Geomythology Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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- Carnivora, Geomythology, Vertebrate Paleontology, Paleontologia de Vertebrados
- by Loredana Lancini
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- Ancient History, Resilience, Geomythology, Environmental Change

Descriptions of natural events, such as fireballs, and meteorite impacts, are found within Indigenous Australian oral traditions. Studies of oral traditions demonstrate that they extend beyond the realm of myth and legend; they contain structured knowledge about the natural world (science) as well as historic accounts of natural events and geo-hazards. These traditions could lead to the discovery of meteorites and impact sites previously unknown to Western science. In addition to benefiting the scientific study of meteoritics, this study can help social scientists better understand the nature and longevity of oral traditions and further support the growing body of evidence that oral traditions contain historical accounts of natural events. In a previous study led by the author in 2009, no meteorite-related oral traditions were identified that led to the discovery of meteorites and/or impact craters. This article challenges those initial findings.

- by Duane Hamacher
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- History, Ancient History, History of Science and Technology, Cultural History
- by Jacques Collina-Girard
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- Geology, Oral history, Quaternary Geology, Gibraltar

Aboriginal Australians have been observing the stars for more than 65,000 years, and many of their oral traditions have been recorded since colonisation. These traditions tell of all kinds of celestial events, such as the annual rising of stars, passing comets, eclipses of the Sun and Moon, auroral displays, and even meteorite impacts. But new research, recently published in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, reveals that Aboriginal oral traditions describe the variable nature of three red-giant stars: Betelgeuse, Aldebaran and Antares. This challenges the history of astronomy and tells us that Aboriginal Australians were even more careful observers of the night sky than they have been given credit for.

- by Duane Hamacher
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- History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Ethnohistory

The recent research conducted by the MAIER - Italian Archaeological Mission has focused on the central area of the city of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Pamukkale, Turkey), south of the Sanctuary of Apollo. The 2007-2012 investigations brought to light an intricate architectural complex, built in the first half of the 1st century AD along the seismic fault. Thanks to the dedicatory inscription, the structures, comprising a cave embellished with an arch and a rectilinear theatre, can be identified as the famous Ploutonion cited many times by ancient authors. This paper analyses the recently discovered archaeological evidence, highlighting the phases of the Ploutonion’s chronological development, up until its proto-Byzantine transformation into a nymphaeum and its subsequent obliteration. At the same time the new data on the ritual functions and practices associated with the Ploutonion are analysed in relation to the information provided by the literary testimony of the ancient visitors to the sanctuary.

In the last twenty years, archaeological excavations and public works have uncovered new information about the stratigraphy of Lake Albano maar and the results have engaged researchers in a discussion
about the real occurrence of volcanic activity and consequent CO2 release and lake overflow. A key question remains regarding how far in the past this activity can be dated. On the bias of a multidisciplinary approach called geomythology, this poster sheds light on a much-debated issue concerning the supposed volcanic activity of Lake Albano maar (Colli Albani – Rome) in Antiquity. In fact, Latin and Greek sources speak of the marvel of the spillover of Lake Albano in 398 BC during the
war against Veio and the hub of the modern debate turns on whether to put confidence in it or not. Latin mythology provides evidence that the Romans somehow preserved the memory of the geological nature
of the lake: the overflowing of the lake was perceived as a punishment from Neptune; during Volcanalia, real fishes were thrown into the fire and bronze ones were offered as sacrifice on Mount Albano. The
recurring image of the fire in the water is remarkable for its repeated occurrence. Even though there is still need to prove the veracity of events reported by ancient sources, it is undeniable that Romans were
indeed aware of the volcanic origin of the lake - and that they may have witnessed some sort of manifestation related to the volcano. Mythology can suggest an interpretation of events which are only
partially recorded, thus leading to understand that the Romans were aware of the link between fire and water in the Colli Albani region and that it was possible to find both in the lake, where gas exhalation
was the product of the two elements.

- by Loredana Lancini
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- Ancient History, Geomythology, Lanscape Archeology, Volcanism

The last three decades have seen a growing awareness that the planet Earth and human civilizations might be much more threatened by extraterrestrial objects than previously thought. It has been suggested on many occasions that the course of human prehistory has been remarkably shaped by big meteorite impacts, airbursts of meteoroids, or the load of the atmosphere with cosmic dust. Myths and motifs are interpreted to encode information of such events. This article brings to the fore a series of essential methodological steps which may strengthen such interpretations.

Descriptions of cosmic impacts and meteorite falls are found throughout Australian Aboriginal oral traditions. In some cases, these texts describe the impact event in detail, sometimes citing the location, suggesting that the events were witnessed. We explore whether cosmic impacts and meteorite falls may have been witnessed by Aboriginal Australians and incorporated into their oral traditions. We discuss the complications and bias in recording and analysing oral texts but suggest that these texts may be used both to locate new impact structures or meteorites and model observed impact events. We find that, while detailed Aboriginal descriptions of cosmic impacts are abundant in the literature, there is currently no physical evidence connecting these accounts to impact events currently known to Western science.

- by Duane Hamacher
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- Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous or Aboriginal Studies, Space Geodesy
- by catherine connors
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- Geomythology, Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, hydromythology

According to geo-archaeological studies, postglacial sea-level rise around Australia ceased about 7000 years ago. In the last few years, it has been demonstrated that ancient aboriginal stories of coastal drowning – mostly preserved orally – can be matched with this process, which did not continue after this time (NUNN, 2016, NUNN and REID, 2016). It can be hypothesized that the same phenomenon happened in Europe as well. In fact, there are many drowning stories (e.g., Deucalion and Pyrrha flood, the submersion of Atlantis…) about the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts that have usually been regarded as fictional, but some of them may actually be based on ancient observations of sea-surface rise after the end of the last ice age (BURROUGHS 2005, YANKO-HOMBACH et alii 2007). Some flood myths (such as the Noah Flood myth or the Gilgamesh myth), are much too widespread all over the
Ancient world to be taken into account; however, others, related to a precise geographical location where archaeological and geological research shows postglacial sea-level rise, deserve accurate analysis. Such is the case for the stories of Cerambos (Ov., Met., VII, 352-356) and Dardanos (Nonnus, Dion., III 188-219) who fled from Thessaly and Samothrace respectively because of a flood (PERISSORATIS and CONISPOLIATIS 2003, VACCHI et alii 2014). It is worth considering that while sea level rise was a terrifying threat to people, it was necessary to keep alive the memory of it. Thus, many societies found in myth a way to respond to environmental changes. This research proposes an analysis of drowning stories from the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas supplemented by geoarchaeological observations of key sites, which express the capacities of resilience of coastal populations.

- by Loredana Lancini
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- Greek Myth, Geomythology, Floods, Lanscape Archaeology

The Siwalik Hills, below the Himalayas, are strewn with impressive Plio-Pleistocene vertebrate fossils. We suggest that the region was seen as the historical stage for the legendary battle as described in the Indian epic Mahabharata, during which hundreds of mighty and sometimes gigantic heroes, horses, and war elephants died. Their remains are seen in the fossil bones, skulls, jaws and tusks of hippopotamuses (Hexaprotodon), proboscideans (Stegodon, Archidiskodon), four-horned giraffes (Sivatherium, Giraffokeryx), giant tortoises (Geochelone), sabre-toothed tigers (Paramachairodus), camels (Camelus), and other species. Moreover, thousands of ancient bronze javelins and spears are found on the surface in the same region. These archaeological artifacts along with the paleontological remains appear to have influenced the setting and context of the great battle in the Indian epic.

- by Alexandra A E van der Geer
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- Indian studies, Epic Literature, Geomythology

The motif in the centre of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (ca. 2000-1900 BCE) concerns a star that fell to earth and caused the extinction of a population of giant serpents on an enchanted island, whose location is traditionally ascribed to the Red Sea. These creatures could apparently breathe fire, but they themselves were "burned utterly" in the fireball that followed the celestial body's impact with the earth. If the recently postulated Late Holocene meteorite impact (<5000 years ago) at Umm al Binni/al Amarah in southern Iraq is indeed the cause of a regional impact fallout layer dated to ca. 2350 BCE, then a folk memory of this event could be preserved in the Egyptian story; the proposed impact site and the story's likely setting both lie due east of Egypt, and oral reports of the loss of life wrought by the impact in Mesopotamia would soon have reached Egypt. A less likely candidate is the putative comet strike of ca. 2807 BCE that has been proposed to account for the undersea "Burckle crater" southeast of Madagascar. Both of these sites are as yet unproven as impact craters. A confirmed meteorite impact in southwestern Egypt <5000 years ago, which caused the Kamil crater, is another possible contributor to the fireball motif in the Tale. In light of modern theories that a meteorite, comet or asteroid impact caused the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event in which the non-avian dinosaurs were eliminated 66.5 million years ago, it is uncanny to find the destruction of a unique population of flightless, dragon-like giant reptiles attributed to just such a collision in this ancient narrative.

- by Lloyd Graham
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- Archaeoastronomy, Geomythology, Middle Kingdom, Archaeoastronomy, Cultural Astronomy

In this paper we explore Aboriginal oral traditions that relate to Australian meteorite craters. Using the literature, first-hand ethnographic records and fieldtrip data, we identify oral traditions and artworks associated with four impact sites: Gosses Bluff, Henbury, Liverpool and Wolfe Creek. Oral traditions describe impact origins for Gosses Bluff, Henbury and Wolfe Creek Craters, and non-impact origins for Liverpool Crater, with Henbury and Wolfe Creek stories having both impact and non-impact origins. Three impact sites that are believed to have been formed during human habitation of Australia. Dalgaranga, Veevers, and Boxhole do not have associated oral traditions that are reported in the literature.

The stories of Noah, Gilgamesh and Atlantis are internationally known, telling of lands submerged beneath the sea. Similar stories exist for the European seaboard, from Brittany through southern England, Wales, Ireland and parts of Scotland. Today we know that many areas now lost beneath the sea were dry land in the not so distant past; consequently, papers purporting to link the geological events associated with flooding these lands and such stories have been written. However, these papers have been written from the perspective of the scientist, with little regard for the perspective of the story or from that of the story-teller. In this article we attempt to redress this inferred normativity by drawing attention to the problematic nature of such an endeavour, developing a discussion about how else one might approach this balance from that opened by fields as diverse as folklore, ethnography and archaeo-astronomy.

- by Erin Kavanagh
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- Mythology And Folklore, Geology, Geomythology, Wales
- by IOANNIS LIRITZIS
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- Geomorphology, Geoarchaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeological Science

Reflections, studies, and observations on volcanic phenomena, especially
about Etna, and their consequences on natural and human landscapes can be traced back to early moments of Greek colonization on Sicily. Hesiod (8th-7th c. BC) was the first to mention the myth of the battle between Zeus and Typhon, which conceals the memory of an ancient volcanic eruption. This very same narrative motif is echoed in the production of later authors wherein a description of Etna’s volcanic eruptions is recognizable. The character of Typhon can be found in other volcanic contexts as well, thus becoming a topos alluding to volcanic activity. These considerations demonstrate an archaic aptitude in representing and explaining nature through myth, whose suggestive language permits to encode memories of real events. Defined as ‘geomythology,’ this methodological approach will be employed to analyse the figure of Typhon and its connection with Mount Etna, which will allow new insights into the analysis of ancient volcanic representations.

- by Loredana Lancini
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- History of Science, Geomythology, Greek mythology, Etna

The ancient Greeks had a myth about five successional kinds (ages) of mankind: gold, silver, bronze, heroic and iron. While most classicists accept the last three kinds have some basis in historical truth (interpreting them as the archaeological sequence of bronze and iron metalworking), the silver or gold kinds are instead treated as metaphorical or symbolic. In this article it is instead argued for a geomythological interpretation; the first two metals as a folk memory of the Neolithic, when deposits of these native metals were discovered.

- by Oliver D Smith
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- Oral Tradition, Geomythology, Greek mythology

We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the different factors that would determine whether all these events could have been visible, include meteorological data, alternative total solar eclipse dates, solar activity cycles, aurorae appearances, and sky brightness during total solar eclipses. We conduct this study as a test-case for rigorously and systematically examining descriptions of rare natural phenomena in oral traditions, highlighting the difficulties and challenges with interpreting this type of hypothesis.

- by Robert S Fuller and +1
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- Mythology And Folklore, History, Ancient History, History of Science and Technology

In Greek mythology there exists one story that has repeatedly been interpreted to describe the fall of a celestial body: the story of Phaethon, who undertakes a disastrous drive with the sun-chariot of his father Helios. First, the article presents the arguments given by ancient authors for interpreting this story as the reflection of a natural phenomenon. Then details given in the old descriptions of Phaethon’s fall are compared with nowadays knowledge of impact phenomena. Furthermore the texts are examined for clues to the time and the location of the hypothesised impact. These considerations substantiate the suggestion that the myth of Phaethon reflects a concrete strike of a meteorite, the so-called Chiemgau Impact. That impact struck the south-east of Bavaria/Germany at some time during the Celtic period and left an extended crater-strewnfield of about 100 craters. A conspicuous intersection between the tradition of the Phaethon-story and the up to now known time-frame for the Chiemgau Impact gives new clues for dating the Chiemgau Impact to the time between 600 and 428 BC.

- by Barbara Rappenglueck
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- Mythology, Celtic Studies, Classical philology, Greek Myth

The antonymous relationship between fact and fiction is prevalent throughout archaeological discourse; with issues of authenticity leading notions of value and form, from whose authority such decisions are attributed being of intrinsic concern within the narrative voice. This heuristic praxis is never more apparent than within the resurgent discipline of geomythology. Standing upon over two and a half thousand years’ worth of related inquiry it still remains a nascent factor in today’s scholastic community due to its recent rebranding, predominantly having become catagorised within geoscience and having acquired an orthodoxy to suit. This thesis examines the geomythological path that has led to such an approach, positing a proof of concept methodology that seeks to address the inherent challenges this faces within current theoretical schemata.
This methodology is then applied to a case study, linking aspects of the Second Branch of Y Mabinogi with Cardigan Bay based upon a deep map of the myth cycle. It examines three mythical inclusions and considers their scientific viability before postulating how best to express this information in the future via a transdisciplinary form of archaeological representation.

- by Erin Kavanagh
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- Semiotics, Mythology And Folklore, Philosophy, Classics

Myths and legends are taught as an important component of cultural history and heritage, but are viewed by many as little more than fairy tales. Rife with supernatural deities, unphysical acts of strength and prowess, and fictional creatures, the very concept of examining them for scientific content is frowned upon, if not rejected outright. And with anti-science creationists pushing for teaching mythology-as-science, this is not unexpected. But researchers are finding out something oral cultures have always known - myths and legends (or to use the preferred term, 'oral traditions') contain information about nature, survival, cultural practices, and social structure for the peoples that developed them. This information actually does include a scientific component - explanations of the natural world that were used for navigation, calendars, food economics, and agricultural practices. The rising of the Pleiades at dawn may signal the arrival of winter. The behavior of some animals may predict the onset of bad weather. Certain plants may be used to treat ailments and disease. But these oral traditions can also contain information about past geological and astronomical events.

- by Duane Hamacher
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- Cultural History, Ethnohistory, Cultural Studies, Geography

Ancient stories recalling catastrophic events were developed, sometimes encoded in myth, and passed down across several millennia in largely oral contexts. Volcanism is well suited to such stories and there are examples of extant stories recalling eruptions that occurred several millennia ago. This study focuses on a subset of these stories—those that recall the formation and subsequent (hazard-related) manifestations of maar volcanoes. Because these form as a result of the mixing of magma and groundwater, which produces explosive phreatomagmatic eruptions, they are among the most memorable catastrophic volcanic phenomena. Ancient stories recalling maar formation are known from Australia where cultural isolation for most of the past 65,000 years explains the extraordinary longevity and replication fidelity of such stories. Stories referring to the postformation developments of maars from Lake Albano in Italy are also described, together with less readily interpreted stories from elsewhere. Motif analysis suggests that preliterate peoples incorporated their observations of maar formation into stories as the shrieks of birds (escaping gas) and the approach of demons (eruptions), as well as narrative details such as the sky turning red and the ground surface twisting and cracking. Motifs referring to posteruption activity at maars include those that recall craters filling with water and ones that recall associated breaches of crater rims, lahars, and flooding downslope. The existence of maar stories of the kinds described and their demonstrable potential for adding detail and explanation to particular events several millennia ago should encourage geographers to treat such information sources with more respect than has been customary.
Key Words: lahar, local knowledge, maar, maar lake, oral traditions, volcanism.

- by Loredana Lancini and +3
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- Ancient History, Oral Traditions, Geomythology, Local Knowledge

The antonymous relationship between fact and fiction is prevalent throughout archaeological discourse; with issues of authenticity leading notions of value and form, from whose authority such decisions are attributed being of intrinsic concern within the narrative voice. This heuristic praxis is never more apparent than within the resurgent discipline of geomythology. Standing upon over two and a half thousand years’ worth of related inquiry it still remains a nascent factor in today’s scholastic community due to its recent rebranding, predominantly having become catagorised within geoscience and having acquired an orthodoxy to suit. This thesis examines the geomythological path that has led to such an approach, positing a proof of concept methodology that seeks to address the inherent challenges this faces within current theoretical schemata. This methodology is then applied to a case study, linking aspects of the Second Branch of Y Mabinogi with Cardigan Bay based upon a deep map of the myth cycle. It examines three mythical inclusions and considers their scientific viability before postulating how best to express this information in the future via a transdisciplinary form of archaeological representation.

- by Erin Kavanagh
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- Semiotics, Mythology And Folklore, Philosophy, Classics
- by Marinus Anthony Van der Sluijs
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- Geomythology, Comparative mythology, Cosmomythology

This article examines a report in the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament that an earthquake was felt in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. We have tabulated a varved chronology from a core from Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea between deformed sediments due to a widespread earthquake in 31 BC and deformed sediments due to an early first-century earthquake. The early first-century seismic event has been tentatively assigned a date of 31 AD with an accuracy of ±5 years. Plausible candidates include the earthquake reported in the Gospel of Matthew, an earthquake that occurred sometime before or after the crucifixion and was in effect ‘borrowed’ by the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and a local earthquake between 26 and 36 AD that was sufficiently energetic to deform the sediments at Ein Gedi but not energetic enough to produce a still extant and extra-biblical historical record. If the last possibility is true, this would mean that the report of an earthquake in the Gospel of Matthew is a type of allegory.

- by Jefferson Williams
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- New Testament, Geomythology, Paleoseismology

A Geomitologia da Pedra da Onça apresenta uma ampla influência cultural sobre os moradores da Ilha do Governador (Rio de Janeiro, RJ). As variantes dessa história têm como parte em comum a transformação de um felídeo em rocha (petrificação), possibilitando a divulgação dos elementos locais da geodiversidade e biodiversidade por meio de uma abordagem lúdica, visando à conservação do Patrimônio Natural e Cultural. Para alcançar tal objetivo, o presente estudo elaborou uma recriação do mito por meio da substituição da onça e do gato-maracajá (os dois animais citados nas variantes) pelo Smilodon populator, animal extinto cuja ocorrência pretérita é bem documentada no Brasil. Além disso, o presente estudo demonstra o potencial de tal metodologia para o ensino da história evolutiva de grupos biológicos, uma vez que se faz presente aqui também um breve resumo sobre a evolução no grupo interno dos Felidae, além de abordar os hábitos de vida do gato-maracajá (Leopardus wiedii) e de Smilodon. Como a história evolutiva de Felidae está intrinsecamente relacionada a ambos os táxons referidos, o método aqui empregado revela um notável potencial para a divulgação e ensino de Geociências e Biologia. Palavras-chave: Smilodon populator; Ensino de Geociências; Geoconservação Abstract The Geomythology of the Pedra da Onça has a widespread cultural influence on the Ilha do Governador local population (Rio de Janeiro, RJ). The variants of this history have in common the transformation of a felid into a rock (petrification), enabling the dissemination of local geodiversity and biodiversity elements through a playful approach, aiming the conservation of the Natural and Cultural Heritage. In order to reach this goal, the present study produced a recreation of the myth by the replacement of the jaguar and the margay (the two animals cited in the variants) by Smilodon popular, an extinct animal whose past occurrence is well documented in Brazil. Moreover, this study demonstrated the potential of such methodology for teaching the evolutionary history of biological groups, since it is also presented here a brief summary on the evolution of the Felidae ingroup, besides addressing the margay (Leopardus wiedii) and Smilodon life habits. Once the evolutionary history of Felidae is intrinsically related to these two taxa, we regarded that this method revealed a distinct potential in scientific disclosure and teaching of Geosciences and Biology.

- by João Marcus Vale Caetano and +1
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- Geomythology, Geological Heritage, Smilodon, Geoheritage
- by Collina-Girard Jacques
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Quaternary Geology, Geomythology, Paleoclimate
- by catherine connors
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- Greek Literature, Geomythology, Roman Literature

Arguing from a critical reading of the text, and scientific evidence on the ground, the authors show that the myth of Phaethon – the delinquent celestial charioteer – remembers the impact of a massive meteorite that hit the Chiemgau... more

- by Barbara Rappenglueck
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- Mythology And Folklore, Archaeology, Mythology, Celtic Studies
- by Jacques Collina-Girard
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- History, Geography, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geology

Nature conservation largely focuses on biological assets, treating geodiversity as a minor concern. We formally define here cultural geology, cultural biology, and cultural taxonomy, as emerging scientific fields focused on assessing the impact of natural sciences and natural features in the culture. We propose them as fundamental tools for innovative geoconservation strategies, since their integrated application provides a new pathway to achieve a holistic nature conservation, especially when combined with other areas as cultural paleontology and geomythology. These new fields can successfully assist in protecting geoheritage from a broader array of hazards. One of these potentials is to improve the scientist-population communication, leading to a more integrated perception of the geodiversity and biodiversity relevance as natural and cultural heritage, fostering an active role of the public in geoconservation approaches. However, as specified in this paper, these fields are not synonymous of science popularization or education. We also expect to show that adopting the Geoheritage wider definition of Ponciano et al. (Editora Interciência, Rio de Janeiro 4:853-869, 2011) is a better way of achieving the desired results in geoconservation. Finally, we propose that very influential geomyths and geodiversity-centered audiovisual products should be encompassed within an intangible geoheritage category, as a Ponciano et al.'s (Editora Interciência, Rio de Janeiro 4:853-869, 2011) ex situ geological heritage subset, in order to analyze the cultural impact of abiotic features in society under the heritage perspective.

- by João Marcus Vale Caetano
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- Geomythology, Geoheritage, Divulgação Científica, Biologia Cultural

From the cuneiform sources of the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, specific myths about god fights, stone births and underworld gods are known, which are written in Hittite or Hurrian languages. The original home of these mythological ideas is the Hurrian region around the Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia. This region is tectonically very active, which is documented in the frequent catastrophic earthquakes and formerly in strong volcanic eruptions. The geomythological approach shows the volcanic nature of the myths mentioned above, which spread from this area to Mesopotamia, Levant, Peloponnese and the Caucasus. Particularly striking are the parallels to the Greek legends known from the "Theogony" of Hesiod (ca. 700 BC) and to the Caucasian Nart Sagas. The area around the Lake Van is also highly interesting from the point of view of religious history. There is some evidence that the well-known Old Testament stories about the Garden of Eden, the Flood and the Tower of Babel originate from this young volcanic region of Eastern Anatolia, which is known in the Bible as the Land of "Ararat".

- by ilham gadjimuradov
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- Geomythology

During the centuries, fossil remains of invertebrate and vertebrate animals have been widely used as medicines to cure a disease or relieve a symptom, or as amulet to prevent a disease or relief a symptom. The most common medicinal fossils are the invertebrate remains (sea urchins, ammonites, belemnites, trilobites), followed by shark teeth and palatal teeth of bony fishes. More rare, but surviving on a large scale till the present day, is the use of fossil mammals, known as
“dragons”. Knowledge of the use of fossil medicines broadens the view of especially medical practitioners in remote or tribal regions. These people hold strong beliefs in the working principles of the fossils and this should not be dismissed too easily. The working area of fossil medicines have a wide range
including poisoning, sore throats, internal pains and cramps, infertility and obstetrical problems, bladder and kidney
diseases, eye infections and diftheria.

- by Alexandra A E van der Geer
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- History of Medicine, Geomythology

The bathymetric maps from the western part of the Gibraltar Strait indicate the occurrence of a shoal between –56 and –200 m depth. During the Late Glacial Maximum (21–19 kyr BP), this shoal was the main island of an archipelago lying between Europe and Africa. The island (14 km × 5 km) was set in the middle of a narrow pass in the western part of the present strait, opening westward into an inner sea. This island was submerged around 11 kyr BP. This location, the palaeolandscapes for the Late Glacial period, and the time of submergence exactly fit the Atlantis description given by Plato in the ‘Timaeus’. The ‘mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia’ could be the irrupting culture of northern Europe pushed to the south by the rough climates of the Late Glacial Maximum.Les cartes bathymétriques montrent, à l'ouest du détroit de Gibraltar, un haut-fond immergé entre –56 et –200 m. Au dernier maximum glaciaire (21–19 ka BP), il formait une ı̂le de 14 km sur 5 km de large, avec ses ı̂lots satellites, au milieu d'une passe étroite s'ouvrant à l'ouest sur une mer intérieure. Cet archipel a été totalement submergé vers 11 ka BP. La localisation et la paléogéographie correspondent point à point à la description de l'Atlantide et à la date de sa disparition données par Platon : il faut donc renvoyer ce récit à la fin du Paléolithique supérieur, ce qui n'est pas en contradiction avec une lecture attentive du Timée : l' «insolente puissance qui marchait sur l'Europe et l'Asie », à laquelle il est fait allusion, pourrait alors être assimilée à la vague de populations chassée du Nord de l'Europe par la péjoration climatique pléniglaciaire.

- by ahmed raissouni
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Quaternary Geology, Geomythology, Paleoclimate

Un atento paseo por las montañas, verdes y a ratos escarpadas, de la sierra de Entzia (Álava), nos demuestra que, hace millones de años, el suelo que pisamos era un rico y vivo lecho marino. Tanto es así que no es difícil encontrar fósiles de erizos de mar o micraster ocultos entre las piedras de los caminos. Estos extintos equinoideos habitaban entre los lodos del suelo marino y se extinguieron a finales del Cretácico Superior (hace más de 66 millones de años). Pero estos fósiles, junto a otros igualmente sorprendentes y no tan difíciles de localizar, no son un fenómeno exclusivo de nuestro tiempo: llevan apareciéndose de manera continuada a todos cuantos han transitado por estas montañas de la actual provincia alavesa. El paradigma científico que domina nuestro actual conocimiento nos aporta una solución que parece satisfacernos y colma las inquietudes y curiosidades que puedan despertar estas piedras. Sin embargo, otros períodos históricos en los que los marcos de conocimiento estaban dirigidos por otro tipo de vectores (la magia, las supersticiones, las creencias religiosas, etc.), estos fósiles debían suscitar un interés particular que no es sencillo de definir.

- by Gorka López de Munain
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- Mythology And Folklore, Folklore, Ethnography, Medieval Studies
- by Mathias Nordvig
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- Geology, Volcanology, Old Norse Literature, Mythology (Old Norse Literature)
- by Alexandra A E van der Geer
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- Geomythology, Traditional Chinese Medicine
- by Marinus Anthony Van der Sluijs
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- History of Science, Geomythology, Cosmomythology

There are drowning stories spread all over the world and they have always been regarded as fictional. Anyway, there are some local flood myths that actually may have been inspired by a precise geological event. Recent geoarchaeological and geological studies have demonstrated that in certain regions during the Holocene there was sea-level rise and flood myths show us that people were aware of environmental and landscape changes. This research proposes the analysis of drowning stories from Ancient Greece (the well-known Deucalion flood, and other flood stories geographically confined like the Dardanus and Cerambos ones) compared to ancient aboriginal stories of coastal drowning in Australia, in order to understand the capacities of resilience of coastal populations and the process that makes them keep the memory of hazardous events and to encode the information in stories that are part of the traditional heritage of oral-based societies.

- by Loredana Lancini
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- Ancient History, Resilience, Geomythology, Environmental Change
- by Mathias Nordvig
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- Geology, Volcanology, Old Norse Literature, Viking Studies

Aboriginal stories dating back many thousands of years talk of a fire from the sky in an area now home to the Henbury meteorite craters, in the Northern Territory. Imagine going about your normal day when a brilliant light races across the sky. It explodes, showering the ground with small stones and sending a shock wave across the land. The accompanying boom is deafening and leaves people running and screaming. This was the description of an incident that occurred over the skies of Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013, one of the best recorded meteoritic events in history. This airburst was photographed and videoed by many people so we have a good record of what occurred, which helped explain the nature of the event.