Mythogenesis and Anthropogenesis

Abstract

In the period of the 19th – beginning of the 21th century in the study of mythol­ogy three paradigms of the study of mythogenesis have consistently dominated – historical, non-historical and historical-cognitive. The historical-cognitive para­digm is based on the latest scientific results in the field of archeology, anthro­pology and cognitive science. The modern model of anthropogenesis assumes the existence of general regularities of development of three types of Homo – Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans. There are reasons that are not only Homo sapiens, but also the Neanderthals and Denisovans had high cognitive ca­pabilities and signs of modern human behavior. The most important foundations of mythogenesis are the functioning of language and the activity of the imagina­tion. All three populations of ancient mankind reached a cognitive minimum, which opened the way to mythogenesis. Signs of mythogenesis are clearly recorded no later than the time of the transition from the Middle to Upper Pale­olithic, during the Early Aurignacian, but the beginning of this process goes back to an earlier period.