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.