The Ancient Tradition: Audio Writ

Edmund Nequatewa, a Hopi man from the village of Shung-opovi, Second Mesa, Hopiland, and an initiated member of the One-Horned Fraternity, a ceremonial priesthood responsible for safeguarding and transmitting this sacred Hopi Emergence story, narrated this account which was first published in 1936 by the Museum of Northern Arizona as Bulletin No. 8.  In 1967, it was reissued in book form under the title, Truth of a Hopi. 
This Hopi emergence account is notable for its attestation of a pre-earth existence; the presence of an established pre-earth religious order consisting of chiefs and priests; the presence of formal religious rituals in the pre-earth world; the eruption of a division between good and bad people in the pre-earth world; the expressed desire of pre-earth humanity to enter the present world; the convening of a council of wise men who formulated a deliberate plan to assist the people’s passage from the pre-earth realm to earth; the growth of an immense tree at the center of the pre-earth world; the existence of a passage or opening within that tree through which human beings could ascend to this world; the requirement that individuals adhere to a prescribed or “set” path prior to being allowed to pass through the tree to this world; the guarding of the tree’s entrance by two powerful beings; the prohibition of bad people from entering the tree and coming into this world; and the ultimate emergence of human beings into this world through the top of the tree, where they performed sacred ceremonies in this world like they had done in the pre-earth world.
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In 2009, Douglas Simmonds, son of RAF pilot, Leonard Simmonds, who’d acquired a small cuneiform tablet while serving in the Middle East in the 1940s, took his father’s tablet to Dr. Irving Finkel, one of the world’s leading Assyriologist, a curator at the British Museum.  Dr. Finkel translated the tablet and discovered that it contained a remarkable account of the Mesopotamian Flood story, where Atrahasis, the Mesopotamian Noah, was commanded by Enki, the son of the High God An, to construct a circular boat to survive the deluge.
The tablet, known as The Ark Tablet, dated to the Old Babylonian period (circa 1900-1700 B.C.), is particularly significant for its detailed portrayal of the ark as circular in shape, its emphasis on housing the heart of life within, its meticulous attention to waterproofing the vessel, and for its focus on the ark as a sanctuary offering protection from the catastrophic floodwaters.  These elements collectively suggest that the ark was not just a boat, but a temple- a microcosmic model of the macrocosm.
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In 1900, Depot Charlie, Chief of the Tituni-Joshua people—whose ancestral lands are situated in southern Oregon—narrated the creation story of his people to an anthropologist, who subsequently documented it in Volume 28 of the Journal of American Folklore.  The Tituni-Joshua people had significant interactions with European settlers in the late 1700s, though the extent to which these encounters shaped Chief Charlie's account remains unknown.
The Tituni-Joshua creation narrative is particularly significant for its depiction of the creator residing on the primordial waters in a sweat lodge, the mention of a foundation stone, the involvement of the First Man in the creation process, and the portrayal of the creator imparting instructions to the First Man prior to his ascension to the sky.
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In the early 1900s, the creation account of the Native American Maidu people, whose ancestral lands are located in northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was documented in Volume 17 of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. During the mid-19th century, amid the Gold Rush, the Maidu people had significant encounters with European settlers. The extent to which these interactions influenced their creation narrative is unclear.
The Maidu account is notable for its anthropomorphic description of the creator, the inclusion of co-creators, mention of a “sky rope”, mention of a raft on the primordial waters, the growth of a sacred tree, the onset of physical entropy on the earth, and most importantly, an account of the creator visiting and imparting important instructions to the First Man, instructions which the First Man subsequently imparts to the Maidu people.
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The Esira Temple Text, known as Weld-Blundell 161, or "A Hymn of Eridu", is hailed by the distinguished British Assyriologist Stephen Langdon as a document of exceptional "theological, epigraphical, and philological" significance.  Discovered in the spring of 1922 by Weld Blundell of Queen's College, this cuneiform prism details the grandeur of a temple dedicated to the Sumerian god Enki, situated in Eridu, one of the oldest cities in the ancient world (c. 5400 B.C.).  

The Esira Temple, also referred to as the Apsu, served as the epicenter of southern Mesopotamian society, central to both religious practice and the institution of kingship.  The text's significance lies in its portrayal of the temple as a source of fertility, abundance, and life-giving power, the repository of sacred mysteries, instruction, a "profound ritualistic order", and wisdom, and its prominence as the "Mountain of the Land".
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