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How far back do you think human cultural memory extends? The earliest writings would be preserving stories known at the time, but how far back did those stories
by goatlover 3y ago
How far back do you think human cultural memory extends? The earliest writings would be preserving stories known at the time, but how far back did those stories go in prehuman history? I'm guessing most of prehistory was forgotten even before you get to neanderthals.
- jbotz 3y agoProbably, but there is some evidence that Australian aboriginal oral traditions have preserved information for at least 16,000 years or so, i.e. well into the last ice age. IIRC there are two specific instances, one involving astronomical observations that can be dated to about that long ago, and another involving geography, where the stories speak of an area of land as it would have appeared when sea levels where much lower during the ice age.
- flir 3y agohttps://www.science.org/content/article/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told https://www.science.org/content/article/aboriginal-tale-anci... Notable because it's so old, but it gives you an upper bound.