Neanderthal Man, Troll Man, Jotun Man
August 14, 2008 12 Comments
First, read this.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-neanderthal-murder-mystery-888276.html
Whenever I read descriptions of Neanderthal Man, and how he lived side by side with people in Europe (although in a small population), it often makes me think about mythology. What you say? Mythology? Yes, I respond in my groggy, just waking up voice (because damnit, I should be asleep right now), Mythology. Most precisely- myths of giants/trolls/jotuns fighting wars with dieities. Dieties that have been thought to have been at one point in time, based on real people.
And my thought, my musing is- what if, at one point in time, there was a war between early humans and Neanderthal Man? Maybe this mythology, these wars passed word of mouth and eloberated into fantastical tales- maybe this has some basis in reality, is a history of a moment in time that was then shared and remembered through the years.
It’s possible. But I’m not thinking about this from a scientific point of view, but rather from a writer point of view. I’ve been musing about this for some time. Doing a story that takes place in prehistory, between the two different species, and the war about them. Using mythology and some history to add flavor between them, probably basing it on some Nordic myths, but not staying directly in there. This might be something I pursue later. Not sure when. But I need to do more research before I start writing it.
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See: the collected works of Jean Auel.
For a more genre take on it, try Michael Scott Rohan’s absolutely excellent Winter of the World Trilogy. The books take place in an interglacial period, and it’s got quasi-Tolkienian apparatus tracing the relationships of this nation to that historical people. I’ve never read any of his other stuff, but I really, really like these books. If you want to write what you’re talking about, you definitely will want to (or then again maybe not) take a look at them.
I will actually, I very much will. When I write something I like to keep in the same mindspace, so to speak, and so I like to read and watch things in the same genre, etc.
But thanks very much for those books- I will definitely check them out..
Of course, my books will be more magical/fantasy oriented and less 100% accurate (dealing more with layering magical realism, primal rituals, that sort of thing) then Clan of the Cave Bear was.
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Actually, Michael Crichton posits as much in the Afterword to Eaters of the Dead.
Lol. Well, I’m not surprised, this idea seems hardly original. Eaters of the Dead- that’s the one Thirteenth Warrior is based on, right? I need to read that.
I’ve decided I’m going to make this a secondary world fantasy, and use the original idea as a spring board of what-if’s scenarios.
Thirteenth Warrior = Eaters of the Dead. Actually, I loved his “What if?” premise: How might the Beowulf myth have had its kernel-of-truth beginning? And away he goes . . . I need to re-read that one myself. The most impressive bit about the novel is the attention of detail re: Viking lifestyles.
And then we have all the cryptid hoopla over the alleged Bifoot find just a few hours north of where I’m sitting. Here I am smack dab in the middle of a Senior English unit over the Anglo-Saxon period and Beowulf!
Lol! Talk about serendipity, huh?
Ab-so-lute-ly. And anything like that Bigfoot huxtering can help build a bit of relevancy.
It’s hard enough getting students interested in any lit., but this year I’m already blessed that I’ve got (1) a lot of readers-for-pleasure and (2) writers-for-pleasure. It really doesn’t seem like work at all.
I am really into this idea myself…love paleontology, trolls, nordic lore, etc. My stepfather is Norwegian and I have spent every summer of my life there and have often contemplated Neanderthals interacting (or hiding in the shadows) with modern man. I have no doubt in my mind that the remnants of Neanderthal peoples gave rise to the stories of trolls and the ideas of cult of Oden and berzerker warriors (also a fascination of mine). I am just starting my exploration of these ideas but you might also want to look at El Collar del Neanderthal by Juan Luis de Arsuaga or Dance of the Tiger by Bjorn Kurten.
I think it’s highly likely that as H. sapiens spread into Europe (app. 50 KYBP) that there were less than pleasant encounters between H. sapiens groups and H. neanderthalensis groups as each vied for scarce resources. Given what we know of the physiognomy of H. neanderthalensis, it fits very well into the concept of troll/giant found in Norse mythology. As H. neanderthalensis became increasingly marginalized by modern humans, Neanderthals would have migrated into more difficult and challenging terrains, such as what is now northern Europe and known today as Scandinavia. And we also know that H. neanderthalensis was eminently adapted to cold, harsh climates.
This is fascinating – in Australia where I live there are some Aboriginal myths that seem to hark back to events of tens of thousands of years ago, so why not also Europe? I follow archaeological news a bit, and there is increasing evidence that Neanderthals were very troll-like: pale and freckled, red haired, squat, strong people who lived in small, inward-looking groups (never travelling more than twenty miles for life’s necessities)- I can quite imagine that encountering them (and doubtless fighting them) created a strong mythic memory for Homo Sapiens in Europe. And like some troll myths, Neanderthals ate people (at times), lived in mountain caves (and under bridges?) etc. Recently in Flores we’ve found there were ‘little people’ after all, so why not also trolls?