This is based on a very old article I read a long time ago but thought was cool (and I still think it is):
Essentially it is positing a history for the civilization that built the wall and ruins on Skull Island, and brought Kong to it in the first place. The actual article is fascinating to read but I'll try to summarize it here.
What do we know about the people who settled Skull Island? First off, they obviously came from somewhere else (We'll call it "Mu", just for the pulp fiction points). They were a people inhabiting a tropical island and using domesticated giant apes for trade, war, transportation and agriculture. The apes were probably natives to the island, island gigantism, that the humans found when they came to Mu. With the aid of such apes, they mastered megalithic construction techniques. They were likely fishers, using boats to harvest fish around their shores. Their developing technology and social organization allowed them to build bigger and more ambitious monuments, and eventually, bigger and more ambitious seagoing boats.
So, inevitably, the Muans embarked on their age of exploration. How did it go? Well, we know they reached the Asian mainland, and acquired oxen. We know they reached Skull Island, established a colony and transplanted giant apes and oxen.
We know they probably never made it to Australia, or if they did found it too inhospitable to colonize. We know they never made it to Madagascar, and thus never onto Africa. Many of the smaller islands of the Eastern Pacific were not colonized by them: The biospheres would show signs of human habitation like their dodos and other birds.
We know that eventually, something happened to Mu: Plague? Civil war? Most likely it was part of the same tectonic plate that Skull Island is part of, and fell victim to earthquakes, volcanos and ultimately sank into the sea. We also know that eventually the civilization on Skull Island fell: Possibly a combination of disease, natural disasters, and the sheer aggressiveness and horror of the megafauna on the island. And thus ultimately the people who survive are the descendants of a once great ocean going superpower. We see it in how they venerate Kong, in the architecture across the island so focused on the ape: The Kongs were the core of their civilization. The men who trained and handled the Kongs were probably a special caste, elites in their society. And this veneration carries on to the present, even with the Muans in such mean estate.
So, here is a good discussion point: What if not only Skull Island existed, but also the Muan civilization as outlined here? An ocean going civilization that had domesticated elephant-sized giant apes and had tried to expand out? Say from 1500 BC to 500 BC, the Muan Civilization was thriving and practicing great feats? What changes to history might have resulted if they'd succeeded in expansion?
ERBzine 1520: King Kong: Lost Civilization of Skull Island
www.erbzine.com
Essentially it is positing a history for the civilization that built the wall and ruins on Skull Island, and brought Kong to it in the first place. The actual article is fascinating to read but I'll try to summarize it here.
What do we know about the people who settled Skull Island? First off, they obviously came from somewhere else (We'll call it "Mu", just for the pulp fiction points). They were a people inhabiting a tropical island and using domesticated giant apes for trade, war, transportation and agriculture. The apes were probably natives to the island, island gigantism, that the humans found when they came to Mu. With the aid of such apes, they mastered megalithic construction techniques. They were likely fishers, using boats to harvest fish around their shores. Their developing technology and social organization allowed them to build bigger and more ambitious monuments, and eventually, bigger and more ambitious seagoing boats.
So, inevitably, the Muans embarked on their age of exploration. How did it go? Well, we know they reached the Asian mainland, and acquired oxen. We know they reached Skull Island, established a colony and transplanted giant apes and oxen.
We know they probably never made it to Australia, or if they did found it too inhospitable to colonize. We know they never made it to Madagascar, and thus never onto Africa. Many of the smaller islands of the Eastern Pacific were not colonized by them: The biospheres would show signs of human habitation like their dodos and other birds.
We know that eventually, something happened to Mu: Plague? Civil war? Most likely it was part of the same tectonic plate that Skull Island is part of, and fell victim to earthquakes, volcanos and ultimately sank into the sea. We also know that eventually the civilization on Skull Island fell: Possibly a combination of disease, natural disasters, and the sheer aggressiveness and horror of the megafauna on the island. And thus ultimately the people who survive are the descendants of a once great ocean going superpower. We see it in how they venerate Kong, in the architecture across the island so focused on the ape: The Kongs were the core of their civilization. The men who trained and handled the Kongs were probably a special caste, elites in their society. And this veneration carries on to the present, even with the Muans in such mean estate.
So, here is a good discussion point: What if not only Skull Island existed, but also the Muan civilization as outlined here? An ocean going civilization that had domesticated elephant-sized giant apes and had tried to expand out? Say from 1500 BC to 500 BC, the Muan Civilization was thriving and practicing great feats? What changes to history might have resulted if they'd succeeded in expansion?
