Fomorians, Ettins, Titans... Neanderthals?
So, I read something interesting just a week or two ago which stated that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens coexisted in parts of the world for a number millennia around 35,000 years ago. The fact that we know that Neanderthal emigration from Africa preceded that of homo sapiens, well, that triggered in my twisted little brain some thoughts regarding certain mythologies.
As basically anybody who's studied classical myth knows, the Olympians came after, and over threw the "less like us" Titans, who had preceded them. I recognized a while ago a parallel between that and another clash of races in legend. Specifically, Norse legend, wherein the Aesir (and Vanir) are in opposition to the Jotunn, the giants, who are described as being more physically powerful than they.
Recently, however, it occurred to me that there is a distinct similarity between that and something in Irish myth. Rather than having a proper creation story (the only surviving creation story is Christian, which was clearly written down as true by the first literates of the island, Christian monks) Irish myth has multiple influxes of people to Ireland as the beginning of their story. Among these peoples, the Fomorians are described as being among the earliest peoples of Ireland, who are repeatedly defeated, but never quite conquered until the Tuatha de Dannan come and finally rid Ireland of them.
Now, given that all three of these legends are from areas whose cultural origins are clearly within the former range of Neanderthals (as far west as Iberia and as far east as Afghanistan, as far north as the british isles, as far south as Kuwait), I was wondering if anybody else knew of other mythological traditions which included a major conflict of peoples, where one was there first and overthrown or displaced? It'd be very interesting to see what, if any, correlation there is between those legends and the locations we know that Neanderthals existed.
As basically anybody who's studied classical myth knows, the Olympians came after, and over threw the "less like us" Titans, who had preceded them. I recognized a while ago a parallel between that and another clash of races in legend. Specifically, Norse legend, wherein the Aesir (and Vanir) are in opposition to the Jotunn, the giants, who are described as being more physically powerful than they.
Recently, however, it occurred to me that there is a distinct similarity between that and something in Irish myth. Rather than having a proper creation story (the only surviving creation story is Christian, which was clearly written down as true by the first literates of the island, Christian monks) Irish myth has multiple influxes of people to Ireland as the beginning of their story. Among these peoples, the Fomorians are described as being among the earliest peoples of Ireland, who are repeatedly defeated, but never quite conquered until the Tuatha de Dannan come and finally rid Ireland of them.
Now, given that all three of these legends are from areas whose cultural origins are clearly within the former range of Neanderthals (as far west as Iberia and as far east as Afghanistan, as far north as the british isles, as far south as Kuwait), I was wondering if anybody else knew of other mythological traditions which included a major conflict of peoples, where one was there first and overthrown or displaced? It'd be very interesting to see what, if any, correlation there is between those legends and the locations we know that Neanderthals existed.