Репост из: Survive the Jive: All-feed
This chap appeared on Rogan making some claims about the swastika as a prehistoric pan-global symbol proving far reaching international connections in prehistory.
The reason the swastika is so widely dispersed and appears in such diverse cultural contexts is that it is one of the simplest shapes a human can draw. It is very easily invented independently.
It was formerly used as a means to trace migrations of people, such as the Aryans, but this does NOT work. For example both the pre-Aryan IVC culture of India, and the Central Asian Aryans of the Andronovo culture had the symbol before they met each other. The Proto-Indo-Europeans did not even use the symbol!
The symbol also has different meanings in different contexts. In Hindu contexts it is a good luck charm and represents the sun. In Ancient Greece it was a decoration. In Germanic cultures, it was a symbol of Odin.
Trying to make a theory of everything for the swastika is like making a theory of everything for the square or the circle.
The reason the swastika is so widely dispersed and appears in such diverse cultural contexts is that it is one of the simplest shapes a human can draw. It is very easily invented independently.
It was formerly used as a means to trace migrations of people, such as the Aryans, but this does NOT work. For example both the pre-Aryan IVC culture of India, and the Central Asian Aryans of the Andronovo culture had the symbol before they met each other. The Proto-Indo-Europeans did not even use the symbol!
The symbol also has different meanings in different contexts. In Hindu contexts it is a good luck charm and represents the sun. In Ancient Greece it was a decoration. In Germanic cultures, it was a symbol of Odin.
Trying to make a theory of everything for the swastika is like making a theory of everything for the square or the circle.