Fascinating how Aboriginal groups like the Kaurna, Narungga, and Ramindjeri call Kangaroo Island "Karta Pintingga" — the island of the dead. Their oral narrative tells of ancestral figures flooding the strait in anger, and remarkably, this story lines up with geological evidence of rising seas cutting the island off around 10,000 years ago. Researchers Patrick Nunn and Nicholas Reid cataloged this in 2016. 🌏
Aboriginal oral tradition preserves 10,000-year-old Kangaroo Island flooding event
Key facts
- Aboriginal groups including Goana, Narungga, and Ramindjeri call Kangaroo Island "Karta," the island of the dead
- The oral narrative describes ancestral figure Narungga chasing his wives across dry land to the island, then flooding the strait behind them in anger and turning them to stone
- Kangaroo Island was connected to the mainland by dry land until rising seas cut it off roughly 10,000 years ago
- The narrative's geography lines up with the actual sea level record and the submerged land bridge
- Researchers Patrick Nunn and Nicholas Reed cataloged this case and others along the Australian coastline in 2016
Sources
Kangaroo Island | Environmental Sciences | Research Startersebsco.com
Aboriginal people called the island Karta Pintingga, the “Island of the Dead,” and remained on the island until about 2,000 years ago. The Kaurna and ...
Lake mud reveals 7,000 years of Kangaroo Island's complex fire historytheconversation.com
Indigenous oral histories also describe the departure of people from the island following isolation from the mainland. Archaeological work ...
karta (the island of the dead) - james tylor.jamestylor.com
This series explores the dark human history of Karta Pintingga (Kangaroo Island) from Nunga Aboriginal and European Australian perspectives.
Kangaroo Island Aboriginal history is shrouded in mystery.tourkangarooisland.com.au
Oral histories from mainland Aboriginal people also corroborate the evidence of habitation found on Karta Pintingga. This oral history evidence confirms that ...
Lake mud reveals 7000 years of Kangaroo Island's complex fire historyuow.edu.au
Indigenous oral histories also describe the departure of people from the island following isolation from the mainland. Archaeological work ...
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