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‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

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Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#71

Post by dash2 »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #66

TFA is speculative fiction - just enjoy! 100,000 year old stories would predate behavioural modernity, thought to have emerged 80,000 years ago. Maybe eyesight was better 80,000 years ago, so the seven were discernable to the naked eye - combined with zero light and air pollution. OTOH maybe we'll find further evidence to push back behavioural modernity.

Possibly, but the author has gathered quite a bit of evidence for it. Here's his 2017 academic paper on the topic, along with much else: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/c...

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#73

Post by sfifs »

gostsamo wrote: post #6
not_knuth wrote: post #3

I can't help but feel that some combination of the Birthday paradox [0] and primates churning out stories [1] is going on here. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

What accounts for the missing sister though? If the seventh sister was last visible 50000-100000 years ago, how the myths are trying to account for it now without the memory?

Based on the analysis, it is very likely that the 7 stars were more distinctly visible but then gradually became harder and harder to see upto about 30-40k years ago. So cultures started making stories for why it disappeared. The fact that the stories of why the seventh sister disappeared seem different across cultures may possibly indicate the cultures had already separated when that happened.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#74

Post by idlewords »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #64

> ... May Reach Back 100k Years Or may not. One important fact: people get accolades and sometimes even direct monetary incentives for finding something that is supposedly "oldest of". Nobody gets famous or rich by revising "oldest of" dates to a more recent timeline.

This is a profound insight and finally explains why history keeps getting longer.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#75

Post by idlewords »

dwighttk wrote: post #72

Sure Pleione and Atlas used to be a little farther apart, but Maia and Taygeta are were also closer together according to their chart. Why could they tell the latter apart when we can’t tell the former?

I am sorry to say you might have to go read the linked paper, where this is discussed. The upshot is, visually distinguishing two stars is a function of both their proximity and relative brightness.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/np0n4v72bdl37gr/sevensisters.pdf?d...

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#76

Post by imglorp »

mellosouls wrote: post #27

It's a nice theory but sometimes simpler, less glamorous solutions might hold the truth. There are more than 6 "sisters" visible with the naked eye, but most people normally can't see them. It's more believable to me that the "missing" 7th sister is just the brightest of the less visible ones. Those less visible would certainly have been used as a test of prowess for determining the keenest-eyed, especially among ear…

A third possibility is one of the stars used to be much brighter for whatever reason.

Ancient drawings would help locate the 7th star. One would think star charts are a natural subject for inscriptions predating written language.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#77

Post by eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7 »

not_knuth wrote: post #3

I can't help but feel that some combination of the Birthday paradox [0] and primates churning out stories [1] is going on here. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

Can you explain why this is related to the birthday paradox please? I don't get it, sorry! :)

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#78

Post by johndoe42377 »

Bullshit. We know nothing and have literally no way to know (only speculate) about anything 10k years ago.

Besides, every text is being altered at each rewrite (before printing technology) and even no story is told two times exactly the same.

Any decent scholar of ancient texts will tell you that. Indian ancient literature is the canonical case study.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#79

Post by andrewflnr »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #66

TFA is speculative fiction - just enjoy! 100,000 year old stories would predate behavioural modernity, thought to have emerged 80,000 years ago. Maybe eyesight was better 80,000 years ago, so the seven were discernable to the naked eye - combined with zero light and air pollution. OTOH maybe we'll find further evidence to push back behavioural modernity.

Based on an academic article by the same author linked down-thread, the 100k year number is derived from when he thinks humans migrated from Africa. If you think that happened closer to 80kya (wiki estimate is around 60kya), I don't think that changes the fundamentals much.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#80

Post by szatkus »

jeofken wrote: post #69
dannyw wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow. The logo literally has six stars, which is the subject of what we are discussing here.

They’ve identified the same stars, but do the Han or Korean or Japanese have a story about 7 sisters?

Doesn't look like. According to Japanese Wikipedia they used to be also called 六連星 ("group of 6 stars", I think?).
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