TY  - BOOK
AU  - Witzel, E J Michael
AU  - Witzel,E J Michael
TI  - The Origins of the World`s Mythologies
SN  - 9780199812851
U1  - S12.2 
PY  - 2012///
CY  - Oxford
PB  - Oxford University Press
N1  - includes index and biblioraphy; 1. Introduction	  1.1	What Is Myth, and How Do We Study and Compare It ?            1  1.2	Definition of Myth and Its Study in the Past	6  1.3	Comparative Mythology	8  1.4	Laurasian Mythology	15  1.5	Earlier Explanations of Myth	20  1.6	Ur-Forms, History, and Archaeology	26  1.7	Summary	33  2. Comparison and Theory	37  2.1   Theory and Practice of Comparisons	37  2.2   Reconstructing Laurasian Mythology	50  2.3   Enhancing the Reconstruction	65  2.4   Reconstructing the Laurasian Mythological System and Inherent Problems	75  2.5   Structure and Content in Some Macro-Areas of Laurasian Mythology	80  2.6   Some Objections to the Approach of Historical Comparative Mythology	95  2.7   Conclusion	101  3. Creation Myths: The Laurasian Story Line, Our First Novel	105  3.1	Primordial Creation	105  3.2	Father Heaven, Mother Earth	128  3.3	Separation of Heaven and Earth, the Prop	131  3.4	Creation of Land	137  3.5	The Demiurge or Trickster	138  3.6	Generations, Four Ages, and Five Suns	160  3.7	The Creation of Humans	167  3.8	Descent of "Noble" Lineages	174  3.9	The Flood	177  3.10	Heroes	180  3.11	The Final Destruction	181  3.12	Summary	183  4. The Contributions of Other Sciences: Comparison of Language, Physical Anthropology, Genetics, and Archaeology  4.1   Linguistics  4.2   Physical Anthropology  4.3   Genetics  4.4   Archaeology  4.5   Other Items of Comparison  4.6   Conclusions Resulting from the Comparison of the Sciences Involved  5. The Countercheck: Australia, Melanesia, and Sub-Saharan Africa  5.1   Possible Ways to Countercheck  5.2   Beyond Laurasia  5.3   Gondwana Mythologies  5.4   Individual Gondwana Myth Types and Their Common Characteristics  5.5   Secondary Influences on Gondwana Mythology  5.6   Conflicting Myths in Gondwanaland  5.7   Counterchecking Laurasian Mythology Based on Gondwana Mythology  6. First Tales: Pan-Gaean Mythology  6.1   Beyond Laurasia and Gondwana  6.2   Our First Tales  7. Laurasian Mythology in Historical Development  7.1   Late Paleolithic Religion  7.2   Changes from the Late Paleolithic to State Societies  7.3   Dating Gondwana and Laurasian Mythology  8. Outlook  8.1   The Meaning of Laurasian Mythology  8.2   Beyond Laurasia, Gondwana, and Pan-Gaea  8.3   Epilogue
ER  -