A Jungian archetype is a psychic constant [1], a feature of the mind possessed and experienced by all humans, perhaps by all beings. There are indications that numbers, small numbers at least, are archetypes birds experience, since some birds eem to be able to differentiate between different sized small groups. For humans archetypes are generally human. They occur in various contexts, for example the Jungian archetype “The Wise Old Man” arises as the Old Testament Jehova, the Emperor in the Tarot and Odin in the Norse myths (sorry about the “old” Odin). The Maiden arises as the Virgin Mary, and the Trickster turns up everywhere, usually when least expected. The archetype is common to all cultures but the experience differs from culture to culture. A Christian may see the Virgin Mary, a buddhist might see Kwan Yin.

Archetypes supposedly reside in the “Collective Unconscious”, an area of the subconscious common to all humans. To avoid the idea that the Collective Unconscious is a form of Morphogenetic field [2] or worse a paranormal phenomenon, or stored outside the brain some proponents of the theory say everyone has a copy of this collective unconsciousness. The problem is that there seems to be no neurological correlate of the collective unconsciousness. Perhaps no one has looked for one, or they have looked in the wrong place.

At present I can see the following alternatives. The Collective Unconscious is stored in the Brain, in the body as a whole, perhaps in the DNA, or outside the body. I think there may be problems with all these theories.

    Graham Hancock[3] summarises a theory by Narby [4]  that  our DNA holds coded messages. This is partly based on the fact that  the distribution of  sequences in human Junk DNA  follows a distribution  common to languages  and very different from the non-junk DNA. There is some confirmation for this idea in that researchers have managed to store textual information in DNA, but it is not clear what would disprove the theory that JUNK DNA holds coded messages. Hancock notes that different hallucinogenic drugs are associated with different experiences and  speculates that  each drug  allows the user to tap into different realities with one particular  drug tapping into the DNA message bank. It is important to note however that  methods not involving  drugs can also let the user tap into different realities, and  I do not know of any experiments where the participant was given a placebo  rather than a real drug.

    Hancock's use of Narby's ideas is appealing and  leads to the speculation – without further research it can only be speculation – that Junk DNA is the home of the collective unconscious.  This would  elegantly solve the problems  of how we all come to have the same collective unconscious, except that  DNA changes with time.   Some form of stable self correction may have arisen in  our DNA but  research is needed to  establish if this.   Hancock's  suggestion that  some (ancient?) intelligence programmed messages into  our DNA seems untestable,  but if it were true one would have expected that they   would have found a way to prevent their messages being  corrupted over time. Whether that is a more elegant  or believable solution than the notion that we all tap into some sort of psychic field – and some of Jung's  reported experiences suggest a paranormal component to his theory – is  an open question. 

It would seem that if there is a physical basis for the collective unconsciousness it would have to have holograph like properties or very sophisticated  correction against self copying. As far as I know there is no evidence for such structures in either the brain or the DNA

    The idea that  every one of us has an identical copy of  the same collective unconsciousness seems to me to have serious problems whether the storage medium is  neurons or DNA, although the apparent evolution of perception of   Elves and Fairies into gray aliens hints at long term  changes in the collective unconscious.

The idea of the collective unconsciousness being stored outside the body  leaves the gates open to  Freud's “Black  Mud of the Occult”, or at least Sheldrake's Morphogenetic fields [2].  It suggests that the collective unconsciousness  is some sort of pool  into which each of us can dip as needed.
Experiences reported by investigators of this pool  also suggests it has inhabitants. And if we  agree that it has inhabitants a quick scan of the darker sides of human nature suggests that it contains  monsters. Some of these beings may   have reached a stage of  being self maintaining: not needing any single human not even needing the human  race.  It also provides a basis for practical sorcery, using the inhabitants of the collective unconscious to  work our will on others.

The empirical observation that  the human mind seems to have experience of universal forms. Jung's archetypes, and the notion each of us has a copy of Jung's collective unconscious  raises the question of where it is located. Each proposed location  raises problems.  If it is  in the brain it is unclear where it  might be. If it is in the DNA  it is not clear why, having no apparent survival value  it  has not decayed in the multimillion  year life span of the human race. If the collective unconscious is stored outside the brain  then  there is the possibility of a parallel plane of existence influencing and possibly influenced by Humanity but separate from it and possibly not depending on us for its existence.

1.Jungian Archetypes by Robin Robertson, Nicholas Hays Inc, 1995, ISBN 0 89254 029 X

2.A new Science of life, Rupert Sheldrake, Blond and Briggs 1981

3.Supernatural: Graham Hancock, Arrow Books 2006

4.The cosmic serpent: Jeremy Narby, Gollancz 1998