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.