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When the Earth Nearly Died
*Compelling Evidence of A Catastrophic World Change 9,500 BC*
(c) 1995 by By D S Allan and J B Delair. 386pp.
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* Republished in 1997 as
"Cataclysm : Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 B. C."*
*Buy Online from Amazon
*
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Introduction
The tradition of a Golden Age existing in the distant past, and of a
fall from grace into barbarism due to catastrophes of apocalyptic
proportions, is enshrined in the memories and ancient writings of many
peoples. These notions are, however, conventionally regarded as pure
invention. The existence of a surprising amount of factual evidence
which suggests that these accounts are actually based on a series of
events really experienced by humankind, is generally either ignored or
treated with great caution by established scholarship, largely because
attempts to explain how this Golden Age came to an end have hitherto
been unconvincing or uncomfortably threatening to orthodox
interpretations of history.
The real history of humanity is, however, far more dramatic and
interesting than the conventional version implies. When the Earth Nearly
Died offers an exciting and challenging new interpretation of the
information currently available to us.
When the Earth Nearly Died carefully documents the fascinating story -
which has never been told before in such detail - of how this Golden Age
of peaceful conditions and equable climates ended traumatically in a
tremendous catastrophe about 11,500 years ago. This was part of a
cataclysm which disturbed the whole solar system, destroyed at least one
sizable planet and its satellite, and also severely devastated Mars and
Earth.
Among the fundamental geophysical effects experienced by Earth were a
massive fracturing of the crust, a realignment of Earth's axis,
elevation of new mountains, and widespread rearrangement of land and
sea. These changes were accompanied by an appalling global
conflagration, a gigantic flood, and what has been described as
'collapsed sky' conditions. A bombardment by debris from the
disintegrated satellite of the destroyed planet added to the worldwide
chaos.
Much of Earth's animal and plant life was annihilated by these frightful
events. Remains were often buried hundreds of feet below and within vast
new deposits which smothered huge areas, both on land and under the sea.
Elsewhere they lay piled in caves, choked rock fissures, or were massed
into veritable hills. Some havens and refuges did exist, offering
shelter to various faunal and floral species from flood or fire - then
to have to endure the appalling conditions which followed. These
included intense cold, occasioned by chronic atmospheric pollution which
severely restricted the solar radiation reaching the Earth, loss of
vital resources such as shelter, tools and sources of warmth and
nourishment. The extent of the damage was so great that the immediate
survivors found themselves literally catapulted into what was, in
effect, a new world.
The possible origins of this terrible calamity are considered in some
detail, the authors concluding that, after dismissing comets, asteroids
and giant meteors, the most likely candidate is a supernova explosion
which, on the astronomical scale of things, occurred uncomfortably close
to our solar system relatively recently. This story is told from
different perspectives: from the study of terrestrial organic remains;
evidence from present land-forms; the testimony of geophysics and
astronomy; and the traditional accounts and memories of numerous peoples
round the world. It becomes clear, in the process, that modern science's
invention - 'the Ice Age' - evades abundant important evidence which
points coherently to a rather different interpretation of events.
There are dozens of fascinating photographs, some of which are published
for the first time, and many maps, diagrams and charts, designed to make
this original and important work easily accessible and entirely
convincing in its earth-shaking implications.
Details
*Part 1: A Lost Beginning *
The character of our forebears and the conditions under which they lived
is a subject which has for long fascinated people. Science today holds
that the primates have been living on the Earth for at least three
million years, and that modern, erect man has been around, slowly
adapting to a perceptibly changing Earth for hundreds of thousands of
years. Conventional modern dogma insists that there has been a gradual
and steady evolution of modern people from primitive cultures, as they
emerged from a hostile Ice-Age environment which had gripped the world
for a million years.
This 'uniformitarian' picture - which claims that environmental
conditions usually evolve infinitesimally slowly - has, however, been
current for only 150 years. Scientists had observed that many of the
clays, gravels and sands in various parts of the world appeared to have
been laid under chaotic conditions on rock surfaces which had been
pulverised, smashed or polished. Early authorities attributed these to
powerful floods of water or to some other cataclysmic agency. These
advocates became known as 'catastrophists'. Subsequently, their
explanations lost favour, and the pioneers of the then new subject of
glaciology a century and a half ago 'invented' the 'Ice Age', lasting a
million years, to account for many of the Earth's surface features. The
Pleistocene epoch was specially coined to accommodate the field of
evidence supposedly supporting the 'Ice Age' invention.
This first part of When the Earth Nearly Died challenges contemporary
theories by showing in a detailed survey that well-established
geological, palaeontological and biological evidence point to this
planet undergoing sudden and very major physical changes about 11,500
years ago. (In fact, the 'Ice Age', as proposed by orthodoxy, is
abandoned by the authors in favour of a much shorter later period of
intense cold). Nearly all the phenomena ascribed to conventional Ice Age
theory can be interpreted as the result of natural convulsions of
worldwide proportions. The authors - citing much reputable supporting
evidence - argue that the great mountain ranges of today and the great
crustal displacements which, along with enormous seismic and volcanic
eruptions, changed the face of the Earth, in fact happened violently,
rapidly and comparatively very recently.
A foretaste is given here of important evidence that just will not fit
the uniformitarian theories. For example, evidence from Siberia, the
coldest area in the world, but one which has never been glaciated; or of
rocks showing all the classical features of 'glacial action', yet
apparently eroded from a direction which conventional glacial action
could not have achieved.
*Part 2: Premature Extinction *
Modern biology has attempted to dovetail its theories with the
conventional Ice-Age doctrine. Innumerable unassailable facts, however,
refuse to comply with this. Some notable botanists have openly refuted
it. They have pointed out that Alpine flora must have originated in
pre-glacial times, as insufficient time has elapsed since the end of the
Ice Age for the development of such a rich diversity of plants. The
existence of identical species of plant on different sides of a large
ocean barrier (eg between Europe and Greenland) indicates that in recent
times there must have been a land route between the two. The remains of
typical pre-glacial Pliocene or Miocene species (according to
conventional theory, at least ten million years of age) are frequently
found to be scarcely fossilised. Also, a number of examples are given to
show that the climates in Northern Europe and in Siberia were much
milder in recent times than they are at present.
Examples of dislocated continental floras are given. In the North
Atlantic, for example, the Azores and Canaries were recently connected
to what is now North Africa. From this kind of evidence, a picture is
built up of a world, during the time of modern man, that was very
different from what we have now; of a large landmass continuous from
northern Siberia to Alaska; of another linking N W Europe with
Greenland; of an enormous continent connecting South America, Africa and
the southern Indian Ocean; and of another, now mostly submerged, in the
South Pacific.
Mammoths and mastodons are usually considered as animals which evolved
to thrive in icy environments. Yet mammoths preserved in icy soils in
Siberia have been found with temperate grasses in their stomachs.
Evidence has now come to light of vast herds of mastodons being
massacred by early man in North America. In the conventional chronology
this would have indicated the antiquity of these proto-Indians. Now it
appears that the mastodons lived in a warm equable climate and survived
into comparatively recent times.
One of the most fascinating bodies of evidence is provided by animal
remains found in caves, especially in Europe, Asia, South American and
Australasia. These usually consist of chaotic agglutinated piles of
disjointed bones of a variety of species that could never have
co-existed in the same environment - tropical species in northern
graveyards and northern species at many equatorial sites. Bird remains
in Californian tar-pits illustrate this anomaly even more tellingly. We
can only conclude that a vast cataclysm brought about such global carnage.
We see here in Part Two evidence that the enormous geophysical
disturbances described earlier indeed made dreadful and often fatal
inroads into animal life almost everywhere, rendering many species
extinct and engendering a very different geographical distribution for
the species which survived.
*Part 3: The Enduring Memory *
Traditions and legends which seem to describe some of the tremendous
catastrophic events that terminated Pleistocene times, have never before
been collectively studied in detail. Although the authors have amassed a
tremendous amount of persuasive and fascinating material - sufficient to
fill a book on its own - it was decided to include only a representative
selection of this material here.
The study of such ancient material is fraught with difficulties, as
interpretations cannot be subjected to any sort of scientific
verification. There are many approaches, from treating them as ingenious
fabrications for entertainment, to seeing them as symbolic tales
describing how primitive people saw their world, or as religious
teaching. The authors investigate here the possibility that some of
these accounts and traditions are based in fragmented memories of once
real people and events, and are therefore genuine echoes of primeval
history. It is interesting that, while the traditions of more primitive
groups seem often to be associated with actual events, those of more
civilised peoples inevitably take on the colour of a more elaborate
fantasy.
A theme common to the traditions of most peoples of the world is that of
a great flood or deluge. References are often also made to a
conflagration or firestorm and to land being lost or raised. Not
infrequently also, we hear of strange substances falling from the sky -
like gravel, stones, blocks of iron or resinous substances. Some speak
of a collapsed sky, of changes in the rotation of the Earth, of terrible
winds, continuous lightning, volcanic eruptions and the boiling of lakes
and streams. Prolonged darkness is frequently alluded to, and there is
even mention of the rapid, widespread formation of ice.
The authors here bring together some of the traditions which most
obviously relate to these various events. Very significantly, many
accounts specifically ascribe these changes to a cosmic agent, anciently
remembered by a variety of names, of which Phaeton is one of the best
known.
*Part 4: Cosmic Conflict *
The authors suggest that today we are rather in the position of the
owners of a vandalised building who, not knowing who the vandals were,
could nevertheless infer the reality of their visit from the testimony
of eyewitnesses and the chaotic state of the building. The damage to
Earth is only too apparent, and eyewitness accounts mentioned in Part
Three have described both the visitation and the damage.
Part Four is like the unravelling of a murder mystery: how could this
catastrophic event of 11,500 years ago have come about? Some basic facts
have to be explored: about Earth's structure and magnetism; how polar
shift or crustal displacement could occur; the nature of the solar
system and the evidence for a planet having disappeared. Evidence for a
cosmic upheaval having taken place at that time is considered, leading
the authors to come to conclusions very different from Velikovsky's -
who studied similar evidence in his Worlds in Collision.
Perhaps the most remarkable support for this apocalyptic heavenly
visitation is that given on Akkadian cylinder-seals found in
Mesopotamia. This ancient epic describes how the peace of the solar
system was disrupted long ago by the arrival of a 'new' god, Marduk, and
traces the resultant havoc among the planets step by step. Marduk
(Phaeton under another name) was a huge and awesome radiant visitor from
interstellar space, spewing great jets of fire from time to time. There
is a remarkable description of Marduk's break-up of a major planetary
neighbour of Mars, Tiamat, and its subsequent departure sun-wards with a
great mass of the stricken planet's debris.
The authors analyse the Babylonian epic in terms of how its story fits
in with what we now know of our Solar System. They also look at other
traditions, particularly from Greece and Mexico, which seem to record
other aspects of the same story. They take Velikovsky to task for some
of his specious arguments, and use some of the evidence from the Mariner
space flights to refute some earlier theories about this subject.
One of the drawings in the book shows a hypothetical scheme of Phaeton's
(Marduk's) path through the solar system. This is inferred from the fact
that some planets appear to show evidence of disruption whilst others do
not appear to have been affected and are therefore presumed to have been
distant from its path. The authors argue that Phaeton's enormous
influence on some of the planets suggests that it possessed an
abnormally intense electro-magnetic field which was naturally attracted
to the equivalent fields of the planets it encountered and disturbed.
Any external agent capable of disturbing planetary motion would have had
to be exceedingly powerful. Comets and asteroids are shown to be
inadequate candidates. Considering the available evidence, Phaeton was a
high velocity planet-sized fragment from a supernova explosion. The
authors surmise that Phaeton, being of stellar origin, would have
possessed the visitor's traditionally reported characteristics, and they
cite evidence which strongly points to just such a supernova known to
astronomers as the Vela event occurring at unusually close quarters
astronomically about 13,000 years ago - approximately 1,500 Earth years
elapsing for Phaeton to supersonically traverse interplanetary space.
*Part 5: Anatomy of a Disaster *
Analysis of evidence for the kind of world that existed before the
'Deluge' indicates a far more genial climate than exists today, with
luxuriant plant growth even in areas which are now decidedly polar. Such
conditions could only have existed if Earth had previously rotated more
slowly and around a more perpendicular axis than today, with days being
longer and the seasons largely undifferentiated. There is evidence from
a number of disciplines to indicate that this was in fact once the case.
Furthermore, from botanical evidence we know that the distribution of
land and sea differed considerably from that of today and there is much
evidence to suggest that mountains and deserts were at this time
generally modest in size, and seas relatively shallow.
A medieval map of the north Atlantic region is discussed. It shows some
modern features accurately, yet shows a topographically detailed
Greenland without its ice cap and a number of large islands that no
longer exist. Some authorities have indicated that the map includes
information from much older sources. If it is indeed as accurate as it
seems to be, its testimony against Ice-Age interpretation of geophysical
changes is strong. Also, contrary to the established theory that ice
sheets smash the bedrock over which they lie, reference is made to thick
ice in Antarctica which protects the strata it presently mantles. Such
considerations point clearly to a need for an alternative interpretation
of Earth history.
Part Five - in many ways the climax of When the Earth Nearly Died - is
concerned with reconstructing the dramatic and literally earth-shaking
events brought about by Phaeton's invasion of the solar system. As
Phaeton approached Earth the effects were catastrophic. These included
extraordinary electromagnetic and geophysical effects on Earth; a change
in the orbit of the Moon and of the planet's axis; tremendous volcanic
eruptions, and unbelievable havoc on the whole surface of Earth and its
biosphere. The experience of these events by humankind included such
phenomena as 'collapsed sky' (perhaps like that predicted by modern
authorities as likely to accompany a thermonuclear holocaust), boiling
waters, a loss of sunlight caused by constantly erupting volcanoes,
earth fractures, firestorms, hurricanes, bombardment by cosmic missiles
and strange objects (for which there seems much evidence in deposits of
non-terrestrial materials), rains of fire or 'blood', piling up of the
oceans and a 'torrent from heaven' (the Deluge itself) which scoured the
very surface of Earth and left impressive hills of trees and animal
remains, particularly in the Arctic; finally refrigeration - the real
'Ice Age' which lasted scarcely 4,000 years (compared with the
conventionally-advocated million years or so).
The authors correlate much relevant information from various disciplines
on a theme-by-theme basis, enabling us to picture the course of events
as they unfolded. Many traditions, for example, speak of intense cold,
conflagration, terrific winds, flaming fragments dropping from the
skies, floods and torrents of rain which were directly associated with
significant events and with a period of great and prolonged darkness,
which quickly followed a world-wide Deluge. These traditions are not
only consistent with one another, but also reflect the sequence of
physical processes and effects as defined and supported by geophysical
knowledge. Furthermore, they largely coincide with the effects that
astrophysicists would expecpect in the event of a close hostile cosmic
fly-by.
*Part 6: Phaeton's Legacy *
Such dramatic reshaping of Earth's recent history and its implications
concerning early human history requires careful consideration. This is
attempted in the last part of the book, which pulls together some of the
loose ends to round out the story.
What did the world look like after the immediate and devastating
physical effects of the encounter had subsided? Astounding quantities of
gravel, sand, clay and mud had accumulated on hillsides - even on
hilltops - and had spread over valley floors and across plains. The new
topography brought about new drainage systems and lakes. Organic debris
was deposited in fissures, cracks, and the innermost recesses of caves.
Gigantic rafts of mangled vegetation lay in thick banks as far as the
eye could see and the stench of death and decay pervaded many regions,
especially in lower latitudes where most fresh water sources had become
polluted or poisoned.
The question of how any living being could survive such a catastrophe is
very interesting. There are many traditions of Deluge heroesand arks.
There were parts of the globe which were apparently not devastated to
the same degree. Many must have sought refuge in caves, and indeed a
number of traditions speak of this. By its very nature, the Phaeton
disaster affected all people indiscriminately. Small cross-sections of
pre-catastrophic society found themselves sharing common refuges, and
where such groups contrived to survive, entered the post-catastrophic
world together equally destitute and bereft of basic necessities,
literally thrown back into a stone age. One of the intriguing
suggestions made by the authors is that necessity for survival turned
man from a vegetarian into a carnivore. Ancient sources are cited which
apparently corroborate this.
*Appendices *
These concern: 1. Notes on the frozen carcasses of mammoths recovered in
Siberia. 2. The various dating methods used to establish the major
worldwide environmental and faunal changes of approximately 11,500 years
ago. 3. Notes on sightings of anomalous celestial objects sighted near
Earth, which could reasonably be attributed to the geologically recent
destruction of one or more planetary bodies in our solar system.
*Illustrations *
There are at present 33 photographs showing examples of scenery
attributed to cataclysm rather than 'Ice Age' erosion, of anomalous
artifacts and strange deposits, several of these photographs being quite
rare, and some never published before.
Contents
*Acknowledgements , Introduction*
*Part One: A Lost Beginning:* 1. The age of the Earth, 2. Debris of a
Broken World, 3. Enigmas in Stone, 4. World Ages - World Suns, 5. A
Displaced Axis?, 6. The Paradox, 7. Perspectives - a Question of Scale,
8. The Birth of the Glacial Theory, 9. Upheaval, 10. Collapse, 11.
Shatter, 12. An Icy Chimera, 13. Inescapable Evidence, 14. Turmoil
Unleashed, 15. Evidence from the Arctic, 16. An Interim Summary.
*Part Two: Premature Extinction:* 1. The Testimony of Biology, 2. A Lost
Euro-American Flora, 3. The Saga in the Atlantic, 4. A Sunken Southern
Continent?, 5. The Buried Forests of North America, 6. Dislocated
Faunas: the Atlantic Basin, 7. Dislocated Faunas: Eurasia, Oceania and
the Southern Hemisphere, 8. A Vanished Prehistoric Ocean, 9.
Mediterranean Graveyards, 10. Subterranean Charnelhouses, 11. Illusory
Faunas, 12. Abnormal Burials, 13. Incompatible Bedfellows, 14. A Revised
Geological Chronology?
*Part Three: The Enduring Memory:* 1. Traditions and legends, 2.
Conflagration, 3. Flood, 4. Celestial disorder, 5. Terrestrial chaos, 6.
Darkness, 7. Hail and fire, 8. Ice-bound, 9. The traditions assessed.
*Part Four Cosmic Conflict:* 1. An 11,500 years old trail, 2. Earth
structure, 3. Geomagnetism, 4. Reversed polarity, 5. The thermal factor,
6. Pole shift, 7. Crustal slippage, 8. The solar system - celestial
backdrop to Earth change, 9. The mavericks, 10. Signposts to a cosmic
battle, 11. The candidates, 12. Phaeton - an exception to the rule, 13.
The Mesopotamian connection, 14. War in Heaven, 15. Phaeton's wrath, 16.
Phaeton's significance.
*Part Five Anatomy Of A Disaster:* 1. The antediluvian world, 2.
Confrontation, 3. Collapsed sky, 4. Earth fracture, 5. Fire-storm, 6.
Hurricane, 7. Bombardment, 8. Hell on Earth, 9. Iron bound, 10. The
rains of death, 11. The 'water mountain', 12. The torrent from Heaven,
13. Deluge, 14. Scour, 15. The 'wood hills' of the north, 16.
Refrigeration.
*Part Six Phaeton's Legacy:* 1. Aftermath, 2. The survivors, 3. An
uncertain future, 4. The Stone Age arrives, 5. A new beginning.
*Appendicies: *Appendix A: Refrigerated Mammoths, Appendix B: Dating of
selected evidence for the disaster, Appendix C: Remnants of the
Celestial Battle?, Appendix D: List of Bibliographic contractions.
Glossary, Index
About the Authors
*Derek S Allan* is a researcher, specialising in palaeogeography and
cartographic evidence for climatic and land-form change in recent
geological times, particularly in the Arctic. *J Bernard Delair*, a
geological surveyor and researcher with wide commercial field experience
and author of numerous technical reports, has a special interest in the
present distribution of animals, plants and attendant geophysical
problems of early Holocene times.
Publishing Details
/*When the Earth Nearly Died*/, published by Gateway Books
, January 1995, price £12.95.
386pp long, 235 x 165mm, with 110 illustrations, includ. 18 tables, 20
maps, 12 charts, 40 photos and 20 drawings. 1450 references. ISBN: 1
85860 008 1. *Mail order* (MasterCard and Visa) from: Gateway Books, The
Hollies, Wellow, Bath, BA2 8QJ, England. Tel: 01225 835127. Fax: 01225
840012. *Pricing:* £12.95 plus postage: UK add £1, Europe add £3, Rest
of World add £8; surface rate add £3.
*Gateway's Overseas Distributors:* *Australia:* Banyan Tree Book
Distribution, PO Box 269, Sterling, South Australia 5152. Tel: +61 8 388
5354. Fax: +61 8 388 5365. *Canada:* Temeron Books, #210, 1220
Kensington Road NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 3P5. Tel: +1 403 283 0900. Fax:
+1 403 283 6947. *New Zealand:* Peaceful Living Publications, PO Box
300, Tauranga. Tel: +64 7 571 8105. Fax: +64 7 571 8513. *South Africa:*
Wizard's Warehouse, PO Box 3340, Cape Town 8000. Tel: +27 21 461 9719.
Fax: +27 21 45 1417. *Hong Kong, Macao, China:* Pacific Century
Distribution, 2-4 Lower Kai Yuen Lane, G/F North Point, Hong Kong. Tel:
+852 2811 5505. Fax: +852 256 58624. *Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei,
Thailand:* Pansing Distribution, 8 New Industrial Road, Singapore 1953.
Tel: +65 382 0488. Fax: +65 281 5277. USA: National Book Network, 4/20
Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706. Tel: +1 301 459 3366. Fax: +1 301 459 2118.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Republished in 1997 as
"Cataclysm : Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 B. C."*
*Buy Online from Amazon
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Web sites of Interest
The Society for Interdisciplinary Studies <../sis/index.htm>, publisher
of Chronology & Catastrophism Review
Aeon <../aeon/index.htm>, The Journal of Myth and Science * The
Velikovskian <../velikovskian/index.htm> magazine.
The Orion Mystery <../orion/index.htm> * Peter James' The Sunken Kingdom
<../james/index.htm> * David Rohl's A Test of Time <../rohl/index.htm>
The Mayan Prophecies <../mayan/index.htm> * Indra Girt by Maruts
<../ziegler/index.htm> * Red Earth, White Lies <../deloria/index.htm>
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