Northwest Native Peoples and the flora of the Pacific Northwest, Winter 2015

Weekly Journal

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

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week two reading notes




Dating the 1700 Cascadia Earthquake: Great Coastal Earthquakes in Native Stories
http://oceanlink.island.net/SOLE/LP/FN/1700_tsunami.pdf
  • How information about earthquakes is presented in Native traditions and estimates most recent dates of them
  • Historical Native stories cannot be distinguished from myths from the stories alone
  • Southern end of Cascadian coast: many stories explicitly mention earthquakes and tsunami
  • Northern end of Cascadian coast: explicit earthquake stories and explicit tsunami stories, but not many that discuss both
  • Middle portion of Cascadian coast: earthquake stories are rare, flood stories are common
  • Nine stories have info that is relevant to estimating a date of a particular quake/flooding, between 1860 and 1964
  • Average midpoint of 1701; consistent with quake that occurred in that year
  • Earth shaking/tsunami-like effects often described as supernatural beings/events
  • Ex: thunderbird and whale


Serpent Spirit-power Stories along the Seattle Fault
http://pnsn.org/outreach/native-american-stories/serpent-spirit-power/Serpent_Spirit-power_Stories_along_the_Seattle-4Ludwin.pdf
  • A'yahos - supernatural being associated with five locales along Seattle fault
  • spirit boulder near Fauntleroy ferry terminal in West Seattle
  • see notes in notebook

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