals, treasuring them for reasons beyond practical necessity." The authors point out that in Homo sapiens, this would surely have been interpreted as evidence for symbolic thought!
Unfortunetely, the bulk of the paper is less impressive. Why is it strange that a few chimpanzees from circuses who are used to seeing and handling objects of human interest find crystals sufficiently alluring to collect them? Clue: it isn´t, and the researchers even admit it themselves. They recommend studies on wild apes instead...
Ahem. So nothing has really been proven here.
This is sheer speculation, of course, but it´s still intriguing. Hindus actually worship ammonite fossils (shaligrama stones), so that´s certainly a thing. But did Homo erectus really have a symbolic culture? I mean, could they even speak? It would be absolutely fascinating if the erecti were "spiritual but not religious"! Apparently, even chimpanzees collect shiny stones with no obvious utilitarian purpose...
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| Credit: Kevin Cho |
I asked Gemini about the oldest surviving human traditions. Supposedly, Australian Aboriginals have stories which go back tens of thousands of years. I admit that I´m skeptical. So much romantic BS have been written about Native tribes that I wouldn´t be surprised if somebody debunks this 20 years from now. But sure, here is the information (I´ve heard some of it before):
Is it possible to know which religious or cultural tradition is the oldest? That is, the oldest of those which still exist today?
Determining the "oldest" tradition is a bit like tracing a river back to its source—it depends on whether you are looking for the oldest continuous practice, the oldest organized religion, or the oldest written scriptures.
Because cultures evolve, merge, and change names, there isn't one single winner, but rather several "finalists" depending on how you define the terms.
If we define "tradition" as a set of spiritual beliefs and cultural practices passed down through generations, Indigenous Australian and San (Bushmen) traditions are the oldest.
Aboriginal Australians: Their spiritual connection to the "Dreamtime" and their oral histories have been maintained for over 50,000 to 65,000 years. Recent archaeological evidence suggests they have passed down stories of sea-level rises and volcanic eruptions that occurred tens of thousands of years ago.
The San People (Southern Africa): Genetic and archaeological data suggest the San have lived in Southern Africa for at least 20,000 to 30,000 years, maintaining a shamanistic tradition that involves rock art and trance dances.
In terms of "major" world religions with a structured system, hierarchy, and massive following, Hinduism is widely considered the oldest.
Age: It has no single founder and roots that stretch back over 4,000 years.
Evolution: It emerged from the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE) but incorporates prehistoric Dravidian and Indus Valley Civilization elements that are even older.
The "Eternal" Nature: Many Hindus refer to their faith as Sanatana Dharma (the Eternal Way), viewing it as a timeless truth rather than a historical movement.
If you are looking for the oldest tradition based on the worship of a single God, there are two main contenders:
Zoroastrianism: Founded by the prophet Zoroaster in ancient Persia, it dates back to roughly 1500–1000 BCE. It introduced concepts like heaven, hell, and the battle between good and evil, which heavily influenced later Abrahamic faiths. While its population is small today (the Parsi community), it still exists.
Judaism: While the biblical patriarchs date back to roughly 2000 BCE, the formalization of Judaism as a monotheistic religion occurred around the 9th–6th century BCE. It is the oldest of the three major Abrahamic religions.
| Category | Tradition | Estimated Age |
| Oral/Cultural | Aboriginal Australian | 50,000+ years |
| Organized Religion | Hinduism | 4,000+ years |
| Monotheism | Zoroastrianism | 3,000–3,500 years |
| Written Scripture | The Vedas (Hinduism) | 3,200–3,500 years |
The main problem is syncretism. Religions don't usually "start" on a specific Tuesday; they evolve. For example:
Shinto in Japan has prehistoric roots, but it wasn't "organized" until much later.
Hinduism today looks very different from the Vedic religion of 3,000 years ago.
When we look at these traditions, we aren't seeing a static museum piece, but a living "ship of Theseus" where the parts have been replaced over millennia while the identity remains the same.
Are you looking for a tradition with a specific "start date" or founder, or are you more interested in the survival of ancient oral myths?
How do we know that Aboriginals have traditions of ancient sea-level rise and volcanic eruptions?
We know this because of a fascinating field of study called geomythology, where scientists compare ancient oral traditions with geological data like sonar mapping and carbon dating.
The evidence isn't just "vague myths" about water; it involves specific geographic details that were only true thousands of years ago.
During the last Ice Age, sea levels were much lower, and Australia’s coastline extended kilometers further out.
The Depth Check: Researchers have identified at least 21 locations around Australia where Aboriginal stories describe a coastline that hasn't existed for at least 7,000 years.
Specific Geography: For example, the Yindjibarndi people have a name for Fitzroy Island (gabaɽ) that literally means "lower arm" of a mainland promontory. For this name to make sense, the sea level had to be at least 30 meters lower than it is today—a condition that last existed roughly 10,000 years ago.
The "Walking" Stories: Numerous traditions across the continent describe ancestors walking to islands (like Kangaroo Island or the Tiwi Islands) that are now separated by deep, treacherous water. Geological records confirm these "land bridges" were submerged exactly when the stories say the "water came in."
The most striking example is found in the Gunditjmara tradition in South Victoria, regarding a creator being named Budj Bim.
The Oral Record: The story describes a giant who transformed into a volcano, with his teeth becoming the lava and his hair the smoke.
The Scientific Match: In 2020, geologists used argon-argon dating on the lava rocks at Budj Bim and found the eruption happened approximately 37,000 years ago.
Human Witness: Archaeological evidence (stone tools) found beneath the volcanic ash layers confirms that people were living in the area at the exact time of the eruption.
Western scientists were initially skeptical, believing oral stories "decay" after a few centuries. However, Aboriginal culture uses highly structured memory systems:
Cross-Verification: Stories are often owned by specific families; others are not allowed to tell them, which prevents "telephone-game" style distortion.
Ritual Repetition: The stories are tied to "Songlines"—physical paths in the landscape.
This video explains how researchers and Gunditjmara elders worked together to scientifically date the Budj Bim eruption, confirming it as one of the oldest witnessed events in human history.
