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The Memory Code: how oral cultures memorise so much information
Hamacher, Duane W.
http://theconversation.com/the-memory-code-how-oral-cultures-memorise-so-much-information-65649Date Written: 2016-09-26 Publisher: The Conversation Year Published: 2016 Resource Type: Article Long before the ancient Celts, Aboriginal Australians were recording vast scores of knowledge to memory and passing it to successive generations. Aboriginal people demonstrate that their oral traditions are not only highly detailed and complex, but they can survive -- accurately -- for thousands, even tens of thousands, of years. Abstract: - Excerpt: But loci is not only linked to places you can touch or visit. Indigenous people also use the stars as memory spaces. For example, groups of stars can represent features on the landscape. Aboriginal Law Man Ghillar Michael Anderson explains how the Euahlayi people were able to travel long distances for trade and ceremony. The Euahlayi would memorise star maps at night and learn the songs that talk about their relationship to the land. Each star was associated with a landscape feature, such as a waterhole. Later in the year, they would sing the song as they travelled across country by day. These songline routes became the foundation of some of our highway networks that criss-cross the country. Rather than navigating by the stars, the stars themselves serve as a memory space. Subject Headings |