Ancient ✦ Wisdom ✦ Atlas

Fingerprints · the singular

What each culture alone remembers

The universals ledger asks what humankind holds in common. This page asks the opposite question of the same index: for each of the 74 traditions, which motifs does it carry that few or no others attest? Across the corpus, 29,460 motifs are so far attested in one tradition only — the fingerprints beside the shared handprint.

An honest caution, more needed here than anywhere: uniqueness partly reflects coverage, not culture. “Only here” means only here in the corpus so far. A tradition represented by two books will look singular wherever those books are idiosyncratic; a motif listed below may be waiting in a text we have not yet ingested. Treat these as what each culture alone remembers within our present library, and expect this page to shrink in places as the library grows.

Motifs attested only once are counted but shown sparingly — a single occurrence is thin evidence. Each motif link opens its evidence page with the quoted passage.

afro caribbean ainu akan amazonian andamanese arctic inuit armenian arthurian australian aboriginal bavili biblical buddhist caucasian celtic celtic irish celtic welsh chaco amerindian christian christian apocrypha confucian daoist egyptian estonian filipino finnic finnish karelian germanic gnostic greek greek roman guiana amerindian hausa hawaiian hermetic hindu hopi indigenous australian inuit islamic islamicate folklore japanese jewish christian jewish pseudepigrapha khoisan south african malagasy maya maya quiche melanesian mesopotamian micronesian mongol nahua nahua maya inca native american great lakes native american northeast woodlands native american northwest coast native american plains native american southeast native american southwest navajo norse persian roman romanian san shan siberian sikh slavic sufi taoist zoroastrian zulu zuni

afro caribbean

236 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 226 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

ainu

76 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 63 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

akan

82 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 72 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

amazonian

155 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 145 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

andamanese

197 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 187 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

arctic inuit

301 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 291 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

armenian

1 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

arthurian

386 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 376 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

australian aboriginal

185 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 175 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

bavili

1 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

biblical

360 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 350 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

buddhist

1,718 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 1,693 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

caucasian

11 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 1 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

celtic

3 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

celtic irish

2,446 motifs attested only here · 1 dominated

Told elsewhere, remembered here

  • Cattle raid 6 of 7 occurrences here · under Sacred Combat and Ritual Warfare

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 2,398 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

celtic welsh

415 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 404 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

chaco amerindian

13 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 3 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

christian

9 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

christian apocrypha

341 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 331 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

confucian

752 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 737 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

daoist

157 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 145 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

egyptian

429 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 413 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

estonian

400 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 390 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

filipino

106 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 96 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

finnic

1 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

finnish karelian

510 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 493 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

germanic

1,204 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 1,194 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

gnostic

125 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 115 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

greek

2,956 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 2,894 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

greek roman

624 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 602 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

guiana amerindian

6 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

hausa

1 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

  • External soul 1 occurrence · under External Soul and Life-Token

hawaiian

176 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 166 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

hermetic

4 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

hindu

1,822 motifs attested only here · 1 dominated

Told elsewhere, remembered here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 1,763 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

hopi

7 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

indigenous australian

109 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 98 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

inuit

327 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 317 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

islamic

2,412 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 2,359 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

islamicate folklore

406 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 390 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

japanese

227 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 216 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

jewish christian

423 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 412 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

jewish pseudepigrapha

65 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 55 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

khoisan south african

59 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 49 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

malagasy

6 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

maya

83 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 73 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

maya quiche

28 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 18 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

melanesian

30 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 20 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

mesopotamian

113 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 101 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

micronesian

7 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

mongol

4 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

nahua

37 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 27 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

nahua maya inca

199 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 189 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american great lakes

52 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 37 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american northeast woodlands

15 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 5 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american northwest coast

797 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 786 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american plains

455 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 439 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american southeast

489 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 478 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

native american southwest

316 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 306 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

norse

1,963 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 1,946 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

persian

499 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 484 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

roman

1,658 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 1,634 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

romanian

99 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 89 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

san

1 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

shan

210 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 200 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

siberian

2 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

sikh

5 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

slavic

635 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 623 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

sufi

1,026 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 998 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

taoist

8 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

zoroastrian

40 motifs attested only here

Only here, told more than once

Attested once, only here

…and 27 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

zulu

5 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

zuni

193 motifs attested only here

Attested once, only here

…and 183 further motifs attested a single time only in this tradition.

Method: from the canonical frequency index, a motif is credited to a tradition when that tradition alone attests it, or when it holds at least 60% of a motif’s 5+ occurrences; a family is near-unique when 3 or fewer traditions attest it. The `comparative` category is excluded throughout. The mirror of this page is the most shared stories of humankind.