1. What is behind the myths?

In the evolution of life on Earth the history of humankind is just a brief moment in time. This moment, however, for us – as for representatives of this very humankind – is of particular interest. Perhaps we are not the first civilization on this planet. 10,000 years ago, hit by a meteorite, which fell in the area of the Philippine Sea and the Mariana Trench, the thin Earth crust turned round, causing the poles to shift and becoming responsible for the Flood and the destruction of almost all living beings on the planet. Is it possible?

2. Flood myth in oral traditions

Taking into account the diversity of myths through different regions and nations, we still cannot deny their obvious similarity. In particular,
“...all our early civilizations should have retained vivid memories of the vast cataclysms that had terrified their forefathers.” (G. Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods).

We may of course declare all myths of cataclysms resulting due to hard conditions of life prehistory people were living in, extremely dependent of freaks of weather and local natural disasters (as actually the official historical science does).

“From almost every culture around the world there emerge more than five hundred strikingly similar legends of a great Flood. These legends all share a common theme - of mankind being swept away with the exception of one man and his family who survived. We in the West generally know the survivor’s name as Noah, but to the Aztecs he was Nene, whilst in the Near East he was Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim or Ziusudra. As for his means of escape, the Bible describes an “ark” or boat, Mesopotamian records describe a submersible vessel, and the Aztec version refers to a hollowed-out log” (A. Alford, Gods of the New Millennium).

In particular:
_“...the Mesopotamian flood myth and the famous biblical story of Noah and the deluge. ... in each sphere of influence the same solemn tradition has been preserved for posterity – a tradition which tells, in graphic language, of a global catastrophe and of the near-total annihilation of mankind” _(G. Hancock, “Fingerprints of the Gods”).

In India

“... scientists found out accounts of the Great Flood! Manu is the Dravidian Noah; and ghasha, a sort of magic fish (which was the reincarnation of Brahma the Creator, or Vishnu the Protector, by some others sources) helped him escape form death. “Shatapatha Brahmana” telling this story is older than the Bible, too! The same deluge is mentioned in “Mahabharata” (V. Batsalev, A. Varakin, Secrets of Archeology).

According to Hindu Mythology

“Vishnu [god] warned Manu [human] of a coming deluge. He sent him a large ship, with orders to load it with two of every living species and the seeds of every plant, and then to go on board himself” (G. Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods).

While in Greek version

“...these formidable men were exterminated by Zeus, king of the gods... The mechanism the vengeful deity used to sweep the earth clean was an overwhelming flood... All mankind perished in this deluge, save a few who had fled to the highest mountains” (ibidem).

“A flood myth of Laos and northern Thailand has it that beings called the Thens lived in the upper kingdom long ages ago... One day the Thens announced that before eating any meal people should give them a part of their food as a sign of respect. The people refused and in a rage the Thens created a flood which devastated the whole earth” (ibidem).
“There are Japanese traditions according to which the Pacific islands of Oceania were formed after the waters of a great deluge had receded. In Oceania itself a myth of the native inhabitants of Hawaii tells how the world was destroyed by a flood and later recreated by a god named Tangaloa. The Samoans believe that there was once an inundation that wiped out almost all mankind” (ibidem).

In Mexican Mythology

“Destruction came in the form of torrential rain and floods. The mountains disappeared and men were transformed into fish...” (ibidem).

“...the Canarians, an Indian tribe of Ecuador, relate an ancient story of a flood from which two brothers escaped by going to the top of a high mountain” (ibidem).

“In the province of the Indians of Ancasmarca, which is five leagues from Cuzco, the Indians have the following fable. They say that a month before the flood came, their sheep displayed much sadness, eating no food in the day-time, and watching the stars at night. At last the shepherd, who had charge of them, asked what ailed them, and they said that the conjunction of stars showed that the world would be destroyed by water. When he heard this, the shepherd consulted with his six children, and they agreed to collect all the food and sheep they could, and to go to the top of a very high mountain, called Ancasmarca. They say that as the waters rose, the hill grew higher, so that it was never covered by the flood; and when the waters subsided, the hill also grew smaller. Thus, the six children of that shepherd returned to people the province...” (Cristobal de Molina).

“The Araucanians of pre-Colombian Chile preserved a tradition that there was once a flood which very few Indians escaped. The survivors took refuge on a high mountain called Thegtheg (“the thundering” or “the glittering”) which had three peaks and the ability to float on water" (G. Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods).

“In the far south of the continent a Yamana legend from Tierra del Fuego states: “The moon woman caused the flood. This was at the time of the great upheaval... Moon was filled with hatred towards human beings... At that time everybody drowned with the exception of those few who were able to escape to the five mountain peaks that the water did not cover”” (ibidem).

“The Luiseno of lower California had a legend that a flood covered the mountains and destroyed most of mankind. Only a few were saved because they fled to the highest peaks which were spared when all the rest of the world was inundated. ...Farther north similar flood myths were recorded amongst the Hurons. And a legend of the Montagnais, belonging to the Algonquin family, related how Michabo, or the Great Hare, re-established the world after the flood...” (ibidem).

“Lynd’s “History of the Dakotas”... reports an Iroquois myth that “the sea and waters had at one time infringed upon the land, so that all human life was destroyed”. The Chickasaws asserted that the world had been destroyed by water “but that one family was saved and two animals of every kind”. The Sioux also spoke of a time when there was no dry land and when all men disappeared from existence” (ibidem).

Such similarity of narrations all around the globe may have just one of two reasons.
First, the similarity in myths could have been caused by their single author. However, numerous in-depth investigations have brought the results that totally exclude such theory.
“More than 500 deluge legends are known around the world. In a survey of 86 of these (20 Asiatic, 3 European, 7 African, 46 American and 10 from Australia and the Pacific), the specialist researcher Dr Richard Andree concluded that 62 were entirely independent of the Mesopotamian and Hebrew accounts” (ibidem).

Then one should confess that behind all these ancient accounts there is a real cataclysm, the evidence of which inevitably must be discovered still in our time. Is there any archaeological evidence of aftermaths of this catastrophe? The reader can find them in our next chapter.