DATE INDICATIONS OF AN EPICAL TEXT
The article touches on the problem of the correct chronological identification of the epic legends. The author argues for the absence of adequate scientific-methodological and specific analytical tools to evaluate systemically the time of origin of the epic legends and introduces his own original solution of this problem. The argumentation is based on the quite reliable and convincing analysis of the archetypes of the epic legends of the Karachai-Balkarian version of the all-Caucasian collection of “Nart sagas”.