What can folklore offer besides a glimpse into the beliefs and customs of a community? Reflecting on the geomythology of West Java, The Waves Saga explores how scientific investigation into natural disasters finds vital insight in indigenous systems of knowledge. West Java, in current-day Indonesia, was home to the Sundanese Kingdom that flourished for over nine centuries, yet few physical traces remain today that sing of its glory. Nestled in a geologically sensitive zone, the region has long been subject to nature’s unabated fury, with periodic earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions wiping out its heritage and reducing it to a “landscape of amnesia”.