7/21/2019 Catastrophes and Prehistory http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/catastrophes-and-prehistory 1/20 Catastrophes and Prehistory Now that we have a better picture of the people who became 'the Polynesians', let us look at the bigger picture, of how humans have changed over time. The general consensus of geneticists is that the present species of humans - Homo apiens began in !frica "#$,$$$ years ago. This has been spelled out fairly clearly by %ryan ykes in his book 'The even &aughters of ve'. &espite this, we must not forget that there have been many species of humans or bipedal hominids with opposing thumbs that have populated the world before us. The (eaky family did e)tensive studies in !frica on a * million year old bipedal hominid they called (ucy. +ecently a million year old bipetal hominid human skull was unearthed in /had by Professor 0ichel %runet of the 1niversity of Poitiers in 2rance. There is also a variety of Homo erectus, 3ava man, Peking man and !ustralopithecus, 4iganthropus to name a few, some were less than a metre tall others were over four metres tall. 5ith their opposing thumbs, they were all capable of using tools such as hammers, a)es and spears. (arge 6$kg a)e heads have been found associated with 7$cm footprints in New outh 5ales, which indicates the si8e and technological development of these people 9$$,$$$ years ago. The tools are thought to have been made by '3ava 0an', as similar aged tools have been found in :ndonesia. 3ust as we see a great range of body si8es in the canine species, from 4reat &anes to /hihuahuas, it is only logical to assume there has been a similar variation with humans. 5hen abre toothed tigers, &iprotodons, 5oolly 0ammoths and other large and powerful beasts dominated the environment, large and powerful people would have had a better chance of survival against these predators. ;n the other hand, smaller people would have had a better chance of survival after a natural catastrophe, such as a comet impact, where dust was thrown up into the atmosphere, dimming the earth for a few years, causing cooling, massive droughts and a scarcity of food. The locality of impacts, eruptions and tsunamis would have played a big part in who the survivors were. +ather than 'survival of the fittest', chance, had a much bigger part to play in determining who the survivors were. Proof of the diversity in humans can be seen from recent studies in :ndonesia where they unearthed 'the Hobbit' a very small human, from about "*,$$$ years ago. The skeleton was about one metre tall.
Prehistory Now that we have a better picture of the people who became 'the Polynesians',let us look at the bigger picture, of how humans have changed over time.The general consensus of geneticists is that the present species of humans -Homo apiens began in !frica "#$,$$$ years ago. This has been spelled outfairly clearly by %ryan ykes in his book 'The even &aughters of ve'.&espite this, we must not forget that there have been many species of humansor bipedal hominids with opposing thumbs that have populated the world
before us. The (eaky family did e)tensive studies in !frica on a * million year
old bipedal hominid they called (ucy. +ecently a million year old bipetalhominid human skull was unearthed in /had by Professor 0ichel %runet ofthe 1niversity of Poitiers in 2rance. There is also a variety of Homo erectus,3ava man, Peking man and !ustralopithecus, 4iganthropus to name a few,some were less than a metre tall others were over four metres tall. 5ith theiropposing thumbs, they were all capable of using tools such as hammers, a)esand spears. (arge 6$kg a)e heads have been found associated with 7$cmfootprints in New outh 5ales, which indicates the si8e and technologicaldevelopment of these people 9$$,$$$ years ago. The tools are thought to have
been made by '3ava 0an', as similar aged tools have been found in :ndonesia.
3ust as we see a great range of body si8es in the canine species, from 4reat&anes to /hihuahuas, it is only logical to assume there has been a similarvariation with humans. 5hen abre toothed tigers, &iprotodons, 5oolly0ammoths and other large and powerful beasts dominated the environment,large and powerful people would have had a better chance of survival againstthese predators. ;n the other hand, smaller people would have had a betterchance of survival after a natural catastrophe, such as a comet impact, wheredust was thrown up into the atmosphere, dimming the earth for a few years,causing cooling, massive droughts and a scarcity of food. The locality ofimpacts, eruptions and tsunamis would have played a big part in who the
survivors were. +ather than 'survival of the fittest', chance, had a much bigger part to play in determining who the survivors were.Proof of the diversity in humans can be seen from recent studies in :ndonesiawhere they unearthed 'the Hobbit' a very small human, from about "*,$$$ yearsago. The skeleton was about one metre tall.
keletons at <ow wamp in New outh 5ales shows that Homo rectus wasalive and well in !ustralia only "$,$$$ years ago. /lear evidence that therewere many breeds of humans right up to less than "$,$$$ years ago.
:n the book, The Natural and !boriginal History of Tennessee, author 3ohn
Haywood describes= >very large> bones in stone graves found in 5illiamson/ounty, Tennessee, in "96". :n 5hite /ounty, Tennessee, an >ancientfortification> contained skeletons of gigantic stature averaging at least 7 feet inlength.:n 2ebruary and 3une of "?*", large skeletons were found in the Humboldt lake
bed near (ovelock, Nevada. The first of these two skeletons found measured 8
1/2 feet tall and appeared to have been wrapped in a gum-covered fabricsimilar to the gyptian manner. The second skeleton was almost "$ feet long.+eview - 0iner, 3une "?, "?*".4eorge 5. Hill, 0.&., dug out a skeleton >of unusual si8e> in a mound of!shland /ounty, ;hio. :n "9?, a nine-foot eight-inch skeleton was e)cavatedfrom a mound near %rewersville, :ndiana:ndianapolis News, Nov "$, "?#:n "9# workmen were constructing a bridge near the mouth of Paw Paw /reek at +ivesville. 5hile digging through heavy clay soil they were astonished touncover three giant skeletons strands of reddish hair clinging to the skulls. !local doctor was called to e)amine the remains and was able ascertain aftercareful measurement, the skeletons had supported people appro)imately 8 feet
tall.4igantism often found in !merica, is not an abberant mutation, but a geneticthrowback to a 'time that was'. !s variations in the environment put pressure onthese groups, whether it be large predators or famine, numbers dwindled in the
populations less suited to the environment. This eventually led to the situationtoday where most humans are between five foot and si) foot 7inches.
The first migration of Homo sapiens spread out from !frica between 9$ and"$$,$$$ years ago across :ndia into .. !sia and across to !merica. :t is
believed from genetic markers in remnant populations around the world, thatthese people were dark skinned, short, with very fri88y, almost woolly hair.+elic populations of these pygmies can still be found in the= /ongo %asin,
!ndaman :slands, the Highlands of New 4uinea and the Phillipines. :t has beenconfirmed by geneticists that there are specific &N! markers that indicatewithout a doubt that The Highlanders of New 4uinea are directly related to thePygmies of the /ongo %asin, albeit "$$,$$$ years ago. keletons of these
people have been found in Tennessee, %ra8il, Tierra del 2uego and Tasmania,indicating that they constituted a ma@or pan global population that was crushed
by a ma@or natural catastrophe #,$$$ years ago. This catastrophic event has been linked to the creation of the (ake Toba /aldera, creating a massive lake in
the highlands of umatra. &ust from this massive e)plosion would havedimmed the planet, cooling it down and creating droughts and famine that mayhave lasted for over "$ years. urvivors of this world population of Pygmiescan still be found in the /ongo, !ndaman :slands, Phillippines, New 4uineahighlands and some !borigines of North Aueensland. ven Polynesians havetraces of this ancestry in their &N! through contact with 0elanesians "",#$$years ago.:t is interesting to note that these pygmies all appear to have the bow and arrowas a hallmark of their culture. :t is Buite likely that they had this technology"$$,$$$ years ago.
". Pygmy skull found in Holliston 0ills, ast Tennessee. They were *-C feet tall and their
cranium si8e was eBuivelant to a year old child. 2rom !merica %./. by %arry 2ell. !significant population of these people lived in this area between C$,$$$ and *,$$$ yearsago.6. !ndamaneseii from the !ndaman :slands.Photo= teve ailer website ee links.
Their passage to New 4uinea from !frica can also be traced by the 0alaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that they brought with them. +ecent studies on
the 0alaria parasite gene have shown that= "Plasmodium falciparum appearedin !frica and spread around the world with migrating populations, as much as"$$,$$$ years ago. %oth the parasite and the mosBuito underwent rapidevolutions about "$,$$$ years ago, forming Plasmodium vivax,
which rangeswidely through !sia, !frica, 0elanesia and the !mericas. Their coincidencewith the development of settled agricultural societies in tropical regions seemsto be a telling clue to the history of the disease and the movement of manaround the world>.!s malaria is a tropical disease, it is highly unlikely that it travelled betweencontinents via the Polar :ce caps, therefore= trans oceanic voyages in the tropicsmust have been undertaken "$,$$$ years ago. This is the only way this diseasecould have spread from !frica to Panama. This disease needs to have asignificant population of people living close together in order to survive,therefore, this parasite was brought not by some wayward fisherman, but by awhole fleet of ships, carrying hundreds of people. :t must be logical to assumethat because they had boats seaworthy enough to cross the !tlantic, and theyknew how to utili8e eBuatorial currents and the trade winds, there would benothing stopping them from giving the Pacific ;cean a go. 0alaria in New4uinea bears testament to their curiosity. 5hen they crossed the narrowisthmus of /entral !merica, they found another ocean beckoning them. Theislands of 0elanesia are in the e)act place boats from the Panama region wouldend up, it would have been a case of 'going with the flow' letting the wind takethem to a new land over the hori8on. 2rom this, we can only assume that0elanesians originated from a number of different migrations at different times
from !frica. The %lue %lack olomon :slanders bear testament to a separatemigration to the Papuans from !frica. ;nce again 'isolationism' has markedcomparison of !frican to 0elanesian genes a no go area for research.
The second wave of humans to leave !frica after the Toba disaster were the!nu. The age of the Pygmy was over and a new balance of human genes spreadacross the planet. This time they were taller, had wavy black hair and beards. :n!frica they were called the !nu, in :ndia - the Deda, in 3apan - the !inu, in(ake Toba - the %atak and in !ustralia, numerous tribes went under manydifferent names.
3apanese !inu, racially similar to the :ndian Deda and !ustralian !borigines,These people once populated !sia, !ustralia and !merica #$,$$$ years ago
4enetic studies indicate that /ro 0agnon man and the Deda separated E69,$$$years ago. /ro 0agnon man lived in the colder areas of urasia, had pale skin,
blonde hair and a beard, he was very tall, averaging 7 to "$ feet. The Deda werealso tall and had beards, but living in the tropics they developed a darker skinfor protection against the damaging rays of the sun. These people saw the sealevels around the planet, recede to "C$m below their present level. They are
bound to have witnessed many natural catastrophes. Needless to say asignificant pocket of DedaF!nu survived in :ndia and carried on to begin5estern civili8ation in the 0iddle ast as we know it today.
:n %iblical records, (ord !nu was the culture bringer to the umerians.!ccording to Hebrew te)ts, this occurred "$,$$$ years ago. :n other words,knowledgeable survivors of the DedaF!nu civili8ations of :ndia, decided toresurrect their civili8ation amongst the umerian tribesmen. !ccording to/hristian ;'%rien, in his book >The 4enius of the 2ew> The great '(ord !nu'decided to 'plant a garden in den' which was a fertile valley overlooking fertile
plains in (ebanon where a village named hdin still e)ists. Then 7$$ yearslater the >hining ones> - white faced, purple robed people with gold wingscame and gave them incredible scientific knowledge. These people wereobviously survivors of the pan !tlantic culture that also gave rise to the purple
robed, red haired Phoenicians, the blue robed copper culture of the Tuaregs, theseafaring %erbers, /elts, %asBues, Toltecs, !nasa8i and !raucano. Thereforewe have a Deda bringing knowledge of agriculture and a /aucasian !merican
bringing science to the umerians to start 5estern civili8ation as we know ittoday. :t would only be natural, that the survivors of a global catastrophe,regardless of their origins, would have pooled together their recources to startanew.
o what was this global catastrophe that ended these civili8ationsG:n Plato's /ritias, The wise gyptian priest in talking to olon, gives a fairlygood picture of what has happened in the past= > There have been and will beagain, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes, the greatesthave been brought about by the agency of fire comets and water ice agemeltdown, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes volcanoes,earthBuakes, tsunamis.>The declination of bodies moving in the heavensaround the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earthcometFasteroid impacts, which recurs after long intervals= at such timesthose who live upon the mountains and in the dry lofty places are more liable todestruction than those who dwell by the rivers or on the sea shore. 5hen on theother hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors will
be those who dwell up on the mountains, as the water always having a tendancyto come up from below Tsunamis and sea level rises.> He also says >thatwherever the e)tremity of winter frost :ce ages or of summer sun climaticchange and drought after volcanic eruptions does not prevent mankind to e)ist,sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers.> These disasters >leavesonly those of you who are destitute of letters and education, and so to begin allover again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancienttimes.>
/atastrophic events such as massive volcanic eruptions, comet or meteorimpacts as well as associated earthBuakes and tsunamis have not been givenenough consideration when assessing the forces that have shaped thedevelopment of man. The earths ancient geological history is full of evidence of such catastrophes. 2or e)ample= 6#7 million years ago a large celestial bodyimpacted the planet south of outh !frica, the reverberations around the planetmet in iberia, rupturing the earth's surface, creating a massive "6,$$$ feetthick lava flow, this catastrophe ended the '!ge of !mphibians' and almostwiped out all life on arth. 6"$ million years ago another meteor impacted the
planet in /anada - the 0anicouagan /rater - "$$km wide. This meteor broughtto an end the Triassic period. Then 7# million years ago at the end of the/retaceous period a meteor impacted the ucatan Peninsular, once again, theopposite side of the planet ruptured, creating the &eccan in :ndia, a #,$$$ foot
thick lava flow. This catastrophe brought to an end the '!ge of the &inosaurs'.The !therton Tablelands in Aueensland is a 6,$$$ foot thick lava flow thatformed about " million years ago in a geologically stable area. ! meteor impactin the North !tlantic would most likely have been the perpetrator of thiscatastrophe.
&uring human history, similar, but smaller events have occurred. The cavesystem in 0alta called the Hypogoeum was filled with ,$$$ bodies, soil and
debris washed in from a massive tsunami, possibly from a meteor impact in the0id !tlantic. ;n the other side of the !tlantic, the island which is now the%ahama banks, also appears to have been devastated by a tsunami at about thesame time. This island that was once as big as :reland was known as Tulapin orTurtle :sland and according to legend was the homeland of many native!merican tribes. Numerous floors and foundations under the sand indicate thata large city was devastated by a massive tsunami E,$$$ years ago when thesea level was over "$metres lower.The underwater ruins around onaguni and :ndia are also testament to rapid sealevel rises within the last 6$,$$$ years. cientists are beginning to realise thatthe "C$metre rise in sea level since the last ice age was not necessarily gradual,
but may have occured in steps, as massive ice shelves broke off the Polar icecap and drifted into tropical waters, melting within the year. +apid rise in sealevel is also believed to have been caused by massive lakes forming on top ofthe ice sheets as the ice melted, then in one terrible moment the ice holding
back the water would break and this huge body of water would gather all theother lakes in its path, resulting in a massive sheet of water punching into theocean causing a tsunami and contributing to a rise in sea level of a couple ofmetres.2rom this we can see that catastrophic events have occurred repeatedly in the
past and have most definitely played a big part in the evolution of species onour planet. /harles &arwin in his 'volution of the pecies' did not put enoughemphasis on the effects of catastrophes and the part that random chance playedin determining who the survivors were. The most obvious e)ample of random
chance changing the course of history is the meteor that ended the reign of thelarge and powerful dinosaurs allowing smaller mammals to freely develop,without predators.Here is the geologic history of our planet showing the chronological connection
between meteor impacts and ma@or e)tinction events.
The geological time scale compared to meteor impact craters. (attitude andlongitude is included so they can be viewed on 4oogle arth. : wonder howcreationists e)plain the various stages of weathering of these impact cratersGou will note from the above chart, there appears to have been periods of
particularly intense bombardment at a freBuency of appro)imately *#millionyears. ome people believe this to be when the solar system oscillates throughthe plane of the ecliptic of the 0ilky 5ay 4ala)y. ou will notice a ma@orseries of impacts "CCmyrs ago, then another series from 7#-Cmyrs ago, thenanother *#-#$myrs ago. 0ost of the impact dates coincide with the end ofgeologic ages. !lthough there have been no ma@or impacts during the reign ofman, it would be foolish to discount the effect of smaller impacts on globalhuman populations. They may not have been large enough to cause totale)tinction of the human species, but enough to cause a massive reduction in
population followed by a re-emergence of a new breed from the survivinglucky ones.
o far"$ meteor craters have been recorded on the arth :mpact &atabase, as#I of our planet is ocean, it stands to reason that there are at least over #$$craters on the sea floor waiting to be discovered. The mind boggles at the effectof a #km ob@ect impacting the ocean.
Not all impact craters have been correctly identified and there are sure to bemany more. 2or e)ample the +ichat structure of 0auritania is clearly a veryancient meteor scar, yet there is still controversy over it's origin. This C$kmstructure is merely the central rebound spike of a massive ancient impactcausing the crust to rebound into a dome. The e)istence of /oesite heavilycompressed Buart8 in and around the structure is proof that it is a meteor scar.
Picture " is the C$km +ichat structure. Picture 6 is a weathered rock from the+ichat structure Photo by 3ebrak. :nclusions are surrounded by pressure wavesin sedimentary rock liBuified by the impact. The third picture shows somethingsimilar - pseudotachylitic brecchia in granite from the 3ohannesburgdome which is a *,6$$myr old impact site.
:nterestingly over the last *,$$$million years of arth History, there has beenno significant reduction in freBuency of impacts. :t appears the si8e has reduced
somewhat, but disturbingly there appears to be no reduction in freBuency of#km bodies impacting the earth. !s we see from the end of 4eologic ages, thissi8ed body impacting the earth at over 6#,$$$mph has a devastating effect onlife on earth.
/raters of particular intererst are=! C9$km crater in 5ilkes (and !ntarctica at the end of the Permian 6C9myrmarked the end of the age of !mphibians. ! "6,$$$foot thick lava flow on theopposite side of the planet in iberia was caused by shock waves from thisimpact.
! 66$<m crater 0anicougan, Auebec at the end of the Triassic 6$7myrmarked the end of the massive lycopod and glossopterid forests that producedtoday's coal.! "7$km crater 0orokweng !frica, a C$km crater 4osses %luff and a C$kmcrater 0@olnir, Norway at the end of the 3urassic all at CCmyrs marked the endof conifer and cycad forests resulting in the rise of flowering plants.
! "$km crater /hic)ulub, ucatan at the end of the /retaceous 7#myrsmarked the end of the dinosaurs. ;pposite this, a #,$$$foot thick lava flow in:ndia - the &eccan was caused by shock waves from this impact.! "$$km crater, Popigal, +ussia and a ?$km /hesapeake %ay crater at the endof the ocene both at *#myrs saw the emergence of modern mammals.
ven though modern man during the last #$,$$$ years has only seen impactsresulting in 6km diameter craters or less, such catastrophic events would stillhave had a devastating effect on populations through the effect of earthdimming or tsunamis if the impact was in the ocean. &ust from a terrestialimpact as well as dust from volcanic eruptions caused by the impact fromshock waves meeting on the opposite side of the planet would have caused thesun to be blocked out resulting in severe cooling for a number of years. This in
turn would cause a drought due to absence of solar induced evaporation,resulting in failure of crops and famine. The ecological imbalance caused bysuch a catastrophic event would also cause plagues of opportunistic vermin asthe predatory creatures died from the harsh conditions. The people luckyenough not to be effected by this terrible seBuence of events would go on torepopulate the planet with a new mi) of genes.
(egends often speak of their ancestors emerging from caves to repopulate the planet. :s this because caves held the only survivors of the firestorms and coldfrom a meteor strikeG
Here is @ust one e)ample of the destruction caused by a comet in human
history. !ndrew /ollins in 4ateway to !tlantis talks about this event in detail.This event is thought to have occured around the time that the civili8ation of!tlantis ended.
USA showered by a watery comet ~11,000 years ago,ending the Golden Age of man in America.
!ppro)imately "",$$$ years ago a variety of animals went e)tinct across North
!merica. These were mostly mammals larger than appro)imately CC kg. omeof the animals that went e)tinct are well known like sabre toothed cats,mammoths and mastodons. ;thers were less well known animals like theshort-faced skunk, giant sloth and the giant beaver. ome animals went e)tinctin North !merica but survived elsewhere like horses and tapirs.%efore this e)tinction the diversity of large mammals in North !merica wassimilar to that of modern !frica. !s a result of the e)tinction, relatively fewlarge mammals are now found in North !merica.The possibility that a comet destroyed the mega fauna and human population of
/arolina %ays - "",$$$ year old :mpact sites, caused by bullets of water either from adisintegrating watery comet or bullets of water from a meteorite impacting a 6-*km thickice sheet North 5est of the region. ither way it is direct evidence of a cataclysmic eventaround the time of the /lovis hunters of !merica.
The geological formation of the oval shaped depressions termed /arolina %ays,which number in total, #$$,$$$ litter the 5 corner of North !merica. Theirorientation across the landscape is in a N5 to direction, with earth piled upon the rim up to 6# feet high. /arolina %ays tend to become more ellipticalwith increasing si8e - up to "$km long. This is consistent with a large body ofwater taking longer to dissipate as it travels at speed across the landscape.(arge bays tend to be deeper than small bays and they tend to occur either in
linear arrays or in comple) clusters. The consistent repition of shape andalignment can mean only one thing. /omet impact.:t is believed that these depressions were not caused by a rocky comet as noheavy metals have been found in the craters, but by bullets of water hitting theground from a disintegrating comet. There has been some disbelief that such acatastrophic event could have occured in human times, people have trieddesperately to think of some other way that these depressions could haveoccured. The fact is that these depressions occur in sand, mud, soil, uplandgravel, but not on any rocky outcrops. The only mechanism for similar shapeddepressions to occur in a diverse range of sediments is by a massive body ofwater, travelling at a high velocity at a low tra@ectory and dumped upon theearth. !ll the craters show a similar amount of weathering and infilling,therefore they must be all of the same age. :t has also been noted that there aretwo oval shaped craters on the bottom of the ocean, @ust north of the 4rand%ahaman banks.Their orientation is consistent with a N5 to tra@ectorycomet impact. :t is believed that these impact sites are associated with the/arolina %ays. 5hether or not there are any craters on the bottom of the ocean,the nature of a disintegrating comet entering the atmosphere is that small piecesof debris break off first, the largest remaining pieceFs travels the furthest.Therefore as there are #$$,$$$ small craters along the !tlantic coast, one mustassume that a significantly large body impacted the !tlantic ;cean, resulting ina massive tsunami./ore samples indicate the /arolina %ay formations was between ""-"#,$$$years ago, a more accurate date for their formation has not been ascertained as
yet. Pollen samples indicate a pine forest prior to their formation changed to adeciduous forest after their formation. This change is seen in the core sampleseither side of a layer of sandy blue clay, devoid of pollen. This marks the timeof creation of the lakes, and the resultant settling of dust after impact. Thechange in forest type after these depressions were formed indicates that they
precipitated a radical climate change.5hoever was living in !merica at thetime would have found this event totally devastating as shown in the followingaccounts of tribes from the area. 5hether it was this, or a later event thatdestroyed !tlantis is yet to be determined.
The !nasa8i have a legend that talks of a fiery sky serpent destroying thecivili8ations on the islands of the /arribean, or more specifically TulapinTurtle :sland, their homeland. ;ne can imagine an elongate meteor, rotatingas it enters the atmosphere, creating a wiggly, snake like trail. The speed atwhich a meteor enters the atmosphere also gives the visual impression of thespeed of a striking snake.
2rom !ndrew /ollins book= >4ateway to !tlantis> we get the followinginteresting information.0any native !merican traditions tell ofJKa moon fell out of the sky, onto theearth. &uring it's passage through the sky it looked like a fiery snake, therewere terrible earth Buakes and the day turned into night, there was a giganticflood and a formidable rain that lasted many days, many people died.This most likely describes the impact of the comet that created the /arolina%ays.
>The water having poured over the land 6km thick ice sheet collapses into thesea,human dwellings disappeared. The wind carried them away.They fastened several boats to one another.The waves traversed the +ocky 0ountains.! great wind drove them.Presently the moon and the sun disappeared atmospheric dust, post impact.0en died of a terrible heat firestorms post impact.They also perished in the waves.0en bewailed what happened.1prooted trees floated about in the waves.0en having fastened boats together trembled with cold. The above translation is attributed to the native tribe called the sBuimau) of/anada. 3ust one of hundreds of flood traditions that many scholars havecollected. !lso from further south in the /arolinas we have the following very interestingtraditionJ>a star fell to the earth, and rain soon followed oceanic impact, causing vastamounts of water to evaporate.&ays and days of rain Buenched the fire.4reat holes burned in the earth by the fire were filled,forming a great inland sea.
! number of cultures retained stories of impact induced winter. 0ost telling ofsuch lore this author has read are these ama8ingly informative tales of theakutsJ. . . is said to be >the daughter of the &evil and to have had a tail in the earlydays>. :f it approaches the earth, it means destruction, storm and frost, even inthe summer= . . . , the daughter of the &evil is a beautiful girl ... she is the brideand the sweetheart of atan's son L+4( Pleiades. 5hen these two stars
come close to one another, it is a bad omen= their eager Buivering, theirdiscontinuous panting cause great disastersJ storms, bli88ards, gales. 5hen theyunite, fathom deep snow will fall even in the summer, and all living beings,men, animals and trees will perish . . .KK five planets went out of their courses. :n the night, stars fell like rain. Theearth shook. The and (oh became dry. 5hat is remarkable about these particular tales is the con@unction of several
pieces of information. 2rom these lines we gather that a comet with a tail cameclose enough to influence weather on arth--i.e. deadly storms, frost and deepsnow in summer. !lso, we are told that this is most likely to occur if the cometappears close to the Pleiades. :n short, these legends accurately describe whatcan now be inferred from astronomical data on comet ncke and the ring ofdebris its progenitor strew about the un, according to the above information=into five significant chunks. >tars falling like rain> indicates a large amount ofdebris entering the atmosphere, >the earth shook> suggests a si8able impact. !s the above e)ample suggests, contemporary researchers need to be wary ofassuming our predecessors' folk memories of astral events relate to bodiesfamiliar to our time. There is considerable reason to suspect that the ma@ority of the planets namesakes were comets--probably of the ncke family. Human
belief systems have been greatly influenced by the phenomena attending the progressive break-up, over thousands of years, of this large comet. The idea ofa wrathful sky god or star positions influencing events on arth are legacies of
this influence.+ecent studies on ice cores in the !ntarctic have found numerous :ridiumlayers during the last "$$,$$$ years. ;ften these layers of :ridium are mi)edwith Dolcanic ash, confusing the origin of the :ridium. :ridium is commonlyfound in meteors, but is an e)tremely rare mineral on arth. This mi)ingsuggests that the impact of a /omet or 0eteor precipitated volcanic eruptions.cientists have also found a direct correlation between :ridium layers and the
beginning of many ice age events suggesting that the combined effect of acomet impact and the resultant volcanic eruptions had a big part to play in
turning points in human history./omets are not the only cause of ma@or changes in the earths population overthe last "#,$$$ years. :t appears that sea level rises since the end of the last :ce!ge have not been as gradual as previously believed. udden sea level risesappear to have happened a number of times in the past, destroying coastaltrading ports causing a shift in surviving populations.
Antarctic ice sheet ey to s!dden sea le"el riseResearchers show Antarctic ice sheets may not be as stable as previously
thought. by anet !ong
0arch 69, 6$$6 -- Physicists from /anada, the 1nited tates and %ritain haveconcluded that a massive and unusually abrupt rise in sea level about1"#$$$
years ago was caused by the partial collapse of ice sheets in !ntarctica, solvinga mystery scientists have been heatedly debating for more than a decade.
Near the end of the last :ce !ge, the arth's sea level abruptly rose over 6$metres - four times faster than usual for that time period and at least 6$ timesfaster than sea levels are rising now, report geophysicists 3erry 0itrovica of the1niversity of Toronto, Peter /lark of ;regon tate 1niversity , 4lenn 0ilne ofthe 1niversity of &urham in the 1.<. and 0ark Tamisiea, a post-doctoralfellow at 1 of T, in the 0arch 6? issue of cience .
The cause of this event - calle% the global meltwater pulse 1A, first identifiedin "?9? - has been unknown until now. The scientists say their research notonly pinpoints the source of the meltwater pulse as coming from 5est!ntarctica. :t also makes the case that significant climatic events can occurvery rapidly and unpredictably.
Ancient #angro"e $orests $o!nd Under %eef
North Aueensland marine researchers have opened a window into the past bye)posing ancient mangrove forests entombed beneath the 4reat %arrier +eef.
&r &an !longi from the !ustralian :nstitute of 0arine cience says they haveunearthed &#$$$-year-ol% mangroves in old river channels that were swampedwhen sea levels rose after the last ice age.He says the relic mangroves show an abrupt rise in the sea level, 6$ times faster than previously thought.>0aterial was very much intact, it didn't even have time to fully decomposewhen it was buried, so it does tell us that when climate change happened atleast when it happened in the past it was comparatively Buick,> he said.
A cold e"ent &,'00 years ago(at!re '' )!ly 1***
! cold event occurred between 9,C$$ and 9,$$$ years ago which affectedurope, North !frica and North !merica causing significant climate changes. :tis believed to have been triggered by global warming which caused acatastrophic drainage of the (aurentide lakes in /anada.This cooling event was forced by a massive outflow of fresh water from the
Hudson trait. The glacial lakes !gassi8 and ;@ibway were originally dammed by a remnant of the (aurentide ice sheet and drained catastrophically 8#"7$
calen%ar years ago. The sudden increase in freshwater, reduced sea surfacesalinity and altered ocean circulation, thereby initiating the most abrupt andwidespread cold event to have occurred in the past "$,$$$ years.
Antarctic m!d re"eals ancient e"idence ofglobal climate changeBy Mark Shwartz
:n "??9, ;&P scientists e)tracted a "#$-foot-long sediment core from themuddy bottom of the Palmer &eep - a submerged section of the continentalshelf along the west !ntarctic Peninsula about *,$$$ feet below sea level. Thesediment sample was loaded with the shells of microscopic creatures calleddiatoms dating back some "$,$$$ years to the beginning of the Holocene - the
most recent geologic epoch.>The !ntarctic Peninsula is an ideal region to investigate climate change atdecadal to millennial time scales due to its location in one of the arth's mostdynamic climate systems,> noted &unbar. >The ;&P sample gives us the firstcontinuous, high-resolution Holocene sediment record from the !ntarcticcontinental margin.>The sediment sample revealed higher concentrations of diatom shells during themid-Holocene, roughly '#'$$ to 7#$$$ years ago, which indicates that thewaters surrounding the !ntarctic Peninsula were more biologically productivethen. !ccording to &unbar, higher productivity suggests that sea ice was less
abundant during the mid-Holocene - a further indication that temperatures werehigher.>5e think it was Buite a bit warmer then,> he observed, noting that geochemicalanalysis of the sediment also revealed higher levels of nitrogen during the mid-Holocene. >5armer temperatures appear to have produced freshwater streamsthat fed nitrogen and other nutrients into coastal waters,> he e)plained.&uring this warm period, sea levels rose from appro)imately "$m below the
present sea level to appro)imately ".m higher than present day levels.(egends around the /aribbean tell of a heavy rain falling for many days andmany were drowned. :t was this deluge that separated their islands from themainland.(ittle by little subseBuent tempests submerged the lands of the %ahamas,separating the people from one another by arms of the sea.
2uture studies of archaeological remains on the %ahama %anks will most likely prove that this strategically placed large island at the end of the NorthernBuatorial current and at the beginning of the 4ulf tream was not only the
