Giant's Causeway: Myth versus Science

A highlight of our recent visit to the island of Ireland was the time we spent at Giant's Causeway.  It's a stunning geological site . Located on Ireland's north coast is a large area of rock formations.  Circular, columnar, flat and interlocked stones create pavement paths that project into the Atlantic. 

      Everyone who treks the Causeway asks the causal question: how did this place come to be?  The National Trust publishes a booklet that provides two explanations but one account is indulged and the other is valorized.  "Finn MacCool's Causeway" and "The True Story of the Giant's Causeway" are good examples of what are called "competing narratives."  Where the writers at the National Trust stumble is in their use of the word "true" to tip the scales to the side of science. And just to be sure, before they summarize the story of Finn MacCool, they preface it with the statement: "Before there were scientists, myths and legends helped to explain strange landscape features like the Giant's Causeway." 

 

      Clearly, in their view science has ridden to the rescue of humans locked in the lore of unknowing.  But at the heart of the mythic creation story of Finn and the Giant's Causeway is a model of overcoming fear by the innovative use of trickery and deceit.  The Scottish giant Benandonner whom Finn fears because of his superior size is duped and flees.  MacCool is master of his domain. And what does "the true story" tell us?  A lot of folderol about volcanos, solidified lava, and cooling and cracking rock that took place about 60 million years ago.  Who's silly enough to believe that?