Elore 22(1): http://www.elore.

fi/religion-beyond-the-horizon-of-history/

Religion beyond the Horizon of History

Witzel, E. J. Michael 2012: The Origins of the Worlds
Mythologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xx + 665 pages.
Frog

The Origins of the Worlds Mythologies is an incredibly stimulating and

thought-provoking work. E. J. Michael Witzels bold undertaking
surveys a vast range of materials to produce a remarkable synthesis that
is indeed on the scope of the books title. This book sets out to construct
an image of mythology in the Palaeolithic period and argues that the
first biological humans to emigrate from Africa already had mythology
and some form of shamanism, traces of which can be found in cultures
around the world. The contribution to comparative methodology is
extremely significant, even if its implementation is not always
unproblematic and the presentation may be more dazzling than
convincing to many readers. In addition to offering a new framework
for looking at mythologies of different cultures, an important aspect of
this work is that it invites questions about what is not present in a
particular culture. This book is provocative in drawing attention to
aspects of mythology or religion that we might otherwise take for
granted where we are accustomed to a narrower focus.

A Heuristic Model

The main argument of the book concerns what Witzel calls Laurasian mythology, reflected as a
fundamental framework of mythological plots and conceptions characteristic of mythologies of Eurasia
and the Americas. Witzels investigation of Laurasian mythology goes back to 1990 and the present
volume offers a concentrated presentation of his many publications on the topic within a more holistic
frame. The global scale seems to have emerged in the process of exploring whether traces of Laurasian
mythology are observable elsewhere in the world, which then developed into a contrast showing how
Laurasian mythology differs from other mythologies. Distinctive features and symbols were also found
shared across mythologies in the southern hemisphere from Africa to Australia, referred to collectively
as Gondwana mythology. The contrast between Laurasian and Gondwana mythologies provides a
counter-argument to considering similarities in mythologies of one group or the other as accidental. If
the fundamentals of Gondwana mythologies are accepted as historically related, this implies (when
considered in relation to population histories) that they are most likely connected with the spread of the
first humans from Africa. Laurasian mythologies differ from Gondwana mythologies in the extension of
its scheme to account for the creation of the world and world order and its destruction well beyond the
existence and experiences of human beings. It is therefore argued to be a development from Gondwana
mythologies. The spread of Laurasian mythologies throughout the Americas is considered an outcome
of being carried by the human migrations in the Palaeolithic period. From here it is only a short step to
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consider elements shared globally across the super-families of mythologies (such as the flood myth) and
hypothesize elements that would have been carried from Africa by the first humans.

There is no question that this work is speculative. However, the author stresses that it is a pioneering
working model, not a final solution. Witzel observes that the pioneering models for reconstructing the
Indo-European language and language family were unavoidably imperfect: current understandings only
resemble them by some 5070%. His own historical model of mythologies must be approached in this
light, and he clearly recognizes that his proposed scenario for relating genetic data, languages and
mythology remains open to adjustment, correction, or even abandonment, upon the discovery of new
data (p. 232).

Organization and Reading

The book has a nice, logical organization. The introduction is followed by a valuable discussion of
Comparison and Theory. Chapter 3 outlines and surveys the characteristic elements identified for
Laurasian mythology. Chapter 4 looks at this model of Laurasian mythology and its implied spread in
relation to evidence from other disciplines, especially genetics and archaeology; it also considers
proposed models for super-families of languages. A rather interesting section of this chapter is a review
of other traditions from music to childrens rhymes that may offer insights into the history of cultures
and their interactions alongside mythologies. Chapter 5 introduces and surveys Gondwana mythologies
as a countercheck to the Laurasian model. Chapter 6 briefly considers the implications of preceding
chapters for a Pan-Gean mythology. Chapter 7 first outlines an argument for a form of Palaeolithic
shamanism linked to both Gondwana and Laurasian mythologies and then outlines a model for the
chronology of their development. The volume concludes with a chapter that considers the significance
of Laurasian mythology and of mythology generally. Here, Witzel stresses that Christianity, Islam,
modern Hinduism and so forth are all outcomes of Laurasian mythology and informed by the longue
dure of that inheritance, and that Laurasian mythologies now spread across more than 95% of the
worlds populations while Gondawana mythologies are disappearing and require more extensive study.
Endnotes account for 131 pages and there is an extensive index.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book, as one might enjoy a protracted novel. Like Mircea Eliade, the author
seems to delight in cascades of briefly surveyed examples. However, this book mainly offers outcomes
of analyses: Witzel presents his methods, findings and interpretations but the arguments seem often to
be published elsewhere. Ideas and possibilities that require future research are also frequently presented,
and a reader with a critical stance may be welling with objections before it is clear that Witzel is not
arguing for these possibilities per se. The disadvantage of this authorial strategy, characterized by
digressions and enumerations of examples, is that a reader will also easily lose sight of the forest for the
trees: the cavalcade of minor propositions paraded past a reader can easily distract (especially a critical
reader) from the main theory of Laurasian mythology.Enjoying the book requires letting go and simply
following the discussion, then returning critically to the different topics once the whole has been taken
in. The presentation is rather like a combination of a lecture and a conversation on a leisurely stroll, filled
with recurrent returns to topics and examples, picking up possibilities, looking at them from different
sides and setting them down again.

Methodology
Elore 22(1): http://www.elore.fi/religion-beyond-the-horizon-of-history/

The comparative method used is based on the models developed especially in Indo-European studies,
which progress through stages of reconstruction by degrees of historical relatedness. Stress is placed on
developing each stage of reconstruction dialectically in relation to others, refining and balancing them
into a coherent model. Much attention is given to changes in social structures, livelihoods and
technologies through human history. Methodological emphasis is placed on systems of elements in the
mythology and especially on the Laurasian cycle from cosmology through eschatology. Witzels aim is
not to treat individual myths but rather the framework of the whole mythology. He introduces pathway
dependency the interfaces of central motifs and structures in wide-ranging areas of culture that lead
these to be historically enduring or exhibit a longue dure. Pathway dependency is used to highlight that
throughout history every cultures mythology is developed through earlier structures whether inherited
or spread laterally like Christianity. Valuable discussions of mythological substrates and macro-regional
complexes (cross-cultural and areal patterns) are offered. Patterns of historical interaction make longer-
term comparisons increasingly problematic. Owing to the time-depth that is the target of reconstruction,
Witzel is especially concerned with comparisons between mythology of Eurasia and the Americas (and
correspondingly between mythologies of Africa and Australia), which were historically isolated for
millennia.

The methodology and its discussion seem quite solid, yet the study is not without weaknesses in
implementation and presentation. The dazzling array of examples illustrating minor points without
critical discussion give the impression of the seek and ye shall find syndrome of comparativism (in
other words: things that look related usually are) and that the author inclines toward a monogenesis theory
of motifs (in other words: similar motifs will not have an independent origin). These impressions may
simply result from the lack of critical discussion. Source-critical issues arise from the scope of the study:
one author cannot be an expert in every mythology! For example, the source used for Finnish mythology
is Kalevala, the epic composed by Elias Lnnrot in the 19th century on the basis of folklore. In practice,
Witzels references are to such broad features that comparison still aligns with the tradition, such as when
pointing to juxtaposed motifs in the world-creation (pp. 77, 124125) and features of bear ceremonialism
(p. 399). However, comparison with the being Ilmatar (pp. 8384) is problematic because she is an
invention of Lnnrot (note that this comparison is in a digression on parallel that Witzel simply thought
interesting and worthy of future investigation). Kalevala and similar sources are also problematic because
they can give an impression of order in a mythology that is not accurately representative of the oral
tradition (as in the case of kalevalaic oral epic). This raises questions about the degree of regularity and
fixity in the reconstructed cycle of Laurasian mythology. These points problematize certain cases and
details in Witzels wide-ranging study, but it should also be stressed that they will likely only lead to
refining his model rather than breaking down his main theory.

A Foundation for Discussion

The main argument of The Origins of the Worlds Mythologies is to demonstrate the theory of Laurasian
mythology. Discussions of Godwana and Pan-Gean mythologies have been developed in relation to
demonstrating that theory. Even if the historical question is left open, the outcome is a remarkable
framework that correlates formal typologies with geographical distributions on a global scale. This
framework can now be considered and discussed in relation to individual mythologies. This will not only
test Witzels main theory: his working model also raises questions such as why certain myths of the
Hebrew Bible seem close to Gondwana mythology (p. 339) and why the wolf does not have a position
like the bear or bull in mythologies of Eurasia (p. 395). Fuller inquiry is also required, for example, to
Elore 22(1): http://www.elore.fi/religion-beyond-the-horizon-of-history/

assess whether Uralic mythologies in fact exhibit a complete Laurasian scheme with four/five ages of
the world and an eschatology, and if not, why this should be so. Witzels work should not be viewed as
a conclusion, but as a foundation for exploring further the questions it addresses.

Docent Frog is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Folklore Studies, University of

Helsinki.