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Myths Help Geologists Understand Modern Threats
morleron writes "According to a report in the "Guardian Unlimited" geologists have begun using ancient myths as clues to geologic events in Earth's past. Among other things scientists have followed the tracks of ancient stories to uncover the huge Seattle earthquake and tsunami that obliterated large parts of the coasts of Washington and Oregon roughly 300 years ago; the discovery that a volcano on Fiji is active instead of dormant as has been thought for years; and that the Biblical and Near Eastern myths of a world ending flood are probably based on the sudden inundation of the Black Sea when the landbridge that used to link Turkey with Europe - what is now called the Bosporus - suddenly collapsed some 7600 years ago. It's amazing how much information our ancestors passed on in oral and early written myths...we're finally getting smart enough to listen."
have they found the place that the Earth makes contact with that giant turtle it is supposed to be sitting?
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
It's only a matter of time before they pin original sin on women cause of Eve's apple eating incident. Oh Damn..... Catholic Church beat me to the AGAIN! Somebody call Kansas before they find out about the monkeys.
Hey, as long as Myths are treated as such, and not absolute fact. At that point it gets hard to sort through what may be helpful, and what may just be white noise...
Yeah, it's great that "we're finally getting smart enough." Why weren't the people who came up with the "myths" in the first place smart enough to write them literally, instead of making up stuff about thunderbirds and killer rocks?
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
folklorists, ethnologists, and anthropologists have been trying to track down the historical basis for myths and legends for as long as their professions have existed. i guess the real news is that geologists and other hard scientists are starting to listen to folklorists and anthropologists, taking cross-cultural similarities traditions seriously as sources of insight about global climatic events in the pre-historical or semi-historical past rather than as amusing consequences or the result of some sort of freakishly convergent cultural evolution.
i figure as the amount of what we know about the earth's climatic and geological history increases, the more of these correlations with myth we'll find. i think the idea of being able to predict localized patterns of geological events like eruptions and earthquakes is what's really seductive, i don't know what kind of value this sort of new insight will have for predicting major natural disasters will have on a human timescale, though. saying an earthquake will happen in the next 200 to 1000 years is next to useless in terms of preparing for it in the short-term.
hell, the history channel loves to tell us that according to the mayan calendar, this age of the world will end in 2012. doesn't necessarily mean we'll have another great flood on our hands, but it certainly makes for good tv.
/. is what happens when geeks talk. get used to it.
I look forward to finding out that the Greek Gods were aliens with advanced Quantum Technology (read Ilium by Dan Simmons for that interesting diversion) Actually, isn't there a Star Trek ep based off this?
If there really was Pangea millenia ago, then it looks like the same thing happened at the Strait of Gibraltar to first fill the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Agean seas...
It looks a lot like the Bosporus.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
Down at the south end of the border between British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, is an area known as the Crowsnest Pass. Over on the Alberta side was the small town of Frank. Frank existed solely because the Crowsnest is choc-a-bloc full of coal.
Anyway, not to get into too much detail: the residents of Frank lived at the bottom of a mountain they named "Turtle Mountain," but which had a much older Indian name of "The Mountain That Moves." Throwing all caution to the wind, the mountain was soon being mined for coal.
Needless to say, thirty million cubic meters of mountain moved -- downhill, rapidly -- during the night of April 29, 1903, burying the town under hundreds of feet of rock. It's a great story, though sad.
It is well worth the effort of visiting the site. Fascinating history throughout the area, lots of superb dayhiking, and if you hump it up Turtle mountain (or even partway up) you get the most astounding view of the destruction. When that mountain moved, it moved a long way. There are house-sized boulders halfway up the opposing slope. It was a massive landslide.
Point of the Story: Listen to the myths, people! The natives weren't just making shit up for the helluvit! It was the bleeding Mountain That Moves! D-oh!
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Well, we got hobbits, anyway, so there's some progress.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
"followed the tracks of ancient stories to uncover the huge Seattle earthquake and tsunami that obliterated large parts of the coasts of Washington and Oregon roughly 300 years ago"
300 years is "ancient"? Really??
The 'black sea flood' didn't actually happen. Meltwater inputs into the Volga, Deniper and other major rivers in Ukraine were, as far as the evidence shoes, greater than evaporation, leading to an outflow across the Bospohorous; it was not until ca. 7500 years ago that the Med rose to a similar level to the black sea.