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Paper short abstract

Indigenous folktales of Australia & North American include detailed, accurate, environmental information like narrative maps that can be used in wayfinding, the location of resources, and to broaden the geographic outlook. Folktales are seen as a scaffold on which information can be memorably hung.

Paper long abstract

An in-depth analysis of narratives of North American indigenous peoples reveals the includsion of detailed, accurate, environmental information. This information can be used in wayfinding, the location of resources, and to broaden the geographical outlook of the pertinent cultural groups. The information includes salient landscape features such as creekbeds, ridges, waterholes, caves, hills, and other features that indicate water and food sources as well as how to navigate through the region. These narratives function like narrative maps.

This analysis involves the inspection of approximately 350 collected oral folk narratives, the development of a specific definition of a ‘narrative map,’ and the use of Murdock’s Ethnographic Atlas to establish a geographically representative sample.

The comparison is broadened to include various geographical areas of Australia as well. This analysis indicates narrative maps communicate pertinent local knowledge. For example, narrative maps from the Australian desert make use of rocks and landscape features while those from the heavily forested, wet Arnhem land focus on time spent walking and the direction of the sun. The oral narrative operates as a scaffold upon which explicit information can be memorably hung.

A more expansive understanding of the oral folk narrative is now required because these narrative maps performed a similar function in multiple parts of the world and at multiple times. The ability of the oral narrative to retain and communicate pertinent, detailed information both across time and landscapes is a critical capability which helped mitigate the limitations of biological memory.