by Heraclius ASTUDILLO-POMBO, Dept. MACS, UdL
Again, up again, the subject of popular legend Iberian type etiológicco have been caused by reasons paleontology. This month, we will discuss a popular legend that is well known in the Hecho Valley, in the Aragonese Pyrenees and is closely linked to the popular imagination, particularly the beautiful town of Huesca Siresa, it is the legend of "The gasp of the Mora."
The Legend of gasp of the Mora "by Siresa (Huesca)
Wandering around the church monastery of San Pedro
Any tourist who while visiting in the town of Huesca Siresa, has been approached by the magnificent surroundings of the monastery church of St. Peter, Carolingian style of the ninth century, almost certainly, will have been asked by a local transient, whether you've seen, or not, the famous and legendary " gasp of the default "or maybe, instead of the previous name, if you've seen preguntrá" petrified snake. "
If tourists do not answer yes and lets himself be guided by the local spontaneous and impromptu cicerone, come to the side entrance of the western facade, where the informant will show a kind of stone slabs that form the lining of the seat one of the two benches against the wall of the access tunnel, in whose area will see a curious snake-embossed.
A little to the tourist's face expresses a gesture of interrogation, the guide will explain some of the various versions of the legend of the Mora maintained by local families.
Image: View of the Church of St. Peter in Siresa, seen by the side of the main facade, "the gasp of the Mora", is at the side entrance visible on the left side This photograph of valentinv.com
http://www.valentinv.com/romanico/Altoaragon.html
In all cases, the story turns out to be a naive type popular legendary story, which aims to give a veneer of historical reality to a totally fantastic story, using a material witness who brings a great deal of undoubted veracity, consistent in a serpentine-looking stone mark.
The legend when it invented centuries ago intended to make comprehensible and credible, mythic-minded people, belonging to a pre-scientific society and basically illiterate, how and why they had made the rare brand of snake-shaped stone they had before their eyes, as well as attempting to provide all narratives of educational 
a moralistic teaching. This is supposed to be the same brand that now, centuries later, we can still see on the surface of the stone slab.
Image: serpentine appearance of the terrain which is popularly called the recoil Mora "or" snake petrified. " Original photograph Vidaller Tricas Rafel, courtesy courtesy of the author for this entry.
This legend was picked first by Angela Gari says "In Siresa, town that leads into the majestic forest of Oza, is account that in the past, there was a Moor who lived in a forest near the village. (in other versions of the same legend residence would be in the bottom of a "Ibon" or existing in a deep cave in the middle of the jungle Pyrenees)
arrears is said that for centuries had been collecting a large number of articles of precious metals and gemstones extracted from the interior of the churches abandoned after the invasion of the Moors, sacred objects that had accumulated in his lair, it was gleaming chalices, reliquary, crosses, medallions, etc .... One day while a shepherd tending his flock on Mount casually found one of those valuable chalices, owned by the delay. Believing a jewel of great value, decided to appropriate to improve their austere living conditions, through the enjoyment of future earnings which could provide further sale.
After a very short time, the pastor warned that someone, who could not see in the dense forest, followed him, within walking distance. He thought about who could be who was walking along and realized that if he was following was "overdue", his only chance of salvation was in hurry to carry the stolen gem the magical forest snake woman, Siresa to church, it was knowing that the arrears by its being evil, could not enter the territory bounded by the sacred precinct. Without thinking twice, ran away at full speed, feeling the breath of lives in the neck, finally came running up to an entrance of the temple of San Pedro, where the delay, ah now transformed into deadly snake, it almost heels. Entered stumbled and managed to close the door behind him, giving a very strong door. The delay-snake, infuriated at being outwitted by the pastor, gave a terrible backlash in a bank he had entry into the thief escaped, being recorded there since that time, the mark left by the impact of their tail. " 
Image: appearance of a snake woman, drawn from the current film, modern caraterización of the protagonist of Hiss . Can you imagine the inhabitants of Siresa a type of similar monster? Or maybe they figured a witch who could turn into snake to regain their desire to give and then look human? Was this a one Huesca version of the legend of Melusine? http://www.cinemaniablog.com/galleria/big/imagenes-detras-de-las-camaras-de-hisss/1
In other versions of this legend is the own arrears after becoming a common snake, the petrified remains on the stone bench in the sacred enclosure, which gave the flick.
Pastor relieved and very grateful for having saved his life, decided to offer the precious cup, which had won the arrears, the treasury of the sanctuary, where he and many other jewels donated by the faithful, remained guarded many years. Until the day that some "enlightened" identified him as the true Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, so was moved to the cathedral of Valencia, where he was revered as a sacred object, attracting large numbers of faithful believers ....
The legend of "Siresa delinquency" is the local expression of a popular interpretation of a geological phenomenon, relatively common in this area: the "trace fossils" left by many benthic organisms living within the most superficial area of \u200b\u200bthe seabed sediments of great depth. These reliefs are very varied shapes and sizes, depending on dietary habits and the size of burrowing organisms that originated them. These curious reliefs have been preserved and are visible on the surface of the Eocene calcareous sandstone rocks because they are the most consistent of which are the materials of alternating series' hard-soft ", which form a kind of geological units and landscape very characteristic of called "flysch " or "turbidites". These rocks are more or less thin layers, with a tendency to break down into thinner slabs or tiles, are so common in this area and so manageable that have been widely used in the activities of 
traditional construction of all types: walls, floors, roofs, siding, etc.., there are several quarries and quarrying in the vicinity of the population.
Image: appearance of a magnificent "worm track" common name that is known to one of several types of "trace fossil" or "paleoicnitas" contained in a piece of Eocene sandstone. JMN original photograph of PYRENEES, MOUNTAINS AND MEN
http://pirineosrutasyflora.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html
According to Professor Antonio Beltrán, range Aragon legends related to Moors, would have a time limit com old quetendrían the sixteenth century, recognizing that some ramifications of these legends can be assimilated to other legends of earlier eras. The old has to do with the implications of religious overtones that show many legends of that era and is known and notorious the enormous proliferation of apparitions and miraculous events from the late fifteenth to the mid XVI. But it is clear that this legend incorporates elements related to older traditions to be waste of Greco-Roman mythology, Germanic and Celtic, pre-existing local culture.
Possibly the slab with the legendary brand of "backlash of the delay" should be put in place that we see today, between the sixteenth and seventeenth to strengthen the credibility of the story of the shepherd who saved, miraculously, his life refuge in an enclosure set under the protection of God and his saints. Therefore, we can say that long before geologists and paleontologists, some people already dealt with the interpretation of such fossils and take advantage of these interpretations to influence the local society.
If the watchful eyes of a geologist, or better yet, a " footprints it" is not dedicated to wander around of the monastic church of St Peter and we observe calmly and carefully, the surface of the stones used for paving, the surrounding streets, we will discover, with surprise, several other kinds of marks, embossed on the surface of some of stones. Any geologist who has been devoted to search, compare and count, states that "appear little more than a dozen different types of tracks left by bioturbators turbiditic sediment " some of those positive marks in bas-relief, are very similar the famous "default queue, but smaller. This makes us assume that the slab of the backlash, was found in any of the existing quarries around Siresa and placed in the place that we see today, intended to explain and remind parishioners to pass over the place, a story very "uplifting." As rational reflection, we can say that the naive popular interpretation has a clear intention very typical propaganda of the past: the Christian God is more powerful than the allies of the devil, God and the Church protect all those who take refuge in his doctrine; is lawful to steal as non-Christians are "inferior or enemies" not to be believers, the thief is forgiven if you won is given to the church, the snakes are linked to the devil and his minions ...
! World Exclusive! We discovered the true aspect of delinquency Siresa!
should be noted, the non-specialist readers in the genre legendary English, that "blackberries " which stars most of the Iberian legends of the northern and eastern half of the peninsula, have little correlation with real berries and other North African lot with the enchanted the lamias the xanas , the magicians and various types of female ancestral spirits or spirits of nature who lived and protected from human greed and the exploitation natural world forests, mountains, water or caves, accumulating and protecting, untold riches and treasures that occasionally offered some humans.
A popular part of the name, these legendary berries have little to do with the women of North African invaders, despite the legend often say they are enchanted Moorish princesses and daughters of a Moorish king. Or that the treasures accumulated in forest hideouts, underwater or underground, are the immense wealth they were forced to deposit, when they had to flee before the advance of the Christians who were retaking the territory. But almost always, Syncretism is the effect of popular literature in which characters are mixed and events, from pre-Christian pagan myths, with others, from specifically Christian myths.
But let us go to literature and science paleontology through one of its specialties, called Paleoichnology going to help us discover what might be the true aspect of the famous blackberry Siresa legend.
If you look carefully "The backlash of default" that is kept in the bank of the door of the church of St. Peter, as well as other brands such as may occur in other stones of the pavement nearby, we see that are a type of relief, double aspect serpentine or meandering, for filing a groove medium central stone that divides the cord into two symmetrical halves. Such reliefs are so characteristic that paleontologists will have a particular identification name, call them Scolicia when double cord-like continuous and Bichordites , when the course has a regular discontinuities and some sections "meniscus" that give double aspect of cord cutting. In the one case as in other snake trademark in relief, in fact, they are the fossilized tracks left by the digging activity of a very large group of sea urchins, irregular heart-shaped to correspond to the order of espatangoideos urchins that includes many families and genera, some as common as Hemiaster , Holaster, Micraster, Schizaster, Toxaster , etc.
reliefs Scolicia type, found in Eocene sandstones, must have been generated by contemporaries urchins bioturbated sediments, so it is assumed that 
could be carved by urchins 
espatangoides marine, deep type of gender Spatangus or Schizaster , genres that appeared in the Eocene and have a proper way of life.
Image: Appearance dorsal the most characteristic of the echinoids, the right a Schizaster and left a Spatangus , sea urchins both genders are characteristic of the Eocene forms.
In conclusion
Therefore, thanks to the Earth sciences, at last, we know that the backlash of the legendary mythical snake-Siresa dwells, there is real but a great fact, thought for centuries to explain in an understandable and concerned a fact of nature and natural geological. We realize that this conclusion as scientific and rationalist, is not going to cheer a lot, and arational the staunchest defenders of the alleged miraculous or supernatural origins of all sorts of mysterious markings. One type of imaginative people, in excess, which often relate anything incomprehensible to them, with performances of superhuman beings, sometimes intangible and invisible when they are evil, ghostly or angelic, sometimes with their legendary characters are wizards, witches or aliens.
These stone marks that were inexplicable, even to scientists in the mid-nineteenth century, thanks to advances in Earth science, we now know that they are nothing more and nothing less than a quite curious natural phenomenon that occurred between 40 and 30 million years and, moreover, demonstrates convincingly that for millions of years, this large area of \u200b\u200bthe Pyrenees today, was now sandy-muddy bottom of a deep sea occupying most of what is now the Pyrenees Mountains, in which seabed layers were deposited rhythmically break loose sediments of the continental slope area, slipped to the deep sea, in which, once stabilized, are instalban and lived a humble crowd of marine invertebrates, daily, mined the most recent layers of sediments, digging tunnels sections, rather shallow, to get them their humble daily food, consisting of organic debris, buried and mixed into the surface layer of sand and silt. In the case of this trace that the popular imagination became legendary for expert footprints it proves to be a commonplace vulgar ichnogenus ichnofossil Scolicia , whose creator was an irregular sea urchin, of the type mentioned above.
Sources:
- Andolz Canela, Rafael. 1988. Stones and legends (Series: When talking stones) Altoaragón Journal, 07/02/1988. Page 15
- Bernardi, Massimo; Boschele, Sergio; Ferretti, Paolo & Avanzini, Marco. 2010. Echinoid Bichordites monastiriensis Burrow from the Oligocene of NE Italy . Palaeontologist Acta Polonica, 55 (3) :479-486.
- Biaggi, Roberto E. 2007. An adventure with faith and geological history. Origins Science, 74, Fall 2007. Geoscience Research Institute, Loma Linda, California (USA) (p. 6-7).
- Buesa Conde, Domingo J. 1992. Siresa and the origins of Aragon . Historiography. Altoaragonesa notebooks, 231, Journal of Altoaragón 28/06/1992 Page 33
- Castán Sarasa, Adolfo, 1981. Legends Moors in Aragon High . I Congress of Ethnology and Anthropology Aragón, Zaragoza , Edited by IFC-CET, (245-248)
- Gibert, JM & Goldring, R., 2008. Spatangoid-produced ichnofabrics (Bateig Limestone, Miocene, Spain) and the preservation of trace fossils spatangoid . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 270, 299-310.
- Dolader Serrano, Alberto. 1994. Mythical Moras, in Traces magic. Diario del Alto Aragón, 10/08/1994. Page 6
- Dolader Serrano, Alberto. 2009. The snake stone. Heraldo de Aragón.
February 22 -Uchman, A. & Wetzel, A., 2001. Estrellichnus jacaensis nov. igen., Nov. isp. - A large radial trace fossil from the Eocene flysch (Hecho Group, northern Spain) . Geobios, 34: 357-361.
- Ubeira Hernández, José Luis. 2000. The Legend of San Pedro de Siresa . Trébede. Aragonés Monthly Analysis, Opinion and Culture . September 2000. http://www.redaragon.com/trebede/sep2000/articulo2.asp
- Vidaller Tricas, Rafel. 2007. Zires La Mora (Legend) in Various authors, "Guidelines for traveling with children in Aragon 2." Zaragoza. Daily Press Aragon (El Periódico de Aragón. Grupo Zeta) (10-11)
- vv. aa. 2007. Echinoid Spatangoid ichnology in: Trace fossils: concepts, problems, prospects. William Charles Miller III (ed.) Amsterdam-London, Elsevier (p. 164)
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