[meteorite-list] Two other accounts of the Holocene start impacts

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 13:45:07 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <117331.16217.qm_at_web36911.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi all -

My thanks to those who ordered their personally signed
copies of "Man and Impact in the Americas" during my
recent "discussions" with Paul and Darren. Your copies
 should be arriving soon.

During those "discussions" I previously shared with
the list a Lenape account of the Holocene Start
Impacts, and now I want to share two Iroquoian
accounts of Holocene start impacts, and some comments
on what they perhaps tell us about the new research.

A MOHAWK ACCOUNT OF THE END OF THE ICE AGE,
SHORTLY BEFORE Ca. 8,350 BCE

The following passage is adapted from a Mohawk version
of the creation myth given by Seth Newhouse to J.N.B.
Hewitt.

"It came to pass that the Good Mind, as he traveled
from place to place, after a while went along the
shore of the lake (Lake Ontario). There, not far away,
he saw the Bad Mind making for himself a bridge of ice
across the lake, a bridge which already extended far
out on the water.

"Thereupon the Good Mind went to the place where the
Bad Mind was working, and when he arrived there, he
said: "Tawi'skaron, what is this that you are doing
for yourself?" The Bad Mind replied, saying: "I am
making a pathway for myself." And then, pointing in
the direction toward which he was building the bridge,
he added: "In that direction there is a land where
dwell great animals of fierce dispositions. As soon as
I complete my pathway to that other land, thereafter
they will habitually come over. Along this pathway
they will be in the habit of coming across the lake to
eat the flesh of human beings who are about to dwell
on the earth."

"So then the Good Mind said to the Bad Mind: "You
should stop the work which you are doing. Surely the
intention of your mind is not good." The Bad Mind
replied, saying: "I will not cease from what I am
doing, for, of course, it is good that these great
animals shall be in the habit of coming here to eat
the flesh of human beings who will dwell here."

"So of course the Bad Mind did not obey and cease from
building the bridge for himself, and thereupon the
Good Mind turned back and reached dry land. Now along
the shore of the sea grew shrubs, and he saw a bird
sitting on a limb of one. The bird belonged to the
class of birds which we call the bluebirds. And the
Good Mind then said to this Bluebird: "You shall kill
a cricket. You shall remove one hind leg from it, and
you shall hold it in your mouth, and you shall go
there to the very place where the Bad Mind is working.
You shall land very near to the place where he is
working, and you shall cry out."

"And the Bluebird replied, saying, "Yo". Thereupon
the Bluebird truly did seek for a cricket, and after a
while it found one, and it killed it, too. Then it
pulled out one of the cricket's hind legs and put it
into its mouth to hold, and then it flew, winging its
way to the place where the Bad Mind was at work making
his ice bridge.

"There it landed, near to him at his task. And of
course it then shouted, "Kwe', kwe', kwe', kwe',
kwe'." At which the Bad Mind raised up his head and
looked, and he saw the bluebird sitting there. He
believed from what he saw that the bluebird held in
its mouth the thigh of a man, and also that its mouth
was wholly covered with blood.

"It was then that the Bad Mind sprang up at once and
fled. As fast as he ran the bridge of ice which he was
making dissipated."

COMMENT: What was this Bluebird with its mouth covered
with blood, whose appearance caused the ice to melt?
Was it a comet passing through space all too near to
the Earth? Is there anything else that could account
for such an "absurd" memory? Is there any other
reason to account for the preservation of such a
strange memory?

A TUSCARORA ACCOUNT OF A HOLOCENE START IMPACT ON THE
SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER

The following passage has been adapted to modern usage
from an account given by Tuscaroran Chief Elias
Johnson.

A Great Horned Serpent also next appeared on Lake
Ontario who, by means of his poisonous breath, caused
disease, and caused the death of many.

At length the old women congregated, with one accord,
and prayed to the Great Spirit that he would send
their grandfather, the Thunder, who would get to their
relief in this, their sore time of trouble, while at
the same time burning tobacco as burned offerings. And
so finally the monster was compelled to retire in the
deeps of the lake by thunderbolts.

Before this calamity was forgotten another happened. A
blazing star fell into their fort, situated on the
banks of the St. Lawrence, and destroyed the people.
Such a phenomenon caused a great panic and
consternation and dread, which they regarded as
ominous of their entire destruction. Not long after
this prediction of the blazing star it was verified.

These tribes, who were held together by feeble ties,
fell into dispute and wars among themselves, which
were pursued through a long period, until they had
utterly destroyed each other, and so reduced their
numbers that the lands were again overrun with wild
beasts.

At this period there were six families who took refuge
in a large cave in a mountain, where they dwelled for
a long time. The men would come out occasionally to
hunt for food. This great cave was situated at or near
the falls of the Oswego River.

The Holder of the Heavens then came and extricated
these six families from the subterraneous bowels and
confines of the mountain. The people always looked to
this divine messenger, who had power to assume various
shapes as emergency demanded, as the friend and patron
of their nation.

This company were a particular body, which called
themselves of One Household. Of these there were six
families, and they entered into an agreement to
preserve the chain of alliance which should not be
extinguished under any circumstance.

COMMENT:
The "great horned serpent" here is a "kahastenes", a
comet. That's the way that they spoke of them, and the
tobacco is a late insertion from contemporary
(colonial era) ritual practice.

Note the climate collapse by cometary dust load prior
to the small impact remembered in this account.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Previously, I expressed my concern with the conundrum
posed by the fact that the Lenape had survived what I
had thought to be an impact mega-tsunami.

I think that we can now just understand what the
Lenape remembered as flooding from a very rapid melt,
and the deposit which Hibben observed as being simply
the result of that flooding.

Going back over the other accounts, we find no mention
of the deafness caused by extremely large impacts,
aside from a mention of "thunder". Thus I think what
we're looking at here is dust loading and multiple
smaller impacts.

Note also the strange behavior of the mega-fauna and
their predators which appears in the accounts. Death
by starvation of the mega-fauna would have led their
predators (the monsters) to new game: people.

Something happened to the North Pacific Current at the
end of the last ice age, and a comet appeared at the
same time.

As work on this continues we'll find out the specific
mechanism for this change, and determine if it was
impact or dust load related, or simply a co-incidence.

good hunting,
E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas
for a signed copy, contact me off list




      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Luggage? GPS? Comic books?
Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz
Received on Sun 02 Sep 2007 04:45:07 PM PDT