T33 Quaternary History and Stratigraphy of the Pacific Northwest (Posters)

WATER-SERPENT MYTHS OF PUGET SOUND NATIVES MAY REFER TO THE A.D. 900 SEATTLE EARTHQUAKE

Paper number: T33-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Native Americans have resided by Puget Sound for thousands of years and must have witnessed many geological events. They described these events using their own cultural concepts, and incorporated the stories into their oral tradition.

Traditions about the 900 A.D. Seattle earthquake, handed down by storytellers for 1,100 years may survive in stories about water-serpents near the Seattle fault. A horned water serpent was said to have its home in Seattle by the shore of Lake Washington, directly across from a landslide on Mercer Island that has been correlated by tree-rings with the 900 earthquake. Another story, about an earthquake- and landslide-causing horned water-serpent on the eastern shore of Puget Sound in the Fauntleroy neighborhood of West Seattle, is close to a large undated landslide visible in LIDAR images but not easily seen on the ground. Finally, on the west side of Puget Sound, a story about the deepening of Agate Pass (located on the downthrown side of the Seattle Fault) tells of an underwater battle between a water-serpent and a mythic bird, resulting in ground shaking, churning of the waters, and permanent ground level change.