read this bitch!

It is believed that around 50,000-100,000 years ago a great shift occurred in human behavior, it is from around this time that the first signs of basic engraving, decorative clothing and jewelry begin to emerge. Although these were very basic such as beads made from shell and geometric engraving it showed that these humans were capable of abstract thought and self-expression. It is also believed that spoken language emerged around the same time. Soon after this, around 40,000 years ago cave paintings and figurative art begin to emerge, one example of this is the Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel; an anthropomorphic figurine carved from ivory, to many this demonstrates the creative imagination of the people of that time, some even saying that the figurine represented some kind of deity or myth.
It was not until the advent of written language around 7000 years ago that we start to see the first examples of empirical evidence for humans having told stories.
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As human civilisation advanced so did the focus of the scope of their needs, this also influenced the stories that we tell. Many of the first stories told by humankind involved survival on its most basic level; hunting, fighting dangerous animals, and enduring the forces of nature. If we look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs we see that the bottom two layers represent these themes. The first layer is what Maslow calls Physiological needs; this encompasses the biological needs that we have in order to keep alive; eating, drinking, breathing, suitable temperature. The second level is called Safety needs; this encompasses such things as freedom from fear, fitness, resources, stability. Together these two levels can be called the “Basic Needs”.
…(rest of the marlow stuff)


After civilization had advanced to the point that all the “Basic needs” were being taken care of more easily stories started to show more elements of the higher levels of needs. That is not to say that stories no longer contained elements from the lower levels, thing like fear and survival are so deeply ingrained in the human psyche and to this day still occur as major themes in many if not most stories in one way or another. However themes such as love, success happiness, moral justice, respect, creativity and self-expression started to play a bigger role in the stories.