Adventures With Cassiopaea

Chapter 27

Regarding the idea that Antarctica was the center of an ancient civilization, I used to think that this was a pretty good explanation. However, in recent times, I have come across some information that makes me question this view. At present, what seems more likely is that North and South America were, in fact, the site of an advanced civilization passed down in myth and legend as a "great island" beyond the Pillars of Hercules. I will go into that more further on, but for the moment, I want to draw attention to the fact that Plato suggested that the Evil Empire of Atlantis was at war with the "Athenians" just prior to a cosmic disaster. So, in addition to considering the idea of cometary showers that could have destroyed ancient civilizations more than once, and which may be in our future, there is another matter to consider - which also bears strongly on our dating problems - that ancient civilizations may have fought nuclear wars.

Radiocarbon dates for Pleistocene remains in northeastern North America, according to scientists Richard Firestone of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and William Topping, are younger‑as much as 10,000 years younger‑than for those in the western part of the country. Dating by other methods like thermoluminescence (TL), geoarchaeology, and sedimentation suggests that many radiocarbon dates are grossly in error. For example, materials from the Gainey Paleoindian site in Michigan, radiocarbon dated at 2880 yr BC, are given an age by TL dating of 12,400 BC. It seems that there are so many anomalies reported in the upper US and in Canada of this type, that they cannot be explained by ancient aberrations in the atmosphere or other radiocarbon reservoirs, nor by contamination of data samples (a common source of error in radiocarbon dating). Assuming correct methods of radiocarbon dating are used, organic remains associated with an artifact will give a radiocarbon age younger than they actually are only if they contain an artificially high radiocarbon keel.

A clue to the possible source of artificially elevated ¹⁴C content of Pleistocene remains may be found in the well-documented "atom bomb effect." By the mid-1960s, thermonuclear tests, with their enormous flux of thermal neutrons, had nearly doubled the volume of ¹⁴C in the atmosphere and more important nearly doubled the ¹⁴C activity of buried carbon-bearing materials.[(Taylor, 1987: Higham Website) The closest I can come to understanding this is that everything carbon bearing on the planet, including those things that are buried, have had their C-14 doubled since 1960. If this is the case, then virtually NO carbon dating done since that time can be considered valid, possibly because of atmospheric drift of the C-14.]

In other words, the rate of beta emissions was artificially accelerated. The flux of thermal neutrons had reset the radioactive clock, making materials appear younger by radiocarbon dating than they actually were. [Mammoth Trumpet, 16:2, March, 2001, pp 7-13]

Our research indicates that the entire Great Lakes region (and beyond) was subjected to particle bombardment and a catastrophic nuclear irradiation that produced secondary thermal neutrons from cosmic ray interactions. The neutrons produced unusually large quantities of Pu239 and substantially altered the natural uranium abundance rations in artifacts and in other exposed materials including cherts [a chert is basically bits of glass.It is silica that has been heated until it fuses into tiny shards of glass], sediments, and the entire landscape. These neutrons necessarily transmuted residual nitrogen in the dated charcoals to radiocarbon, thus explaining anomalous dates.

Sediment profiles were taken at Paleoindian sites and at numerous widely separated control locations in Michigan. The C sediment horizon [before the Holocene period, 10 to 12 thousand years ago] is clearly recognized by its transitional color and confirmed by elevated concentrations of potassium and other isotopes. Color and chemistry are key indicators of this very old soil derived from parent materials and associated post-glacial runoff. At Gainey, large quantities of micrometeorite-like particles appear to be concentrated near the boundary between the B and C sediment horizons. They can be separated with a magnet and are identified by the presence of chondrules and by visual evidence of splintering and partial melting. These particles, dissimilar to common magnetites, are found in association with a high frequency of "spherules."

Microscopic examination of chert artifacts from several widely separated Paleoindian locations in North America revealed a high density of entrance wounds and particles at depths that are evidence of high-velocity particle bombardment. […]

Significant variations in the isotopic ration do not occur because of chemical processes; however a thermal neutron bombardment depletes U235 and thus alters the ratio. Solar or galactic cosmic rays interacting with matter produce fast secondary neutrons that become thermalized by scattering…[…] If a large cosmic-ray bombardment impacted the earth and irradiated the prehistoric landscape with thermal neutrons, the u235/U236 ratio would be changed. […]

The Paleoindian artifacts contained about 78 percent as much U235 as the controls and later-period artifacts, suggesting substantial depletion. Depletion of U235 necessarily indicates that thermal neutrons impacted these artifacts and the surrounding prehistoric landscape. […] We derive a thermal neutron flux … which corresponds to an approximate date of 39,000 years.

The 39,000 BC date proposed for the Gainey site is consistent with the prevailing opinion among many archaeologists about when the Americas were populated. It is also commensurate with dates for South American sites and with a Mousterian toolkit tradition that many see as the Paleoindian precursor. The proposed date for the Gainey site also falls closer in line with the radiocarbon date for Lewisville, Texas, Paleoindian site of 26,610 +/- BC and radio carbon dates as early as 20,000 BC for Meadocroft Rockshelter. Since the Lewisville and Meadocroft sites were likely exposed at the same time to thermal neutrons, we estimate that their dates should be reset to 55,000 and 45,000 BC, respectively. […] Dates for North American sites should generally be reset by up to 40,000 depending on latitude and overburden.

The Gainey thermoluminescence date of 12,400 BC is probably a result of the heat generated by the nuclear bombardment at that time, which would have reset the TL index to zero. The modified dates for Paleoindian settlements suggest that the timetable for glacial advance sequences, strongly driven by conventional radiocarbon dates, should be revisited in light of the evidence presented here of much older occupations than previously thought.

A large nuclear bombardment should have left evidence elsewhere in the radiocarbon record. It is well known that radiocarbon dates are increasingly too young as we go back in time. The global Carbon Cycle suggests that C14 produced by cosmic rays would be rapidly dispersed in the large carbon reservoirs in the atmosphere, land, and oceans. We would expect to see a sudden increase in radiocarbon in the atmosphere that would be incorporated into plants and animals soon after the irradiation; after only a few years, most of the radiocarbon would move into the ocean reservoirs. The C14 level in the fossil record would reset to a higher value. The excess global radiocarbon would then decay with a half-life of 5730 years, which should be seen in the radiocarbon analysis of varied systems.[…]

Sharp increases in C14 are apparent in the marine data at 4,000, 32,000-34,000, and 12,500 BC. These increases are coincident with geomagnetic excursions. […] Significant increases at that time are not found in comparable data for the Antarctic, which indicates that the cosmic ray irradiation was centered in the Northern Hemisphere. Weak evidence of an occurrence at 12,500 BC is seen in the radiocarbon record for marine sediments near Venezuela confirming that the cosmic ray bombardment was most severe in North America.

The Paleoindian catastrophe was large by standards of all suspected cosmic occurrences. […]

The enormous energy released by the catastrophe at 12,500 BC could have heated the atmosphere to over 1000 C over Michigan, and the neutron flux at more northern locations would have melted considerable glacial ice. Radiation effects on plants and animals exposed to the cosmic rays would have been lethal, comparable to being irradiated in a 5 megawatt reactor more than 100 seconds.

The overall pattern of the catastrophe matches the pattern of mass extinction before Holocene times. The Western Hemisphere was more affected than the Eastern, North America more than South America, and eastern North America more than western North America. Extinction in the Great lakes area was more rapid and pronounced than elsewhere. Larger animals were more affected than smaller ones, a pattern that conforms to the expectation that radiation exposure affects large bodies more than smaller ones. [Firestone, Richard B., Topping, William, Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times, dissertation research, 1990 - 2001]

The evidence that Firestone and Topping discovered is puzzling for a lot of reasons. It would be easy to suggest that they have discovered evidence of ancient nuclear war, and are merely trying to put a "natural spin" on it, but it may not be that simple. We realize that the idea that mankind may have fought nuclear wars in the remote past is not allowed, you see, so we can understand a need to come up with a really scary idea about some sort of cosmic ray bombardment which set off natural uranium and plutonium deposits in the earth. What is most interesting is the fact that we again see that strange number 12,500 B.C.

There are reports of similar evidence from such widely spread regions as India, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Turkey; ancient cities whose brick and stone walls have literally been vitrified, that is, fused together like glass. There is also evidence of vitrification of stone forts and cities. It seems that the only explanation for such anomalies is an atomic blast. Add to that the effects of cyclical cometary strikes, and considering the reported regions that may have been affected, we are really in the soup with trying to date anything! With all the bombs, asteroids, comets, and whatever else flying around at periodic intervals, it seems entirely likely that no radiometric dating method of any kind will straigten out the mess. At best, we can use it as only a guideline.

In very recent times, the idea that cultural discontinuity was caused by cometary showers was published, stating in part that the Dark Ages were also caused by comets or asteroids.

My goodness! How did that come along and no one recorded it?

The fact is, the works of Gregory of Tours, Nennius, and what little has survived from the few other writers close to the time, do mention these things. But modern day historians were inclined to think that they were just superstitious old galoots who wouldn't know an unusual object in the sky from their own big toe.

"Scientists have found the first evidence that a devastating meteor impact in the Middle East might have triggered the mysterious collapse of civilisations more than 4,000 years ago. Studies of satellite images of southern Iraq have revealed a two-mile-wide circular depression which scientists say bears all the hallmarks of an impact crater. If confirmed, it would point to the Middle East being struck by a meteor with the violence equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs. Today's crater lies on what would have been shallow sea 4,000 years ago, and any impact would have caused devastating fires and flooding. The catastrophic effect of these could explain the mystery of why so many early cultures went into sudden decline around 2300 BC."

Recent scientific discoveries are shedding new light on why great empires like Egypt, Babylon and Rome fell apart, giving way to the periodic "dark ages" that punctuate human history. At least five times during the last 6,000 years, major environmental calamities undermined civilizations worldwide. Some researchers say these disasters appear to be linked to collisions with comets or fragments of comets like the one that broke apart and smashed into Jupiter five years ago this summer.

The impacts, yielding many megatons of explosive energy, produced vast clouds of smoke and dust that circled the globe for years, dimming the sun, driving down temperatures and sowing hunger, disease and death. The last such global crisis occurred between 530 and 540 - at the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe - when Earth was pummeled by a swarm of cosmic debris.

In a forthcoming book, Catastrophe, the Day the Sun Went Out, British historian David Keys describes a two-year-long winter that began in 535. Trees from California to Ireland to Siberia stopped growing. Crops failed. Plague and famine decimated Italy, China and the Middle East. Keys quotes the writings of a 6th-Century Syrian bishop, John of Ephesus: "The sun became dark.... Each day it shone for about four hours and still this light was only a feeble shadow."

A contemporary Italian historian, Flavius Cassiodorus, wrote: "We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon. We have summer without heat." And a contemporary Chinese chronicler reported, "Yellow dust rained like snow."

Researchers say similar environmental calamities occurred about 3200 BC, 2300 BC, 1628 BC and 1159 BC. Each led to the collapse of urban societies.

Destructive as they were, the natural disasters that have plagued Earth since the dawn of civilization are but popguns compared with the truly titanic catastrophes of prehistoric eras. There have been at least five of these monster events, each of which wiped out most of the creatures living at the time, the fossil record shows. The best known was a six-mile-wide meteor that smashed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago. The collision wreathed the planet in clouds of dust, poisoned the atmosphere and drove the dinosaurs, then rulers of the Earth, into extinction. Traces of the enormous crater, at least 100 miles across, created by the impact were found in 1990.

Even that wasn't the biggest blow the Earth has suffered. The mother of all extinctions, which wiped out 90 percent of living species, happened about 245 million years ago. Paleontologists say other mass extinctions occurred about 214 million, 360 million and 440 million years ago.

Although the evidence is debated, many researchers contend that most, if not all, of these ecological disasters are connected to bombardments from space.

"Recent evidence is converging on the conclusion that mass extinctions coincided with comet or asteroid impacts, and that periodic comet showers, triggered by the solar system's motions through the Milky Way galaxy, may provide a theory to explain impact-related mass extinctions," said Michael Rampino, a geologist at New York University. "After an impact, the dense dust cloud that is created by the impact spreads through the atmosphere, cuts out sunlight," Rampino said. "This stops photosynthesis and causes the climate to get cold and dark, leading to the mass extinction of large numbers of organisms." [Robert Matthews, The Sunday Telegraph, 4 November 2001]

The article quoted above, dated 1999, suggests that cometary impacts are not only possible, but that they occur more frequently than the uniformitarianists would have us think. What is even more intriguing is the fact that the Cassiopaeans told us, in 1998, point blank, that the Dark Ages in Europe were caused by cometary showers. They dated it to 564 AD, however. I rather suspect that, since they mentioned it before it was ever a published fact, that their date might be the correct one.

Nevertheless, the significant point here is that, even barring the idea of an ancient, advanced civilization that may have engaged in atomic war thus altering the elements that we rely on for radiometric dating, we must consider that the same problem may exist as a result of repeated cometary impacts, which can heat the atmosphere to near boiling temperatures.

Continue to page 244

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