The Co-phylogeny of Earth-Diver Creation Myths and Language: Insights into Evolution Processes and Migration

Summary

This paper presents results from co-phylogenetic analysis of Earth-Diver creation myths and regional language history. This study seeks to understand process of dissemination of traits of historically congruent cultural traditions across time and geographic space. We hypothesize creation myths and language have parallel evolutionary history and form a combined set of core cultural traditions. Thus creation stories and language will map closely together. Results from phylogenetic methods and other statistical analysis of data sets will demonstrate that in the case of language and creation myths, evolutionary processes of culture traditions are a unified system. Creation myths, similar to language, are subject to conformity bias and less prone to horizontal transmission because errors in transmission will be subject to correction. In a broader sense, co-phylogeny studies, like this one, will provide new insights into evolutionary processes of multiple cultural traditions. Additionally, branching trees from Earth Diver creation myths found in both Eurasia and North America are suggestive of an early migration to the new world. Therefore our research adds to existing studies of early migration patterns to the New World and population spread across the North American continent.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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