I am looking forward to reading this through. It’s interesting, but the idea that science is the right lens to understand myth seems, at first glance at least, absurd. This doesn’t mean we cannot learn a great deal from such an analysis — rather that one doesn’t use ice to cook food. In simpler terms, myth is not really available to analysis in the way some things might be. At the same time, the analysis can shed light on aspects we might otherwise miss in our relationships with myth.

I am also wondering if the researchers involved are familiar with the astonishing book Hamlet’s Mill…

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-trace-society-s-myths-to-primordial-origins/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_ARTC_FEAT