Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands
Many Pacific Island myths are euhemeristic, based on historical events. Two types of relevance to reconstructions of geological events are described here. Myths from the Pacific describing how islands were fished up are widespread. Most contain details that refer to the fish-island thrashing and agi...
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Australian Folklore Association, Inc
2012
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ftunivnewengland:oai:rune.une.edu.au:1959.11/12655 2023-08-27T04:10:31+02:00 Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands Nunn, Patrick School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences 2012 https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12655 en eng Australian Folklore Association, Inc https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12655 une:12862 Studies of Pacific Peoples Societies Volcanology Journal Article 2012 ftunivnewengland 2023-08-10T19:05:22Z Many Pacific Island myths are euhemeristic, based on historical events. Two types of relevance to reconstructions of geological events are described here. Myths from the Pacific describing how islands were fished up are widespread. Most contain details that refer to the fish-island thrashing and agitating the ocean water as it emerges, details that are likely to be based on observations of shallow-water volcanic eruptions, particularly in Tonga. Another group of myths refers to a god stamping his foot on a low island in order to raise it, often successively. These myths are interpreted as incorporating details that come from observations of earthquakes that cause land to rise (coseismic-uplift events) that are common in many southwest Pacific Island groups. The importance of recording Pacific Island myths that have never been written down is clear, as are their potential practical uses in disaster risk reduction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Low Island Research UNE - University of New England at Armidale, NSW Australia Pacific Tonga ENVELOPE(7.990,7.990,63.065,63.065) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Research UNE - University of New England at Armidale, NSW Australia |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnewengland |
language |
English |
topic |
Studies of Pacific Peoples Societies Volcanology |
spellingShingle |
Studies of Pacific Peoples Societies Volcanology Nunn, Patrick School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
topic_facet |
Studies of Pacific Peoples Societies Volcanology |
description |
Many Pacific Island myths are euhemeristic, based on historical events. Two types of relevance to reconstructions of geological events are described here. Myths from the Pacific describing how islands were fished up are widespread. Most contain details that refer to the fish-island thrashing and agitating the ocean water as it emerges, details that are likely to be based on observations of shallow-water volcanic eruptions, particularly in Tonga. Another group of myths refers to a god stamping his foot on a low island in order to raise it, often successively. These myths are interpreted as incorporating details that come from observations of earthquakes that cause land to rise (coseismic-uplift events) that are common in many southwest Pacific Island groups. The importance of recording Pacific Island myths that have never been written down is clear, as are their potential practical uses in disaster risk reduction. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nunn, Patrick School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences |
author_facet |
Nunn, Patrick School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences |
author_sort |
Nunn, Patrick |
title |
Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
title_short |
Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
title_full |
Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
title_fullStr |
Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Of Giant Fish and Shaken Islands: Geological Interpretations of Euhemeristic Myths Concerning Underwater Eruptions and Abrupt Land Movements in the Pacific Islands |
title_sort |
of giant fish and shaken islands: geological interpretations of euhemeristic myths concerning underwater eruptions and abrupt land movements in the pacific islands |
publisher |
Australian Folklore Association, Inc |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12655 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.990,7.990,63.065,63.065) |
geographic |
Pacific Tonga |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Tonga |
genre |
Low Island |
genre_facet |
Low Island |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12655 une:12862 |
_version_ |
1775352595596967936 |