Figuration and Temporality in the Entangled Prehistories of Myth and Dreams

Milne, Louise

Abstract

The strongest Paleolithic evidence for the existence of mythological discourse – as a product of both language and (visual) figuration – is the strange imagery present in a small fraction of Paleolithic figurative art: depictions of hybrid or “impossible” creatures, of the kind long associated also with dreams. The faculty of dreaming itself (the construction of virtual memories on waking) must be as old as consciousness itself, as dream-experience is a consequence of having both language and figuration (memory and representation), together with a sense of temporality (awareness of time). As soon as narrative records begin (2nd millenium), it is clear that the phenomena of dreams were already strongly linked to mythic discourse. Before then, all the evidence for dream and myth in the prehistoric era is visual.

In this category, we have both surviving figurative works and archaeological evidence (e.g. from burial sites). This paper re-examines this evidence in the light of two theoretical approaches relevant for understanding the evolution of myth: 1) that “ordinary” (apparently realistic) figuration is itself mythic/oneiric – i.e. not just the material that retroactively looks “fantastic”; 2) the relevance of numerosity – also an aspect of figuration – as the faculty of mind central to the development of time-based representations (e.g. dreams), and an essential ingredient for the integration of figuration as mythic discourse (for example, in ritual activity). The discussion will use examples drawn from well-known and recently discovered prehistoric visual works, and from the earliest literary texts, with a view to illuminating the roles of figuration, temporality and dream-experience in the evolution of mythological discourse.

Citation

Milne, L. (2024, August). Figuration and Temporality in the Entangled Prehistories of Myth and Dreams. Paper presented at 17th Annual International Association for Comparative Mythology (IACM) conference (The Origins of Mythology), Kokugakuin University, Tokyo

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 17th Annual International Association for Comparative Mythology (IACM) conference (The Origins of Mythology)
• Start Date: Aug 27, 2024
• End Date: Aug 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/4177933
• External URL: https://www.compmyth.org/17th-conference/