Ancient Legends Warn of Modern Disasters - Geomythology.

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Date:05/12/2005 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/05/stories/2005120505091300.htm

 

Opinion - News Analysis

 

Ancient legends warn of modern disasters Robin McKie The new science

of geomythology is being harnessed by researchers who believe folklore can save

lives. ON THE banks of Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, Oregon, officials

dedicated a memorial last week to one of America's worst calamities: a huge

earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands of Native Americans 300 years ago.

But the memorial's main job is not to commemorate the disaster, which has only

just come to light, but to warn local people that similar devastation could

strike at any time. The area sits over massive fault lines whose dangers have

been highlighted by a startling new scientific discipline that combines Earth

science studies and analysis of ancient legends. This is geomythology, and it is

transforming our knowledge of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis, says the

journal Science. According to the discipline's proponents, violent geological

upheavals may be more frequent than was previously

suspected. Apart from the `lost' Seattle earthquake, geomythology has

recently revealed that a volcano in Fiji, thought to be dormant, is active, a

discovery that followed geologists' decision to follow up legends of a mountain

appearing overnight. Geologists have found that Middle Eastern flooding myths,

including the story of Noah, could be traced to the sudden inundation of the

Black Sea 7,600 years ago. The Oracle at Delphi has been found to lie over a

geological fault through which seeped hallucinogenic gases. These could account

for the trances and utterances of the oracle's mystics. " Myths can tell us a

great deal about what happened in the past and were important in establishing

what happened here 300 years ago, " said Brian Atwater, of the U.S. Geological

Survey in Seattle. Along the Oregon and Washington coast, there are Native

American stories about boulders, called a'yahos, which can shake to death anyone

who stares at them. In addition, Ruth Ludwin, a

seismologist in Seattle, discovered tales of villages being washed away and of

whales and thunderbirds locked in fights. These stories were a key influence

on Mr. Atwater, who started to study the 680-mile long Cascadia subduction zone

fault along the coast. What he found provided a shock. Long stretches had

suffered sudden inundation relatively recently. The study of trees stumps in

this drowned landscape indicated there had been a huge earthquake and a tsunami

between 1680 and 1720. " We didn't know whether it was one massive quake or a

couple of slightly smaller ones. Nor did we know exactly when the disaster

occurred, " added Mr. Atwater. Later research on tree rings put the date at

between 1699 and 1700. Then local legends helped again. Japanese colleagues

studied their records and traced an orphan tsunami — a giant wave not linked to

a local earthquake — that destroyed several villages on January 27, 1700.

" That told us two things: that our earthquake must have been

vast, Richter scale 9, to devastate part of Japan thousands of miles away. It

also gave us a precise date for our disaster. " Scientists now believe huge

earthquakes and tsunamis devastate the Seattle area every 200 to 1,000 years.

" We may be due one soon, " added Mr. Atwater. However, until this year, the

lesson of that tsunami was remembered only as a dim legend. Other such stories

have been put to better use, however. Last year's tsunami was also triggered

by a strong earthquake, and around 300,000 people died. The Moken — or sea

gypsies — of Thailand, however, have a tradition which warns that when tides

recede far and fast, now known as a precursor of a tsunami, then a man-eating

wave will soon head their way: so they should run far and fast. Last 26

December, they did — and survived. Another example of the power of

geomythology is from Patrick Nunn, of Fiji in the South Pacific. His studies of

volcanoes on the Fijian island of Kadavu indicated they had not been active

for tens of thousands of years. " Then I heard legends of recent eruptions, "

he said. " I thought them unlikely. When a road was cut there in 2002, I found

there had been a volcanic eruption long after it had been occupied by humans. It

made me look at myths in a new light. " Now, Mr. Nunn is working for the French

Government to compile tales that might pinpoint Pacific islands where scientists

should look for warnings of earthquakes, volcanoes, and catastrophic landslides.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 © Copyright 2000 - 2005 The

Hindu

 

 

 

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war

than we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

-- General Omar Bradley

 

 

 

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