T N THE highlands of Papua New Guinea there exist widespread .1. legends concerning a ‘Time of Darkness’ in which there was no light and ash fell from the skies. The author investigates these legends and, in conjunction with measurement and analysis of the ash, which covers a large area of the highlands, determines that 300 years ago there was a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on Long Island and that the legends are essentially accurate accounts of this gigantic upheaval that is unrecorded in any written records. There are several unique elements in this book. First, a relatively recent volcanic eruption of very large magnitude is identified. Second this event is shown to have initiated a widespread legend varying from place to place only in detail, and spreading across a number of cultural groups. Third the accuracy of the legends is demonstrated by comparison with known volcanic eruptions. The study shows that legends from an area of almost 100,000 km2 and including more than thirty language groups have survived as essentially accurate accounts for about 300 years. This book will have particular appeal to volcanologists and oral historians and a general appeal to readers with an interest in natural hazards. T N THE highlands of Papua New Guinea there exist widespread .1. legends concerning a ‘Time of Darkness’ in which there was no light and ash fell from the skies. The author investigates these legends and, in conjunction with measurement and analysis of the ash, which covers a large area of the highlands, determines that 300 years ago there was a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on Long Island and that the legends are essentially accurate accounts of this gigantic upheaval that is unrecorded in any written records. There are several unique elements in this book. First, a relatively recent volcanic eruption of very large magnitude is identified. Second this event is shown to have initiated a widespread legend varying from place to place only in detail, and spreading across a number of cultural groups. Third the accuracy of the legends is demonstrated by comparison with known volcanic eruptions. The study shows that legends from an area of almost 100,000 km2 and including more than thirty language groups have survived as essentially accurate accounts for about 300 years. This book will have particular appeal to volcanologists and oral historians and a general appeal to readers with an interest in natural hazards. This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991. This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press. This project aims to make past scholarly works published by The Australian National University available to a global audience under its open-access policy. The Time of Darkness local legends and volcanic reality in Papua New Guinea R. J. Blong Australian National University Press, Canberra 1982 First published in Australia 1982 Printed in Australia for the Australian National University Press, Canberra © Russell J. Blong 1982 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permis­ sion. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Blong, R.J. The time of darkness. Simultaneously published: Seattle: University of Washington Press. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 7081 1096 7. 1. Volcanoes — Papua New Guinea. I. Title. 551.2T09953 Acknowledgments In the course of the research on which this volume is based I have become indebted to a very large number of people. My most important debts are to Professor Jack Golson of The Australian National University who first provided the opportunity for me to work in Papua New Guinea and with whom I have spent many days of convivial fieldwork and invaluable discussion and to Dr Colin Pain of The University of New South Wales who has accompanied me (some would say, led me!) on numerous happy tephra-hunting expeditions. During various sojourns in Papua New Guinea 1 have met, been assisted by, and relied on, numerous people both Papua New Guinean and European. My thanks to them all; in particular I have enjoyed and benefited from the company on various field forays of Dr Ernst Löffler (CSIRO), Dr Neil Enright (McGill University), Dr Jeremy Smith (University of New England), the late Rob Cooke and Chris McKee (PNG Volcanological Survey), Jim Porter and my wife Tina. My fieldwork has been financed by Macquarie University, the Wahgi Project (ANU), the Myer Foundation and, in largest part, by the Australian Research Grants Committee. In matters geochemical I have received an enormous amount of assistance from John Bedford and Dr Dick Flood of Macquarie University and from Dr Wally Johnson of the Bureau of Mineral Resources. Dr Lionel Wilson of the University of Lancaster Lunar and Planetary Unit has made valuable comments on some of the material in Chapter 6. Professor George Walker of the University of Hawaii has commented on the entire manuscript and encouraged me in a number of other ways. On the question of dating I have benefited from discussions with Dr Richard Gillespie and Dr Mike Barbetti of the University of Sydney Radiocarbon Laboratory, Henry Polach and John Head of the Australian National University Radiocarbon Laboratory, Professor Frank Oldfield of the University of Liverpool, and Dr Eldon Ball of The Australian National University. I must, however, absolve them from any responsibility for statements I have made on dating the time of darkness; I fear that it would be impossible to write so as to please them all. Amongst the social scientists, my primary debt is to Professor Peter Lawrence of the University of Sydney who encouraged me to write this book and helped with several matters of interpretation. I have also benefited greatly from discussions with Professor Jim Watson of the University of Washington, Professors Bob Glasse and Mervyn Meggitt of the City University of New York, Dr Rod Lacey of the University of Papua New Guinea, and Dr Nick Modjeska of Macquarie University. Numerous other anthropologists, but particularly Drs Stephen Frankel, Buck Schieffelin, Aletta Biersack, Roy Wagner, Paul Wohlt and Nancy Bowers, have assisted me with matters of fact and interpretation. My debt to various personnel of the Summer Institute of Linguistics will be evident in later chapters but I must acknowledge the assistance provided by Barry Irwin, Marshall Lawrence, Dorothy Drew, Audrey Payne, Karen Adams, Linda Lauck, Gordon Bunn and Bruce Hooley. Without the assistance of S.I.L. personnel I would have had only a slender collection of legends with which to work. Much of the first draft of the manuscript was written in the Quaternary Research Center of the University of Washington. I thank the Director, Dr Estella Leopold and JAKJAP for many kindnesses. At Macquarie University Dean Oliver, Ken Rousell and Rod Bashford drafted all the diagrams and Ruth Sefton typed much of the manuscript. Jane Clarke provided valuable comments on a draft version. I thank the rest of my colleagues, both academic and technical, for all their comments, both advisive and derisive! Sydney, 1981 R.J.B. vi Contents Acknowledgments v 1 Introduction 1 2 Tephra identification and characterisation 8 3 Chemical fingerprinting and distribution of Tibito and Olgaboli Tephras 17 4 Potential sources of Tibito and Olgaboli Tephras 33 5 Long Island as the tephra source 47 6 Some theoretical considerations 57 7 The time of darkness legends 69 8 Tibito Tephra and the legends 88 9 Physical characteristics of the tephra fall according to the legends 96 10 The effects of the tephra fall according to the legends 105 11 Issues arising from analysis of the legends 124 12 The legends and reality: the physical characteristics of the tephra fall 137 13 The legends and reality: the effects of the tephra fall 158 14 Dating the legend and the eruption 177 15 Some conclusions and some questions 195 Appendix 1 Sample descriptions and analytical results 200 2 Analysis of factors influencing the spread of values in samples field-identified as Olgaboli Tephra 206 3 The Long Island legends 218 4 Questionnaire distributed in 1976-77 221 Glossary 225 References 227 Index 237 vii Tables 1 Trace element sample statistics - Tibito Tephra 24 2 Trace element sample statistics - Olgaboli Tephra 24 3 Major element analyses - Tibito Tephra, Upper Wahgi Valley 36 4 Major element analyses - Olgaboli Tephra, Upper Wahgi Valley 38 5 Trace element analyses of selected tephra samples 38 6 Major element analyses, selected samples 46 7 Major element analyses - Long Island pyroclastics 49 8 Tibito Tephra - particle size characteristics 53-4 9 Olgaboli Tephra - particle size characteristics 55 10 Area and volume of Tibito Tephra 58 11 Comparison of airfall tephra volumes 59 12 Duration of main eruptive phase 60 13 Caldera areas and volumes 61 14 Calculated released energy values 64 15 Velocities of selected tephra clouds 65 16 Mean monthly wind directions and speeds, various elevations: Lae 67 17 List of informants 77-82 18 Effects of tephra fall on houses 107-8 19 Effects of tephra fall on trees and crops 109-10 20 Effects on animals 111-13 21 Deaths during and after darkness/ash/all 116 22 Darkness/ash/all harmful or beneficial 118-20 23 Bulk density of freshly-fallen tephra 139 24 Tephra thicknesses and the duration of accompanying darkness - examples