Arthurian
Comet
Unconventionally I'd like to draw attention to an
article entitled "Comet may have caused catastrophe on Earth" by David
Keys (see below), which can be found in the UK newspaper "The
Independent" dated 25 July 1994. Tree ring data show a large and
sudden slow-down in tree growth from about AD 534/535 for a period of
15 years. The most probable cause of this was pollution of the
atmosphere following a collision between Earth and a comet. In
the Middle East and Europe famine and poverty were caused by crop
failures. This created the right conditions for the first known
outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s. This disease spread
rapidly throughout the Middle East and Europe and re-emerged many
times. Populations were drastically reduced. Classical
civilization gave way to the Dark Ages. Could it be that this
barren time contributed to the legend of the Holy Grail? The
dolorous stroke which maimed the Fisher King might be a symbol for the
comet. The poor health of the Fisher King might be a symbol for
the infertility of the land.
Comet may have caused catastrophe on Earth
Collision of celestial body gaining support as likely
reason behind string of disasters in the sixth century. David
Keys reports
A GIANT meteor or comet fragment - the size of some of
those which last week collided with Jupiter - may have played a key
role in determining human history, according to new evidence.
Scientific
investigations suggest that a collision between Earth and a celestial
body may have been partially responsible for the final demise of
classical civilisation and the onset of the Dark Ages.
Climate
data and historical references point to there having been some sort of
major world catastrophe around 534/535 AD which had the effect of
massively polluting the atmosphere and creating a nuclear-style winter.
Some
scientists have speculated that a huge volcanic eruption was to blame,
but others are now concluding that it may have been caused not by a
volcano - but by a cosmic collision between earth and and a comet or
large meteor up to two-thirds of a mile in diameter.
The
evidence for some sort of disaster in the mid-530s, comes from an
analysis from tree-ring data - an indelible record of past climate
fluctuations. Data from north America and Europe show a large and
sudden slow-down in tree growth which lasted for about 15 years.
As a hemisphere -wide event it is the only one known of its kind.
But normal scientific tests to find a volcanic cause have so far failed
to discover any trace of an eruption in the mid-530s.
"The
tree-ring and historical evidence tells us clearly that there was a
catastrophic event at this time. If, as now seems likely, it was
not volcanic in origin, then a cosmic collision is the only other real
option," said a leading UK palaeoecologist, Professor Mike Baillie, of
Queen's University, Belfast, who has just published the key tree-ring
data in the British scientific journal The Holocene.
The
disaster coincided with a deepening of the Dark Ages - and appears to
mark a turning point in human history," he said. Ancient
chroniclers recorded that the sun "became dim" and "its darkness lasted
for 18 months".
The
crops failed in Italy, Mesopotamia, China, the British Isles and
elsewhere - and terrible famines, plague and war broke out causing
long-term economic and urban decline. In some parts of China,
70-80 per cent of the population died.
The
cosmic explanation is probably the front runner - because a large
volcanic eruption would normally leave an acid "signature", detectable
in ice cores obtained from deep within the Greenland ice-cap.
These
cores - up to two miles long - have enabled vulcanologists to plot
volcanic history of the past 9,000 years. However no trace of any
eruption for the mid-530s has been found. "The volcanic option is
the least likely explanation," said Dr Claus Hammer, an ice core expert
at Copenhagen University.
The
location on Earth of any sixth-century meteor collision remains a
complete mystery. If the impact was on land, the crater should
have come to light, although - especially if now flooded - it could
well have been mis-identified as of volcanic origin. There are
also numerous meteor craters around the world's land surface - and not
all have so far been firmly dated. The most impressive - Meteor
Crater in Arizona - was formed tens of thousands years ago. Other
possible impact sites would include shallow water on continental
shelves, and the Antarctic.
According
to astrophysicists, a solid-rock meteor capable of causing a worldwide
dust veil of the intensity described by the chroniclers, would have had
to have been up to two-thirds of a mile in diameter, while a comet
fragment would have needed to be one or two miles across.
The
celestial body, whatever it was, would have collided with Earth at a
speed of at least 10 miles a second - producing an explosion of several
hundred thousand megatons (equal to more than one million Hiroshima
bombs).
The
crop failures, caused by the atmospheric dust veil and the consequent
dimming of the sun and climatic disaster, appear in turn to have had
large-scale social and political repercussions.
In
the Middle east and Europe famine and poverty in the 530s seem to have
been a factor in the emergence and spread of the first known great
outbreak of bubonic plague in the early-540s. In Constantinople,
45 per cent of the half-million population died from the disease, which
spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and Europe and re-emerged
many times.
Constantinople's
population shrank from around 500,000 in 520 AD to 25,000 by 650 AD.
In
China, the mid-530s catstrophe coincides exactly with one of Chinese
history's most mysterious events - the total destruction of the Chinese
imperial capital Loyang in 534 AD, when the emperor inexplicably
ordered its half-million citizens to abandon the metropolis.
This was followed by the political collapse of
northern China in 535-545 after 150 years of stability and by an
unexplained descent into economic and social chaos by southern China in
the 540s after 200 years of economic progress.
