I don't know if you've heard of this phylogeny-of-folktales paper:
Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales. Sara Graça da Silva and Jamshid J. Tehrani. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150645
These researchers used tools developed by geneticists, on folk tales, to see which were oldest across Eurasia.
The very oldest was the Smith and the Devil, but close behind was the Animal Bride, in one version of which a man (young, naive) marries a frog, to much ridicule. He overcomes his shame when he sees how good she is as a partner. The tale usually involves the wife getting out of her animal skin to reveal a human, and the husband hiding the skin. In another version the husband's modest choices rescues the wife from her animal-curse. The whole set is about marriage, which was surely a major discovery for humans at some point: the discovery of monogamy and loyal pairwise cooperation.
I'll have to listen again to your list of male and female cognitive attributes, and male and female cognitive discoveries, but I'm wondering Who told the folktales? The early ones, like this Animal Bride one, seem to be from a male point of view.
I don't know if you've heard of this phylogeny-of-folktales paper:
Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales. Sara Graça da Silva and Jamshid J. Tehrani. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150645
These researchers used tools developed by geneticists, on folk tales, to see which were oldest across Eurasia.
The very oldest was the Smith and the Devil, but close behind was the Animal Bride, in one version of which a man (young, naive) marries a frog, to much ridicule. He overcomes his shame when he sees how good she is as a partner. The tale usually involves the wife getting out of her animal skin to reveal a human, and the husband hiding the skin. In another version the husband's modest choices rescues the wife from her animal-curse. The whole set is about marriage, which was surely a major discovery for humans at some point: the discovery of monogamy and loyal pairwise cooperation.
I'll have to listen again to your list of male and female cognitive attributes, and male and female cognitive discoveries, but I'm wondering Who told the folktales? The early ones, like this Animal Bride one, seem to be from a male point of view.
That's all I've got!