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There's a lot of Sasquatch stories among Native Americans. Homo Floresiensis overlaps with the Ebu Gogo myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_gogo https://en

There's a lot of Sasquatch stories among Native Americans. Homo Floresiensis overlaps with the Ebu Gogo myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_gogo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_gogo

WalterBright 9y ago
It's hard to believe a story can persist for 15,000 years by verbal transmission.
- obelos 9y ago
  Hard to believe, but it happens. Australian Aboriginal story telling, for example, conveys historical events from 10k+ years ago: http://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010 http://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preser...
  - drowned 9y ago
    You may find this interesting: The town of Carencro, Louisiana takes its name from an American Indian legend about a mastodon that died there. The name has been interpreted as either "carrion crow" for wake of vultures that feasted upon its carcass, or "carnero"--"bone pile"--for the bones of the creature itself. The fossil was discovered in the 18th century. Oral cultures have a long memory.
    - WalterBright 9y ago
      Mastodons used to be everywhere. Finding a mastodon's bones is not that unusual, so is not compelling proof of the veracity of the legend.
      - drowned 9y ago
        As far as I remember the story was regarding a fairly specific segment of Bayou Carencro where the creature was said to have drowned, and is where the fossils were found. That makes it a bit more compelling than some Mastodon being unearthed in the general region.
        WalterBright 9y ago
        That is some good evidence. But consider that if there are 1000 stories, and 1 turns out to have supporting evidence, does that mean the other 999 are reliable, too? It's like the psychic who correctly predicted the last 7 presidential elections. One doesn't hear about the other psychics whose predictions didn't pan out.
        SamReidHughes 9y ago
        Going by Wikipedia the guy that related the story did so after the bones were found.
- mythrwy 9y ago
  Maybe if you only have a handful of stories it's easier.
- Torgo 9y ago
  Wikipedia is filled with speculative cryptozoological connections to extinct animals, the notes are more of an acknowledgement that such speculation exists as a cultural artifact connected to that animal, rather than that the speculation is valid or well-supported.
- jnicholasp 9y ago
  Alongside the comments about Aboriginal legends, a copy of my comment from elsewhere in the thread: The Klamath Native American tribe has legends of the eruption of Mt. Mazama that formed Oregon's Crater Lake - which happened in ~5677 BC [1]. If oral legends that reflect real events can last seven and a half thousand years, is there any reason to think they couldn't last 15ky, or 20ky? It seems to me all that's needed is a continuous cultural line. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llao https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llao

There's a lot of Sasquatch stories among Native Americans. Homo Floresiensis overlaps with the Ebu Gogo myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_gogo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_gogo

WalterBright 9y ago

It's hard to believe a story can persist for 15,000 years by verbal transmission.

obelos 9y ago
Hard to believe, but it happens. Australian Aboriginal story telling, for example, conveys historical events from 10k+ years ago: http://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010 http://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preser...
- drowned 9y ago
  You may find this interesting: The town of Carencro, Louisiana takes its name from an American Indian legend about a mastodon that died there. The name has been interpreted as either "carrion crow" for wake of vultures that feasted upon its carcass, or "carnero"--"bone pile"--for the bones of the creature itself. The fossil was discovered in the 18th century. Oral cultures have a long memory.
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    Mastodons used to be everywhere. Finding a mastodon's bones is not that unusual, so is not compelling proof of the veracity of the legend.
    - drowned 9y ago
      As far as I remember the story was regarding a fairly specific segment of Bayou Carencro where the creature was said to have drowned, and is where the fossils were found. That makes it a bit more compelling than some Mastodon being unearthed in the general region.
      - WalterBright 9y ago
        That is some good evidence. But consider that if there are 1000 stories, and 1 turns out to have supporting evidence, does that mean the other 999 are reliable, too? It's like the psychic who correctly predicted the last 7 presidential elections. One doesn't hear about the other psychics whose predictions didn't pan out.
      - SamReidHughes 9y ago
        Going by Wikipedia the guy that related the story did so after the bones were found.
mythrwy 9y ago
Maybe if you only have a handful of stories it's easier.
Torgo 9y ago
Wikipedia is filled with speculative cryptozoological connections to extinct animals, the notes are more of an acknowledgement that such speculation exists as a cultural artifact connected to that animal, rather than that the speculation is valid or well-supported.
jnicholasp 9y ago
Alongside the comments about Aboriginal legends, a copy of my comment from elsewhere in the thread: The Klamath Native American tribe has legends of the eruption of Mt. Mazama that formed Oregon's Crater Lake - which happened in ~5677 BC [1]. If oral legends that reflect real events can last seven and a half thousand years, is there any reason to think they couldn't last 15ky, or 20ky? It seems to me all that's needed is a continuous cultural line. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llao https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llao