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(from April 22, 2016) Some fairy tales may be 6000 years old
sciencemag.org ^ | April 22, 2016 | David Shultz

Posted on 06/09/2016 4:55:27 PM PDT by SteveH

When it comes to the origin of Western fairy tales, the 19th century Brothers Grimm get a lot of the credit. Few scholars believe the Grimms were actually responsible for creating the tales, but academics probably didn’t realize how old many of these stories really are. A new study, which treats these fables like an evolving species, finds that some may have originated as long as 6000 years ago.

The basis for the new study, published in Royal Society Open Science, is a massive online repository of more than 2000 distinct tales from different Indo-European cultures known as the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which was compiled in 2004. Although not all researchers agree on the specifics, all modern Indo-European cultures (encompassing all of Europe and much of Asia) descended from the Proto-Indo-European people who lived during the Neolithic Period (10,200 B.C.E.–2000 B.C.E.) in Eastern Europe. Much of the world’s modern language is thought to have evolved from them.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; fairytales; godsgravesglyphs; indoeuropean; neolithic; protoindoeuropean
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To: SteveH

Thanks, interesting article.


21 posted on 06/09/2016 5:50:47 PM PDT by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
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To: yarddog
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind posits  consciousness as a learned process that evolved from an earlier hallucinatory mentality only three thousand years ago.  One half of the brain talked to the other, coming across as God.  The breakdown of the bicamerality was the integration of the brain, and demise of the gods.  Fairy tales may have been the trailing edge of this breakdown, although that is not in Jayne's book.

22 posted on 06/09/2016 5:53:52 PM PDT by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: SteveH

“...romance, and not judging people based on appearance....”

Bleach. No. 6000 or 60 years ago, it was quite appropriate to judge men, like the beast, based on his gentlemanliness, with which the story equates his bad appearance. Belle’s perception of his goodness and his choice to respond to it by becoming good is a 6000 year old story

Fairy tales are the opposite of moral relativism. Drives these science by politics types crazy.


23 posted on 06/09/2016 5:55:36 PM PDT by stanne
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To: heye2monn

I’m betting it’s the same person who created the fairy tale that 0vomit, with no actual accomplishments in his entire life (not even getting into college without playing the affirmative action card) was a good choice for POTUS.


24 posted on 06/09/2016 6:02:48 PM PDT by generally
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To: ClearCase_guy

Oldest reality: God is in everything. You are part of God.


25 posted on 06/09/2016 6:11:02 PM PDT by fanfan ("If Muslim kids were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war.")
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To: ClearCase_guy

Yep.

I’m intellectualizing it. Sorry.

It’s true, though. They did become like God. They gained knowledge. There was a huge price to pay

The enemy is the father of lies but is intelligent. It will use the truth AND beauty. You know that

Anyway the term ‘fairy tale’ is most synonymous with lies, in contemporary culture So, of course you commented i don’t mean it personally at all

I just happen to take fairy tales seriously. They are a basis for at least a quarter of our most favorite stories.


26 posted on 06/09/2016 6:19:49 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Boogieman

The great flood is NOT a myth.


27 posted on 06/09/2016 6:38:17 PM PDT by Zirondelle ("disce aut discede")
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To: MileHi

when ever i hear somebody say that, i say before CHRISTIAN era, right?


28 posted on 06/09/2016 7:20:19 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY - Luke, 22:36)
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To: Zirondelle

I don’t think so either, but many of the different versions of the story about it are myths, and collectively, they’re referred to as “flood myths”.


29 posted on 06/09/2016 8:14:20 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: SteveH

Fairy tales can actually be truth tales. We’ve found the wicked witch, the bones of Hobbits, perhaps a few of unicorns,a real life prince of a man who fights like a white knight. It’s the verification of the dragon which is still in question.


30 posted on 06/09/2016 8:22:49 PM PDT by V K Lee (9r)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“Oldest fairy tale: “you will be like God”.”

Newer fairy tale: You’ll be able to keep your doctor, because I AM GOD.


31 posted on 06/09/2016 8:46:34 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: SteveH

“You didn’t build that!”


32 posted on 06/10/2016 6:09:29 AM PDT by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: Paladin2; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks Paladin2.

33 posted on 06/10/2016 11:43:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
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To: FoxInSocks

lol! :-)


34 posted on 06/10/2016 12:53:49 PM PDT by SteveH
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To: SteveH

34 posts, yet no one has mentioned joseph campbell yet?! hmm :-)


35 posted on 06/10/2016 12:56:34 PM PDT by SteveH
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To: SteveH; SunkenCiv
So....

We need an Iranian to explain Indo-European history to us?

36 posted on 06/10/2016 1:35:15 PM PDT by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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To: blam
A reading of "The Red Shoes" would make one wonder if there isn't a Middle Eastern origin of some of 'em.

37 posted on 06/10/2016 3:20:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Pretty sure some muzzie worked these up.


38 posted on 06/10/2016 3:23:03 PM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: Chode

{:0)


39 posted on 06/10/2016 4:23:00 PM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: Covenantor

Wouldn’t know whether to use Gold Bond or mouthwash in those things...


40 posted on 06/10/2016 9:25:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
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