Talk:Cultural History of Mazes

From Maze

[//bracketing for now] According to Kern, “the earliest depiction of a maze dates from about 1420 CE”. However, as Espen Aarseth argues, Architectural mazes: church mazes, Purposes of Labyrinths and Mazes: 1) Protection: “to protect places of importance in their immediate vicinities” (13) 2) Games: “Swedish peasants living in Finland used to use the stone mazes in that country for running games in which the young men would run through them to a girl at the centre” or alternatively “ a stone coffer grave at the center” (13). 3) Research: For the study of intelligence in humans or animals [NICE! Mouse in the Maze] 4) Dances patterns a. Exclusion Ritual 5) Talismans to protect 6) Symbolic mazes: a. Path a soul takes… b. Birth, life, death Exclusion ritual: W. F. Jackson Knight. “The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud; and the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undistinguishable” -- A mid Summer night’s Dream.