It’s sad to think that probably about 90% of writing from antiquity is lost. Then again, 100% of all history from before writing was invented is lost. And that’s by far the largest part of human history.
100% of all history from before writing was invented is lost
Not entirely true. Some aboriginal oral traditions have accurately described the Budj Bim and Tower Hill Eruptions that happened 37k years ago, and the dramatic rise in sea levels 7-10k years ago.
The oral traditions of aboriginal tribes is kinda crazy. During the European colonization of australia there are times where you get to see encounters from written documents by Europeans and the history recalled by oral and dance traditions recorded by aboriginals. They tend to match in everything but perspective and often the aboriginal depictions are often more detailed.
While the aboriginals underwent and still endure settler colonialism it hasn’t been as long or quite as thorough as the Roman occupation and then christianization that the celts went through. Australia is also so much bigger than the UK, so it would be hard to complete a very effective act of genocide against spiritual or tribal leaders as they did to the druids.
Even so some Celtic oral traditions were still going on strong up till the 19th century, often being little changed over thousands of years.
Well, cultures that heavily relied on oral traditions developed systems that prevented a telephone type scenario from happening. Aboriginals combine oral traditions with ceremony, song, dance, and different medias of physical art. They also had respected leaders whose whole position was telling the right stories during specific times, at specific places, and to specific people in the tribe.
Same for fossils. Heavily forested areas often had soil too acidic to create fossils at all. Fossils take some real luck and the right conditions to make. Otherwise, bones just slowly disintegrated. I’ve seen estimates that 90%+ of species that ever existed left no fossil evidence.
It’s also why there’s large gaps in the Human and Great Ape fossil records. Australopithecus fossils appear in Chad, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South Africa… And no where in between. But is not like none of them existed in the lush jungles of central Africa. The soil dissolved the bones. Same with gorillas. There are no gorilla fossils.
You never know. It might well be there are some ancient alien Bracewell probes out there that have been recording Earth’s Funniest Caveman videos for millions of years.
I often wonder how much was lost just in the Library of Alexandria. Start combining that one place, with countless wars, fires and natural disasters throughout time and it boggles my mind thinking about it.
There is a native american (i forget the exact group but located in near colorado) who’s oral tradition accurately recounts glacial floods from many thousands of years ago. I wish I remembered how many but I read this in a textbook last year and only half recall it. Either way it isn’t all lost, just 99.999% lost
I recall a story where a historian visited ireland and heard a song with what the people singing called gibberish, but the historian recognized as an ancient language.
Im unfortunately too lazy to look it up and link it
It’s sad to think that probably about 90% of writing from antiquity is lost. Then again, 100% of all history from before writing was invented is lost. And that’s by far the largest part of human history.
Not entirely true. Some aboriginal oral traditions have accurately described the Budj Bim and Tower Hill Eruptions that happened 37k years ago, and the dramatic rise in sea levels 7-10k years ago.
The oral traditions of aboriginal tribes is kinda crazy. During the European colonization of australia there are times where you get to see encounters from written documents by Europeans and the history recalled by oral and dance traditions recorded by aboriginals. They tend to match in everything but perspective and often the aboriginal depictions are often more detailed.
What happened to the Celts’ oral traditions? How are indigenous Australians’ historical depictions still stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive?
(Is it because ignorant bozos like me are oblivious to them?)
Wiped out by Christinaity, for the most part.
While the aboriginals underwent and still endure settler colonialism it hasn’t been as long or quite as thorough as the Roman occupation and then christianization that the celts went through. Australia is also so much bigger than the UK, so it would be hard to complete a very effective act of genocide against spiritual or tribal leaders as they did to the druids.
Even so some Celtic oral traditions were still going on strong up till the 19th century, often being little changed over thousands of years.
Well… The Romanisation of Europe happened.
That’s actually amazing that information that old survived the telephone game
Well, cultures that heavily relied on oral traditions developed systems that prevented a telephone type scenario from happening. Aboriginals combine oral traditions with ceremony, song, dance, and different medias of physical art. They also had respected leaders whose whole position was telling the right stories during specific times, at specific places, and to specific people in the tribe.
Fascinating, these people are remarkable
Holy shit that’s crazy. I didn’t know we had oral histories from that far back.
Same for fossils. Heavily forested areas often had soil too acidic to create fossils at all. Fossils take some real luck and the right conditions to make. Otherwise, bones just slowly disintegrated. I’ve seen estimates that 90%+ of species that ever existed left no fossil evidence.
It’s also why there’s large gaps in the Human and Great Ape fossil records. Australopithecus fossils appear in Chad, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South Africa… And no where in between. But is not like none of them existed in the lush jungles of central Africa. The soil dissolved the bones. Same with gorillas. There are no gorilla fossils.
We could fossilize a gorilla. We should fossilize a gorilla.
Quick, where’s Harambe?
Probably still Cincinnati
You never know. It might well be there are some ancient alien Bracewell probes out there that have been recording Earth’s Funniest Caveman videos for millions of years.
I often wonder how much was lost just in the Library of Alexandria. Start combining that one place, with countless wars, fires and natural disasters throughout time and it boggles my mind thinking about it.
There is a native american (i forget the exact group but located in near colorado) who’s oral tradition accurately recounts glacial floods from many thousands of years ago. I wish I remembered how many but I read this in a textbook last year and only half recall it. Either way it isn’t all lost, just 99.999% lost
Lost and waiting to be found. Instead we spend money on wars 🤷
I recall a story where a historian visited ireland and heard a song with what the people singing called gibberish, but the historian recognized as an ancient language.
Im unfortunately too lazy to look it up and link it