© Sarah Sterling / PSU



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© Tom Banse / NW News Network



those gaps correlate with known major earthquakes in the geologic past.

doesn't match any known big ancient earthquake

the Klallam people ate a broader array of meat and seafood than most people do today

A legend about a great flood has been passed down through the centuries among the Klallam people on the north side of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. As re-told by Klallam elder Ed Sampson on a recording preserved by a University of North Texas linguist, the people noticed the fresh water turning salty -- a detail from which we infer a tsunami.Lower Elwha Klallam tribal chairwoman Frances Charles said now there's proof this story "is not a myth."A team of researchers from Portland State University, Western Washington University and the University of Rhode Island found evidence thatThe research papers, funded by the National Science Foundation, were published in a special issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports "I am very humbled, very gratified," said Charles at community presentation of the science last Friday.The evidence comes from an archaeological dig of the major village at the base of Ediz Hook that wasA Portland State anthropologist said the story of Tse-whit-zen (pronounced ch-WHEET-son) village underscores that if people are prepared, they can survive the feared Big One.The village site was rediscovered in 2003 when the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) started building a pontoon construction dry dock there for a Hood Canal Floating Bridge repair project. Construction activity and the archaeological exploration eventually uncovered so many human remains that the tribe convinced the governor to halt work.Artifacts recovered from the ancient village are now on display at the Carnegie Museum in Port Angeles. WSDOT relocated bridge pontoon production to the Port of Grays Harbor.Portland State University archaeologist Sarah Sterling participated in the extensive excavation of Tse-whit-zen village in 2004. It took another 15 years to organize follow up analysis, get funding, go through the mountains of data, artifacts and animals bones collected at the site and and publish the findings.The researchers also uncovered scouring and "backwash deposits."I think those are from tsunami as well. "The researchers submitted 102 samples from the site for radiocarbon dating. They noticed"A couple of them, there are obvious kind of cessations in activity at the site that correspond to those events," she said.Previous research by geologists found evidence in coastal marshes of bigThe most recent gap in the village's occupation roughly correlates withPrincipal investigator Virginia Butler said tsunami modeling for Tse-whit-zen's low-lying location predicts"It's very likely that people perished," Butler said. "That's what happens when big waves come up."The PSU-led research team purposely did not look for human remains out of respect for the Lower Elwha tribe and its ancestors.The Portland State anthropologist said the study showed the Klallam people returned to the very same place, rebuilt and adapted after each suspected wipeout."I take that as optimistic," Butler said. "It shows that yes, we are affected by external events. But it doesn't take us down forever."Butler said the team's findings are a good reminder that terrible things can happen when you live in earthquake country, but also that prepared communities can bounce back like the Lower Elwha Klallam did."To me it provides a kind of testimony to the resilience and power of people to deal with adversity and continue to thrive in an extraordinary part of the world," Butler said in an interview.The analysis of artifacts and animal bones from the site also allowed the researchers to reconstruct the diet of the villagers. The scientists foundNo one lives at Tse-whit-zen today. The Lower Elwha Klallam were relocated to a reservation about eight miles to the west. Much of the ancient village site is buried underneath a modern paper mill or a log sorting yard."It's pretty amazing," said tribal member Arlene Wheeler on learning the ancestral village survived five tsunamis. "But you know, we know that for our people that was an important place for them. For them to continue to come back and continue to build their village there, that showed the strength of the Klallam people."