Re-examining the Kuafu Narrative in the Shanhaijing: A Topological Analysis of Early Cuneiform and Oracle Bone Script

Abstract Traditional scholarship interprets the Shanhaijing "Kuafu" (夸父) narrative as an indigenous myth, struggling with its profound structural anomalies. This study investigates whether it instead preserves a trans-Eurasian transmission of a Mesopotamian administrative record. Introducing a "Topological Cross-Textual Methodology," we apply graphic topology, sequential order, and syntactic controls to validate cross-script correspondences over phonetic matching. We propose a topological alignment between the Shanhaijing and the Lagaš-Umma border conflict (c. 2450 BCE). Specifically, "Kuafu" (夸父) maps to Sumerian signs LU₂ and GIŠ; "yurizhuzou" (与日逐走) maps to É-AN-NA-TUM-ra. Furthermore, Sumerian determinative and ergative suffixes KI and KID (-ke4) were visually misparsed by Han redactors into the Sinitic expression buliang (不量). By systematically mapping this anomalous Chinese narrative to the Stele of the Vultures, this framework offers a replicable methodological pathway for deciphering early Sinitic texts.