(((ROCK IDOLS)))

A new Guide to Dartmoor in 28 Tors – a lithology of Dartmoor

‘Rocks were first chosen, it seems to me, to represent the Gods from the firmness of their substance, continuing still the same, neither disappearing soon, as Fire; nor ruffled, and by drought dissipated, like Water, not wasting away like Earth; and therefore proper emblems of Strength, Shelter, Shade and Defence.’

William Borlase, Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, 1769

*Image above: Beating the bounds at Taw Marsh, courtesy Dartmoor Archive*

Image below of Bowerman’s Nose courtesy RAAM Museum

At least part of the tors’ role in mythmaking is due to fundamental human psychology. We naturally seem to project human ideas and feelings onto other things around us. In the case of landscapes, we talk of them as human bodies: foothills, mountain spines, heads of valleys and mouths of rivers. We have a strong tendency to see meaningful images in natural patterns; psychologists call this pareidolia. This behaviour is part of our DNA: quick recognition of other humans and animals in the natural environment was thought to be an advantage to survival in the wild. The habit persists in the way we might suddenly see a human or animal face in a rock. And so stones have become the foundation of myths, a lithic carnival of giants, hunters, devils, dogs, ravens, eagles and spirits. Although we like to think we are telling stories about the stone, you could say the stones are telling our stories to us.

Alex Murdin & Sophie Pierce, Rock idols