Clay in Myth and Legend
Photo: Clay Tablet commonly used in the fertile crescent area of the Middle East in the 5th millennium BC. Photo Credit: Louvre Museum
Clay in Myth and Legend
Although most people today are unaware the significant role which clay has played in the lives of humans can be of no doubt. Men and women, from the earliest records, have utilized many types of clay not only to benefit health but also lifestyles. We have used it for building and cooking, for drilling and damming. It has provided protection against bad health and restorative properties when we are ill. Modern men and women, in many ways, owe their very lifestyles and existence to clay.
The factual evidence relating to health and beauty benefits does exist, even though in modern times it has been relegated by many to the realms of 'anecdotal.' this is despite the fact that in contemporary times many people acknowledge the improvements made to skin and modern health spas and mud baths being considered a normal, if somewhat luxurious beauty treatment. Yet the importance and relevance our ancestors attributed to clay can be seen no more clearly than in the myths and legends which evolved over the centuries as a result.
Today in our 'modern' world we have forgotten how much our ancestors, and even many 21st century cultures, appreciated and revered clay. It is not to our benefit, but to our detriment, that we shun the properties of clay without making it our business to examine the benefits further.
It is no secret that such was the influence of clay throughout history it was believed that man evolved from it and many religions today have their foundation and beginnings in some way attributed to clay. The Bible is one of the main proponents of clay and it features throughout quite regularly. Even in Genesis there is the inference that man was formed from earth - and, as we all know, will return to it:
'Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.' Genesis 2:7.
But the Bible is little different to many other religions which at some point have made reference to the origin of man as arising out of clay. And, even more recently, science has actually provided some theoretical evidence that the creation of man from clay is actually a scientific possibility.
In 2013 it was reported by researchers at the Kavli Institute at Cornel for Nanoscale Science that they had been looking into hydrogels which could form proteins on a huge scale. What they discovered, was that the inorganic molecules required could be provided in clay and ultimately result in the hydrogel they were seeking. (Ref: Life might have Evolved in Clay)
Dan Luo of the Kavli Institute explained in a news release, 'We propose that in early geological history clay hydrogel provided a confinement function for biomolecules and biochemical reactions.'
The science behind the findings is outside of the knowledge of the layperson, however it appears that the sponge-like property of clay, which we are all so familiar with, has, under certain conditions, the ability to transform into exactly the type of hydrogel Luo and his team were looking for. The hydrogel, is formed from clay which comes into contact with water which then allows it to hold on to the chemicals it has trapped. Then, over many millions of years, this results in the formation of biochemicals including proteins and DNA - most particularly in the large quantities which the research team were originally looking for.
The fact that man, or all life on earth, may have originated from clay, is it would seem, a real possibility because when volcanic clay is combined with water, the compounds it holds eventually form proteins and, ultimately DNA. (Ref: Cornell Univ. Clay May Have Been Birthplace of Life).
The concept of course is quite difficult to prove in practice - not many scientists are going to be around for a few million years - yet here again there is a strong suggestion that our ancestors were right.
Although prior to this very recent research we may have scoffed at the idea of our ancestors believing life evolved from clay scientists are proving that their beliefs have substance. All life, it seems, could very well have evolved from clay and the myths and legends that we know today may someday turn out not to be myths but natural history.
Excerpted from Healing Clays: History, Science and Uses of the Earth's Best Kept Secret