Torsten states:
>How about the serpent and the fire under water?
My interpretation: Fire exists in all three realms. The fire under the water
thing fits well in the IE pattern. There is also fire in the sky (the sun
and the stars). Serpents are connected to water and the underworld just as
birds are connected with the overworld. Again, this treatment of serpents is
seen elsewhere from the bible to egyptian mythology... more prehistoric
diffusion of myth, folks.
Nothing complex here.
>You might be thinking of Neolithic graves, where the dead person was
>placed on a layer of red ochre. I would connect this use with death,
>not life.
Red ochre is found in Kurgan burials, the burials viewed by many to be have
been created by IE speaking individuals since most people ignore the crazy
Sundaland connexions. In an IE context, red ochre can be easily connected
with the underworld because this is its symbolic colour.
>Speaking of the color red: Many civilizations used vermillion, a
>deviously toxic mercury compound, for coloring things red, including
>themselves. The excavators at one Mayan pyramid had to take special
>precautions not to get themselves poisoned. IMO this could very well
>be the reason for the demented behaviour and eventual decline of the
>Mayan kingdoms.
Actually, I don't see this being the prevailing view. Demented behaviour?
Examples? If you're talking about bloodletting and the many feuding between
the citystates, this was part of their very ordered beliefs and culture, no
less ordered and clockwork than those of Christianity where Catholics are
known to kill Protestants and vice versa. Someone's not talking like an
objective anthropologist. Perhaps there are high levels of mercury in
Northern Ireland, eh? Does that mean that Canada has no traces of mercury?
Does that mean that the Canadian civilisation will remain forever? Let's all
come back down from the clouds.
- gLeN
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