Birds in Creation, Evolution, and Creation Stories
Abstract The first verses of Genesis describe God as a bird hovering over a nest. Most creation stories involve birds, laying eggs among Hindus and Finns and saving Sky Woman as she falls among Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Ravens guided humans as they moved from Africa to the Americas, so that Tlingit...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University PressNew York
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197691878.003.0002 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58126612/oso-9780197691878-chapter-2.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract The first verses of Genesis describe God as a bird hovering over a nest. Most creation stories involve birds, laying eggs among Hindus and Finns and saving Sky Woman as she falls among Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Ravens guided humans as they moved from Africa to the Americas, so that Tlingit and others call ravens creators. Birds appear in the cave paintings of Lascaux, at Paleolithic sites of Australia, and in the earliest cities. Vultures were depicted at the first sites of funerals, where they disposed of bodies. Because dinosaurs included theropods, the ancestors of birds who survived the meteor strike that killed off great lizards, birds actually did take part in making the world. Birds replanted forests after ice ages. Bird communication signaled the birth of self-consciousness millions of years before humans. |
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