Geomythology: geology in myths and legends
Many myths and legends have geologic origins. However, some geologic references are more fantastical and do not reflect a perceptive knowledge of natural phenomena. For example, the vertical cracks in Wyoming’s Devils Tower, which formed underground as quickly cooling magma splintered, have been described in Native American mythology as gouge marks left by bear claws. Although this type of geologic reference carries significant cultural importance, it does not provide realistic insight about the geologic events leading to the formation of the columnar cracks in Devils Tower. This may be, in part, because the cracks in Devils Towers formed about 60 million year ago, long before Native Americans could have experienced the geologic events associated with magma intrusion.
The term geomythology was coined in 1968 by geologist Dorothy Vitaliano to describe the study of natural phenomena via myth and legend. Vitaliano realized that oral traditions may contain genuine information of natural events, based on astute observation of physical evidence. Some geologic events such as cosmic impact events, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and fossil discoveries have occurred in recent human history but are difficult to trace in the geologic record. In these cases, we can turn to geomythology and investigate local folklore to better understand geologic processes which occurred before modern scientific technology became available to record them.
Vitaliano (1773) found that
‘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.’
Vitaliano’s 2007 paper in Myth and Geology is an easy read with many examples of geological processes described in mythical language. One example is from Crater Lake, a volcanic caldera in Oregon:
‘It was created by an eruption of Mt Mazama in the Cascades Range. According to the myth of the Klamath Indians, Llao, the chief of the Below World, standing on Mt Mazama, was battling Skell, the chief of the Above World, who stood on Mt Shasta in California, about a hundred miles away (Clark 1953). They hurled rocks and flames at each other, and darkness covered the land. The fight ended when Mt Mazama collapsed under Llao and hurled him back into his underworld domain. The large hole that was created then filled up to form Crater Lake. This sounds like an eye-witness account of such an eruption, and it undoubtedly is, for Indian artifacts have been found buried in the Mazama ash. The eruption has been radiocarbon-dated to about 6500 years ago on the basis of Indian sandals found in the ash, but had no datable materials been found, this myth alone would have served to date the eruption as post-Pleistocene, because this part of the world was first inhabited by people who crossed the Bering Land Bridge and migrated down through Alaska and Canada into the northwestern United States.’
The mythical language of folklore can also provide an unintended source of new geologic terminology. The term volcano is derived from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, whose forge was said to be below the chimneys of active volcanoes.
Geology woven into myths and legends is just one example of how the geologic history of Earth has shaped the human experience, and how we can better understand the natural sciences through social science. Can you think of any other examples?
Want to learn more?
I started with:
- Vitaliano, D. B. (2007). “Geomythology: Geological Origins of Myths and Legends”. In: Myth and Geology. Piccardi, L., Masse, W. B (ed). GSL, Special Publications. 273: 1–7.
Also check out:
- Vitaliano, D. B. (1968). Geomythology. Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol. 5, №1 (June 1968), p. 11.
- Vitaliano, D. B. (1973). Legends of the Earth, Indiana University Press, 305 p.
