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A Lost Civilization Beneath the Persian Gulf?

Posted by kdawson on from the tigris-is-for-neandertals dept.

Phoghat sends news of a new theory that a once-fertile landmass beneath the Persian Gulf may have supported some of the earliest humans outside of Africa. "Perhaps it is no coincidence that the founding of such remarkably well developed communities along the shoreline corresponds with the flooding of the Persian Gulf basin around 8,000 years ago... These new colonists may have come from the heart of the Gulf, displaced by rising water levels that plunged the once fertile landscape beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean."

3 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Noah, etc by aBaldrich · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So is this the origin of the flood myth? It seems more plausible than the south-east indian origin. I see it as a middle-point between Egypt's myth of Atlantis and the Sumerian flood tale as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

    --
    In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
    1. Re:Noah, etc by millennial · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah, except no. Over 200 civilizations have myths about floods. Most of them are regional only. Few have any mention of saving animals. Some have nothing to do with gods. And many of them bring in elements that are purely fantasy, such as the flood being caused by the tears of thousands of goats. So, nice try, but reality strongly disagrees with you.

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      I am scientifically inaccurate.
  2. Re:So... by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is this place which was flooded where the Indo-European language roots come from?

    No. There are too many cold weather/northern animal words shared across IE languages. The north Caspian Sea area is the most likely, though there are other possibilities. Any area as far south as the Persian Gulf though is highly unlikely based on weather/animal words shared across IE languages.

    Though it may be where Proto-Semitic language roots come from (Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Assryian, etc.), but there is extensive debate on that as well (whether Afroasiatic languages like the Semitic family formed in Africa and moved north, or the Middle East and moved south).

    Also, Helen didn't sink any ships. The phrase is 'launched a thousand ships.'