CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Budhwa, R.
Date : 2003.
Title : Correlations between catastrophic paleoenvironmental events and native oral traditions of the Pacific Northwest.
Publication : CAA 2003. Current and Future Directions in Canadian Archaeology. 36th Annual Conference of the Canadian Archaeological Association, May 7-10, 2003. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The indigenous populations of the Pacific Northwest have consistently maintained that proof of their long occupation in their traditional ethnographic territories is embedded in their oral traditions. Native groups claim that information within their oral traditions is historically accurate. Therefore, one may presume that a comparison between oral traditions and scientifically known prehistoric events would lead to similar interpretations. Past catastrophic environmental events (such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, floods, etc) with discrete, recognizable attributes, may serve as benchmarks for comparison to prehistoric references contained within oral traditions. For the most part, geologists have provided us with a specific range of dates and magnitudes for such events. The historical literature pertaining to such groups (specific to each event) is reviewed for oral traditions that may refer to the event in question. Through the use of qualitative tables, relationships between the geological and archaeological evidence and the event depicted in the oral tradition are shown to exist. Moreover, a ‘qualitative’ measure is employed in a descriptive fashion, where a distinction is made between clear relationships and less obvious ones. Perhaps such an evaluation of a portion of the indigenous perspective within a western scientific framework may serve as a foundation for further work in this area. Eventually, a combination of the two perspectives may yield a richer, more holistic view of the past.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology