Storytelling: History

History:

Storytelling as an way to convey stories predates writing, with the earliest forms of storytelling tend to be spoken in nature combined with gestures and expressions. They have also been know to be part of religious rituals, with some archaeologists believing that cave art was must likely worked as forms of storytelling for many ancient cultures such as the Australian Aboriginals who used cave arts to refer back to incase they forget the stories they were telling.

The story then evolved for being solely oral to a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance, which many believed brought understanding and meaning of human existence through remembrance and re enactment of stories. In certain cultures forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status being displayed through these tattoos.

Following on through the years with the increase of writing and the use of an wide spread and stable Media, stories have now moved on to be recorded, transcribed and shared across the regions of the world.

In recent history oral stories continue to be created, improvisationally by impromptu storytellers, as well as committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world.