geomythology

[hitchhiker]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210507-the-myths-that-hint-at-past-disasters

It is their job is to study ancient stories once regarded as myths or legends, but which are now seen as possible observations of natural phenomena by pre-literate peoples.

"Geomyths represent the earliest inklings of the scientific impulse", says Adrienne Mayor, folklorist, historian of ancient science and research scholar at Stanford University, California, and author of the important The First Fossil Hunters, "showing that people of antiquity were keen observers and applied the best rational, cohesive thinking of their place and time to explain remarkable natural forces they experienced".

Comments

[amaebi]

That's an interesting area for professional scientists to work in, but also edgy-making*. I was glad that the risks were discussed, but since it was toward the end of the article I don't know that many people will have read them....

* Speaking as a veteran of decades of "a real Noah's ark!" stories.

[hitchhiker]

as a kid i remember being interested in explanations of biblical miracles, e.g. moses and the volcanic eruption. is the edgy-making bit the people who will take evidence of any biblical myth being historical to say "see! it's all literally true!!"?

[amaebi]

It's partly that. (Say, remember all the "real-life Jonah!" stories?) The bad logic part.

It's partly the whole thing of people not knowing what a story is any more.

It's partly how early archaeological work in the near east was done "with a Bible in one hand"-- the objectives behind the work, their exclusiveness, the demands for, I don't know, something like archaeological relic-finding.

It's partly how aggravating more modern/contemporary/read-the-story-from-the-finds-not-the-text-into-the finds/finding find the whole thing.

[hitchhiker]

ah yes, good point! i'm betting "bible in one hand" archaeology is still a thing for some people :(

[amaebi]

All too definitely yes.