Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin were first written down in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively, but...

Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin were first written down in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively, but they are actually between 2,500 and 6,000 years old—not quite tales as old as time, but perhaps as old as wheels and writing.

Originally shared by Jennifer Ouellette

Using techniques from evolutionary biology, scientists have traced folk stories back to the Bronze Age. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/on-the-origin-of-stories/424629/ …
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/on-the-origin-of-stories/424629

Comments

  1. Paul BeakleyJanuary 23, 2016 at 9:33 AM

    Fascinating! Great share.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff RussellJanuary 23, 2016 at 5:38 PM

    Neato! I think I read something similar recently. Also, in terms of what gets remembered and why, Neil Gaiman gave a really cool talk to the Long Now Foundation:
    http://longnow.org/seminars/02015/jun/09/how-stories-last/

    ReplyDelete

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