A quirky guide to myths and lore based in actual science

But those which relate to nature, to natural disasters, are based on very detailed observations and repeated observations of the landscape. They may also contain details recognizable to scientists who study earthquakes or volcanoes. Scientists then realized that there must be, in some cases, eyewitness accounts of these geomyths. Geomythology actually improves our scientific understanding of Earth’s history over time. This can help people who study climate change determine how long ago certain climate changes occurred. They can shed light on how and when major geological upheavals actually occurred and how humans responded to them.

Ars Technica: How long can an oral tradition about a natural disaster really persist?

Adrienne Maire: This was one of the provocative questions. Can it really persist for centuries, thousands of years, millennia? It has long been thought that oral traditions could not last that long. But it turns out that with detailed studies of geomyths that can be linked to datable events like volcanoes, earthquakes, or tsunamis based on geophysical evidence, we now know that myths can last for thousands of years.

For example, the one told by the Klamath Indians about the creation of Crater Lake in Oregon, which occurred about 7,000 years ago, the details of their myth show that there were eyewitness accounts. Archaeologists have discovered a special type of woven sandal that was used by indigenous people 9,000 to 5,000 years ago. They found these sandals above and below the ashes of the volcano that exploded. So we have two ways of dating this. In Australia, people who study Aboriginal geomyths can connect their stories to events that occurred 20,000 years ago.

Ars Technica: You mentioned that your interest in geomythology arose from the Greek and Roman interpretations of certain fossils they found.

Adrienne Maire: That really sparked it, because it occurred to me that oral traditions and legends – rather than myths about gods and heroes – those about nature seem to have kernels of truth because they could be reaffirmed, confirmed and supported by evidence that people see over generations. I was in Greece and I saw fossils plowed by farmers on the island of Samos, femurs of mastodon, mammoth or giant rhinoceros. The museum curator replied: “Yes, farmers bring them to us all the time. » And I wondered: why didn’t anyone think that they did this in ancient times too?