Geomythology

Geomythology (also called “legends of the earth," "landscape mythology," “myths of observation,” “natural knowledge") is the study of oral and written traditions created by pre-scientific cultures to account for, often in poetic or mythological imagery, geological events and phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, land formation, fossils, and natural features of the landscape.[1] Dorothy Vitaliano, a geologist at Indiana University, coined the term in 1968.[2]

"Geomythology indicates every case in which the origin of myths and legends can be shown to contain references to geological phenomena and aspects, in a broad sense including astronomical ones (comets, eclipses, meteor impacts, etc.). As indicated by Vitaliano (1973) 'primarily, there are two kinds of geologic folklore, that in which some geologic feature or the occurrence of some geologic phenomenon has inspired a folklore explanation, and that which is the garbled explanation of some actual geologic event, usually a natural catastrophe'."[2][3]

Oral traditions about nature are often expressed in mythological language and may contain genuine and perceptive natural knowledge based on careful observation of physical evidence over generations. In some instances, geomyths can provide valuable information about past earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, impact events, fossil discoveries, and other events.[4]

Geomyths include folk explanations of conspicuous geological features, and sometimes garbled or metaphorical descriptions of catastrophic geological events that were witnessed in antiquity. In the case of massive geomorphic events in the pre-human past, such as mountain formation, observations and imagination combined in mythic explanations that were handed down orally over millennia. In the case of natural catastrophes within living human memory, descriptions were handed down over generations. Both types of geomyth often include supernatural details. Because the descriptive narratives were expressed in mythological language, scientists and historians have not been aware of the real events and rational concepts embedded in geomythological stories. One type of geomyth includes tales arising from imagination or popular misconceptions, for example, beings magically transformed into stone to account for landforms. As more studies are done in geomythology, however, scientists and historians are finding accurate insights about geological processes. And datable events such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions have been found to be recorded by eyewitness accounts, some from thousands of years ago.[1]

Some myths transmitted real information about real events and observations, preserving geological data over millennia within non-literate cultures. A well-documented example of a datable geological event recorded in myth is the creation of Crater Lake in Oregon when Mount Mazama collapsed. Geologists’ scientific interpretation of how the volcanic cataclysm long ago resulted in Crater Lake, is echoed point for point in a local myth of its origin, told by members of the Klamath Indian tribe who saw it happen almost 8,000 years ago.[5]

In August 2004 the 32nd International Geological Congress held a session on "Myth and Geology",[6] which resulted in the first peer-reviewed collection of papers on the subject (2007).[7]

  1. ^ a b Mayor, A. (2004). "Geomythology". In Selley, R.; Cox, R.; Palmer, I. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Geology. Elsevier.
  2. ^ a b Piccardi, Luigi (2007). "Preface". In Piccardi, Luigi; Masse, W. Bruce (eds.). Myth and Geology. Special publication – Geological Society of London. Vol. 273. London: Geological Society of London. p. vii. ISBN 9781862392168. Retrieved 2017-10-10. [...] the study of the geological foundation to human myths, an emerging discipline in the Earth sciences galled 'geomythology'. This term was coined by Dorothy Vitaliano, in her pioneering book Legends of the Earth: their geologic origins (1973), as, 'the study of the actual geologic origins of natural phenomena which were long explained in terms of myth and folklore'.
  3. ^ Vitaliano, Dorothy (1973). "dustjacket text". Legends of the Earth: their geologic origins.
  4. ^ Burbery, T. (2021). Geomythology: How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events. Routledge.
  5. ^ Barber, E. W.; Barber, P. (2005). When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth. Princeton University Press.
  6. ^ Piccardi, L. (2004). A Legendary Session: Myth and Geology (PDF). 32nd IGC Informs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-07.)
  7. ^ Piccardi, Luigi (2007). "Preface". In Piccardi, Luigi; Masse, W. Bruce (eds.). Myth and Geology. Special publication – Geological Society of London. Vol. 273. London: Geological Society of London. ISBN 9781862392168.