Research by Patrick Nunn and Nick Reid found that Aboriginal oral histories from 21 coastal locations describe islands now kilometres offshore, forests and other landscapes now underwater. Sea level rose roughly 120 metres when glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age. At the 21 locations, the stories align with bathymetric evidence of submerged land. Oral histories can preserve the timing of local changes, including when Kangaroo Island was separated from the mainland. The researchers argue that rising seas destroyed much of the physical record, leaving oral memory as the surviving archive.
Aboriginal stories match submerged-landscape evidence at 21 Australian sites
Site mentioned
📍 Kangaroo Island
Key facts
- The paper was written by Patrick Nunn and Nick (Nicholas) Reid, not Nicholas Reed. Nunn was affiliated with the University of the Sunshine Coast and Reid with the University of New England.
- It was published in Australian Geographer.
- The study examined Aboriginal oral histories from 21 coastal locations describing islands, forests and other landscapes now underwater, and compared them with bathymetric evidence.
- Sea level rose by roughly 120 metres as glaciers melted near the end of the last ice age.
- The oral histories include local timing information, such as when Kangaroo Island was separated from the mainland.
- The researchers argue that rising seas destroyed much of the physical evidence, leaving oral memory as the surviving archive.
Sources
arxiv.org
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sapiens.org
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pubs.usgs.gov
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craterlakeinstitute.com
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(PDF) Indigenous Australian Stories and Sea-Level Changeacademia.edu
He is currently engaged in collaborative research with Patrick Nunn looking at the use of scientifically derived sea level rise chronologies as a way of dating ...
Aboriginal Memories of Inundation of the Australian Coast ...researchgate.net
Nunn and Reid (2016) analyzed Aboriginal Australian stories from 21 coastal locations that describe landscapes inundated by rising seas. By ...
Ancient Aboriginal stories preserve history of a rise in sea levelresearch.usc.edu.au
by N Reid · 2015 · Cited by 19 — Authors. Nick Reid (Author) - University of New England. Patrick Nunn (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business. Publication ...
Evidence the oral stories of Australia's First Nations might ...unisc.edu.au
Several years ago, Professor Nunn started working with linguistics expert Associate Professor Nick Reid from the University of New England ...
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