The reason we like swimming so much is most likely because it was one of the first man-made activities used for survival and moving from place to place century after century. We have now engraved it into our DNA, and our relationship with water has become something very familiar.
From survival tools to sports activities
Suffice to think that the first cave inscriptions, depicting prehistoric men with the intent to swim, date back to 8,000 years ago and are found in the Cave of Swimmers, in a remote area of southwestern Egypt near Wadi Sora. In addition to running and horseback riding, swimming was one of the first sports practised by primitive tribes. In fact, the ability to keep afloat was crucial to escaping, hunting, and the transhumance of our ancestors who took advantage of the water to move entire armies.
Man has slowly acquired techniques, and styles and descriptions of natatory activities have been contributed to Egyptian and Sumerian populations, passing through the ancient Greeks. The first hieroglyphs date back to 3000 BC, but primitive forms of swimming were also practised by Native Americans. One of the most valuable finds, now preserved at the British Museum in London, is the bas-relief of Nineveh dated 880 BC. It originates from…
