Storytelling, whether around a campfire, in a café, or in a sold-out theater, is ubiquitous in human culture. The universality of storytelling suggests that this behavior has deep roots. It also begs the question of why we as humans find stories so compelling. Building on ethnographic data, archaeologist and professor April Nowell explores the evolutionary context, adaptive features, and cognitive underpinnings of storytelling. Drawing on examples from cave art, including recent research in Australia, she presents archaeological evidence for storytelling and narrative in the Ice Age. She argues that storytelling is a vehicle for sharing knowledge across generations as she considers the role of this form of teaching in human survival over the millennia.
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