Native Lore Adds Clues to Ancient U.S. Catastrophes

[icymist]

Native Lore Adds Clues to Ancient U.S. Catastrophes
By Michael Schirber
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 18 July 2005
10:20 am ET

The Pacific Northwest is an historically active area for earthquakes and tsunamis. But some geological records can be difficult to sift through.

Now further clues of the region's catastrophic events have emerged from native lore.

The Cascadia subduction zone -- a fault line stretching along the coast from Vancouver to northern California -- likely erupted in seven or more major earthquakes in the last 3,500 years, geologists have learned in recent years.

Some of these events apparently were recorded in the Native American lore from the region. Through the use of mythological figures that represent wind, thunder, and water, a number of native stories describe major earth trembling and flooding along the coastline.

(more)
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050718_native_lore.html

[cliss]

1. Wow. Great article.

Thanks for posting, Icy. I live in Portland, which would be right about dead center for some of these events.

It's interesting that some of these earthquakes occurred in the last 3,500 years - just the blink of an eye in geologic terms.

There are some interesting links at the bottom of the article, also. I'm going back to read some more. Thx.

[Eloriel]

2. I lived in Portland, OR for a while

3 glorious years, actually. (GAWD how I loved that place, and the whole region. Sigh.)

Anyway, I became interested in the history of the area -- and the Oregon Trail especially -- which was very unusual for me since history has always been something I've not cared anything about. Anyway, one of the stories that stuck in my mind was how Native Americans warned some settlers that they really shouldn't settle in a particular spot along the Columbia River, I believe it was. The settlers (whites), of course, ignored the advice since they didn't see any threat like what the Natives described, which was flooding not from the river but from above. Well, the settlers got nearly completely wiped out eventually, within a couple of years after they first settled there, after a flash flood hit.

I loved the article for the description of the oral tradition, keeping important information alive for generations.