Language, Childhood, and Fire: How We Learned to Love Sharing Stories

Abstract

Stories do not fossilize. Thus, exploring tales shared during prehistory, the longest part of human history inevitably becomes speculative. Nevertheless, various attempts have been made to find a more scientifically valid way into our deep human past of storytelling. Following the social brain hypothesis, we suggest including into the theory of human storytelling more fine-grained and evidence-based findings (from archaeology, the cognitive sciences, and evolutionary psychology) about the manifold exaptation and adaptation, genetic changes, and phenotypic plasticity in the deep human past, which all shaped the emergence of storytelling in hominins. We identify three preconditions for humans sharing stories: first, the long evolution of language in the different taxa as one of the preconditions of ostensive signaling; second, the pivotal role of childhood in the evolution of collaborative intentionality; and third, the role of fireside chats in the rise of elaborative (i.e., narrative) sharing of stories. We propose that humans, albeit perhaps no other hominins learned to understand others through sharing stories, not only as intentional agents, but also as mental ones.

Nocturnal selective pressures on the evolution of human musicality as a missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle

“…Similar to musicians, art students ( Wang and Chern, 2008 ) and visually creative individuals ( Giampietro and Cavallera, 2007 ) are also evening oriented. Thus, the nocturnal selective landscape is also relevant to the evolution of other forms of performing arts and performative entertainment using voice, such as humor, drama, and storytelling ( Putilov, 2014 ; Wiessner, 2014 ; Lauer, 2022 ), including those forms focused on night-time horror/thriller stories ( Clasen, 2012 ). Because of the firelight, visual arts by the fire ( Needham et al, 2022 ) or in places with extraordinary acoustic properties ( Waller, 2002 ; Reznikoff, 2008 ), including ‘shadow play’ storytelling ( Ahola and Lassila, 2022 ) and fire-walking rituals ( Xygalatas, 2015 ), are expected to be included in the scope of the Nocturnal Evolution of Human Musicality and Performativity Theory .…”