PROFESSOR0:

On the twelfth of September 1940,, four teenage boys were exploring caves near the village of Montignac in central France, when they noticed the walls were covered in pictures of bulls, horses and antelopes. They had discovered the oldest known story ever told. The cave paintings of Lascaux are thought to be around sixteen thousand years old, and are the earliest evidence we have that our ancestors told stories. Our ability to talk, however, is thought to have developed as far back as two hundred thousand years ago from a mutation in our brains. This power of speech is largely responsible for the civilizations and technology we have today.

On the twelfth of September 1940, four teenage boys were exploring caves near the village of Montignac in central France, when they noticed the walls were covered in pictures of bulls, horses and antelopes. They had discovered the oldest known story ever told. The cave paintings of Lascaux are thought to be around sixteen thousand years old, and are the earliest evidence we have that our ancestors told stories. Our ability to talk, however, is thought to have developed as far back as two hundred thousand years ago from a mutation in our brains. This power of speech is largely responsible for the civilizations and technology we have today.
PROFESSOR1:

Before people could write, telling stories was how history was mainly passed down from generation to generation. This made homo sapiens the only mammals able to recreate and remember their past, and to learn from it and build upon it. It's amazing to think how much we take it for granted. The earliest written story ever discovered is Gilgamesh, which is believed to have been written around two thousand BC. The most complete version of this story was found written on clay tablets in the remains of the library of the ancient Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal, in what is now modern Iraq.

Before people could write, telling stories was how history was mainly passed down from generation to generation. This made homo sapiens the only mammals able to recreate and remember their past, and to learn from it and build upon it. It's amazing to think how much we take it for granted. The earliest written story ever discovered is Gilgamesh, which is believed to have been written around two thousand BC. The most complete version of this story was found written on clay tablets in the remains of the library of the ancient Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal, in what is now modern Iraq.
PROFESSOR2:

Written in the ancient language of Sumerian, Gilgamesh tells of a superhuman king, and his epic battles to defeat his enemies. It contains a lot of themes still explored in literature today: friendship, love, family, mortality, kingdom, war, and of course, good and evil. The most interesting thing about the story of Gilgamesh is that it's an example of an early, but quite sophisticated, civilization using the power of stories to build a shared identity. It's thought Gilgamesh might actually have been a real, living king, who ruled around that time. If this is so, then it shows that the author intentionally mixed reality and mythology to tell a story of the hopes, fears and dreams of a people which is exactly what we still do today.

Written in the ancient language of Sumerian, Gilgamesh tells of a superhuman king, and his epic battles to defeat his enemies. It contains a lot of themes still explored in literature today: friendship, love, family, mortality, kingdom, war, and of course, good and evil. The most interesting thing about the story of Gilgamesh is that it's an example of an early, but quite sophisticated, civilization using the power of stories to build a shared identity. It's thought Gilgamesh might actually have been a real, living king, who ruled around that time. If this is so, then it shows that the author intentionally mixed reality and mythology to tell a story of the hopes, fears and dreams of a people which is exactly what we still do today.
PROFESSOR3:

We tell stories both about the reality of our life - what we dream of, worry about and fear - and of our community and the wider world. Although we rarely sit around campfires telling stories of our ancestors, we do tell our stories through news programs, movies, TV shows, radio shows and, on a daily basis, in conversation at work and at home. And, instead of carving words onto clay tablets, we record, debate and evaluate our shared history through novels, academic papers, newspapers, magazines, essays and personal diaries. And, in another significant advance for the power of speech, the Internet is changing once more the way we communicate with each other. In fact, publishing your personal experiences and beliefs on a blog isn't that different from painting your hunting adventures on a cave wall or writing them on a clay tablet.

We tell stories both about the reality of our life - what we dream of, worry about and fear - and of our community and the wider world. Although we rarely sit around campfires telling stories of our ancestors, we do tell our stories through news programs, movies, TV shows, radio shows and, on a daily basis, in conversation at work and at home. And, instead of carving words onto clay tablets, we record, debate and evaluate our shared history through novels, academic papers, newspapers, magazines, essays and personal diaries. And, in another significant advance for the power of speech, the Internet is changing once more the way we communicate with each other. In fact, publishing your personal experiences and beliefs on a blog isn't that different from painting your hunting adventures on a cave wall or writing them on a clay tablet.
PROFESSOR4:

Only the format has changed. What it shows is that telling stories is as natural to us as breathing oxygen.

Only the format has changed. What it shows is that telling stories is as natural to us as breathing oxygen.