Post by bodleyfludes on Mar 13, 2021 11:51:32 GMT -6
Pre-literate, oral tradition: This is another interest of mine - particularly as it may impact the reading of Genesis, with its analogy, inexplicable events and the possibility of distorted memory or imperfect understanding of events of ancient time.
from:
www.sapiens.org/language/oral-tradition/
I quote:
‘What are the limits of such ancient memories? For what length of time can knowledge be transferred within oral societies before its essence becomes irretrievably lost? Under optimal conditions, as suggested by science-determined ages for events recalled in ancient stories, orally shared knowledge can demonstrably endure more than 7,000 years, quite possibly 10,000, but probably not much longer.’
This phenomenon also comes up in the case of ages-long Polynesian expansion across the Pacific. Oral tradition is transmitted from place to place from the source, sometimes to an island having no further contact with the location of origin. Yet some widely separated groups had maintained an oral tradition found to be identical with the ancient original recitation of generations, and great ocean distances, earlier. If a tribe employs a member dedicated to learning, remembering and preserving their oral history, being passed from elder to novice, on and on, in cast-iron, unchanging detail, it may be found to have survived intact, word for word, over many generations
from:
www.sapiens.org/language/oral-tradition/
I quote:
‘What are the limits of such ancient memories? For what length of time can knowledge be transferred within oral societies before its essence becomes irretrievably lost? Under optimal conditions, as suggested by science-determined ages for events recalled in ancient stories, orally shared knowledge can demonstrably endure more than 7,000 years, quite possibly 10,000, but probably not much longer.’
This phenomenon also comes up in the case of ages-long Polynesian expansion across the Pacific. Oral tradition is transmitted from place to place from the source, sometimes to an island having no further contact with the location of origin. Yet some widely separated groups had maintained an oral tradition found to be identical with the ancient original recitation of generations, and great ocean distances, earlier. If a tribe employs a member dedicated to learning, remembering and preserving their oral history, being passed from elder to novice, on and on, in cast-iron, unchanging detail, it may be found to have survived intact, word for word, over many generations
It puts one in mind of the ‘talking books’ of Ray Bradbury’s ‘Farenheit 451’.
There is the parallel of legend. Where extravagant, impossible tales are later found to relate to some newly revealed ancient event, and in some cases matching exactly, a recent archaeological discovery.
In short, perhaps a warning that weirdness or unlikelihood should not be allowed to prescript dismissive disregard, because, even ridiculous stories of stones falling from the sky and sizzling in a new-ploughed field, may, even though we know full well there are no stones up there waiting to fall on us, contain some unforeseen revelation.
There is the parallel of legend. Where extravagant, impossible tales are later found to relate to some newly revealed ancient event, and in some cases matching exactly, a recent archaeological discovery.
In short, perhaps a warning that weirdness or unlikelihood should not be allowed to prescript dismissive disregard, because, even ridiculous stories of stones falling from the sky and sizzling in a new-ploughed field, may, even though we know full well there are no stones up there waiting to fall on us, contain some unforeseen revelation.