Maar Stories: How Oral Traditions Aid Understanding of Maar Volcanism and Associated Phenomena during Preliterate Times

Abstract

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.

回忆灾难事件的古老传说, 是在神话中进行建构、且偶尔转译为神话, 并多半在口述的脉络中传承数千年。火山作用正好座落在此般故事中, 并且有现存的故事案例回忆数千年前发生的火山喷发。本研究聚焦这些故事的一个分组——回想小火山口的形成与随之而来（与灾难相关的）的展现。由于这些形式作为岩浆和地下水混合的结果, 并因此产生爆炸性的蒸气岩浆喷发, 因而作为最难忘的火山灾难现象之一。回想小火山口形成的古老故事为澳大利亚所熟知, 其中过往近乎六万五千年的文化隔离, 解释了这些故事非凡的持久性与反覆的忠诚。本研究同时描绘指涉义大利阿尔巴诺小火山口形成后的发展之故事, 以及来自其他地方且较少被诠释的故事。主题分析显示, 有文字前的人们将其对小火山口形成的观察纳入故事作为鸟儿的尖声鸣叫（释出的气体）以及恶魔的到达（喷发）, 以及诸如天空转红和地表扭曲与崩裂的叙事细节。主题指涉小火山口在喷发后的活动, 包括回忆充满水的火山口, 以及火山口边缘、火山泥流与向下溢流造成的相关破坏。上述描绘的小火山口故事类别的存在, 及其对数千年前的特定事件展现增添细节的潜能, 应鼓励地理学者更为重视此般信息来源, 而非将之视为惯常。关键词：火山泥流, 在地知识, 小火山口, 小火山口湖, 口述传统, 火山作用。

Antiguas historias que recuerdan eventos catastróficos fueron elaboradas, a veces cifradas en mitos, y legadas a través de los milenios, en gran medida en contextos orales. El vulcanismo es muy apropiado para tales historias y existen ejemplos de relatos vigentes que recuerdan erupciones ocurridas hace ya miles de años. Este estudio se enfoca en un subconjunto de estas historias ––las que recuerdan la formación y manifestaciones subsiguientes (relacionadas con catástrofes) de los volcanes maar. Debido a que estos volcanes se originan como resultado de la mezcla de magma con agua subterránea, que produce erupciones freaticomagmáticas explosivas, aquellos se cuentan entre los fenómenos volcánicos catastróficos memorables. Se conocen historias antiguas referidas a la formación de maars en Australia donde el aislamiento cultural por la mayor parte de los pasados 65.000 años explica la extraordinaria longevidad y fidelidad en la replicación de tales historias. También se describen las historias que se refieren a los desarrollos posteriores a la formación maar del Lago Albano en Italia, junto con historias de otras partes interpretadas menos fielmente. El análisis de diseño sugiere que los pueblos preliterarios incorporaron sus observaciones de la formación del maar dentro de historias como el chillido de las aves (escapes de gas) y la aproximación de los demonios (erupciones), lo mismo que detalles de la narrativa como que el cielo se torne rojo y la superficie del suelo se retuerza y rompa. Los motivos referidos a la actividad posterior a la erupción de los maars incluyen los que rememoran cráteres llenos de agua y otras que recuerdan la rotura asociada de los bordes del cráter, lahars e inundaciones cuesta abajo. La existencia de historias del maar como las descritas y su potencial demostrable para agregar detalle y explicación a eventos particulares de hace milenios debe estimular a los geógrafos a tratar tales fuentes de información con más respeto del que se acostumbra.

Palabras clave:

• conocimiento local
• lahar
• lago maar
• maar
• tradiciones orales
• vulcanismo.

Notes

1 These people, who mostly lived between 100 BC and AD 100, include Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Cary 1950: XII, 10-11), Plutarch (Perrin 1914: Themistocles and Camillus, 3), Livy (Foster 1924: V, 15), Valerius Maximus (Bailey 2000: I, VI, 3), Cicero (Falconer 1923: De Divinatione, I, 100), Julius Obsequens (Schlesinger 1959: XVII). Some of these people, at least Dionysius and Livy, who spent most of their lives in Rome, probably visited the area around the lake and collected local traditions that inform their accounts.

2 The fact that this tunnel probably enlarged or rejuvenated an Etruscan tunnel dating from the seventh century BC (Coarelli 1991) hints that there might have been earlier collapses of the Albano crater wall and an associated catastrophic flood that local authorities sought to prevent from happening again.

3 Principally the 4th-century AD account by Julius Obsequens (Schlesinger 1959).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick D. Nunn

PATRICK D. NUNN is Professor of Geography in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland 4558, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. His broad geographical research interests include foci on ancient stories about landscape change and an appreciation of how these might aid future culturally grounded adaptation to a changing world.

Loredana Lancini

LOREDANA LANCINI is a PhD student (supervised by Compatangelo-Soussignan and Nunn) in the Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire at the University of Le Mans, 72085 Le Mans Cedex, France. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research focuses on natural catastrophes and associated environmental changes in antiquity, the understandings of hazardous events within ancient oral-based societies, and pragmatic interpretations of their mythologies.

Leigh Franks

LEIGH FRANKS is a PhD researcher (supervised by Nunn and McCallum) in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland 4558, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the precise age determination of Indigenous Australian stories using geochronological methods.

Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan

RITA COMPATANGELO-SOUSSIGNAN is Professor of Ancient History in the Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire at the University of Le Mans, 72085 Le Mans Cedex, France. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests focus on environmental changes and the evolution of the Mediterranean landscape, their multifarious impacts on the development of local histories, and ancient science.

Adrian McCallum

ADRIAN McCALLUM is a Lecturer in the School of Science and Engineering at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland 4558, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the investigation of remote area geomaterials using in situ and geophysical approaches.