How the Human Mind Shapes Myth

Prometheus, Pele, and the Curse of Fire: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth, by Dr. Elizabeth Barber. Myths turn out to be a quite reasonable answer to a difficult problem: how to pass crucial messages down through many generations in a nonliterate society--that is, orally and by memory. Modern cognitive studies combined with careful scientific sleuthing show that myths, far from being a collection of meaningless tales, once carried important historical and observational information.

This illustrated talk presents some basic principles by which myths develop, using relatively clear evidence from the Pacific Northwest and Hawai‘i to elucidate the structure of stories with more complex histories from early Greece and its surroundings. Through such reconstruction we can return a small measure of history to prehistoric societies.

Lecture Sponsored by Archaeological Institute of America

Ticket Information
free

Event Sponsor
LLEA/Archaeological Institute of America, Manoa

More Information
Robert Littman, 956-4173

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