Correlations between catastrophic paleoenvironmental events and native oral traditions of the Pacific Northwest

This study examines the relationships between the following three specific catastrophic paleoenvironmental events and native oral traditions that apparently refer to them: (1) the Mount Mazama climactic (or 'caldera-forming') eruption, 6850 b.p.; (2) the Bonneville/Cascade landslide, 900--400 b.p.; and (3) the megathrust earthquake related tsunami, 300 b.p. The historical literature pertaining to indigenous groups (specific to each event) was 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. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...