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Is the Swastika evidence of a common origin?
Gord Bowman (gbowman@atlsci.com)
8 Jan 1997 00:31:03 GMT
The Swastika (the original, not the flipped Nazi version) is an ancient
symbol of unknown origin that has been employed for thousands of years as a
religious sign and a decorative emblem. This symbol appears in such
cultures as ancient China, Egypt, India, old Norse, Ancient Crete, Mayan,
Aztec, American Indians, and the list goes on.
Some of these cultures supposedly had no contact with each other, yet the
general consensus of the scientific community seems to be that "There is no
reason to suppose that all of these have been derived from a common
source...." (Gough & Parker--"A Glossary Of The Terms Used In Heraldry").
The Swastika could be just a clever Sun calendar illustration found all
over the world (see The History of the Swastika at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/oldtown/designs/ud-25-ic/swastika.html ).
Now, I understand that finding just one such commonality between different
cultures is not proof that they had contact with each other, however I
don't understand why the idea of a common source is so far fetched. Isn't
it a common theory that the native peoples of North, Central and South
America at some point in the past crossed either a land or ice bridge
probably between Siberia and Alaska? If this is true, then why could the
symbol not have been in existence before such a crossing? Shouldn't this
common symbol at least be viewed as evidence that such widely separated
cultures (such as the Mayans and the Egyptians) MIGHT have a common origin?
Just wondering...
--
Gord Bowman (gbowman@atlsci.com)
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