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For May 28, 1998

Ancient myths, tree rings point to giant comet's visit to Earth

PARTICLE PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY RESEARCH COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE

SWINDON, England - Ancient myths, tree ring studies and
archaeological evidence all confirm that a rare giant comet may
have visited the Earth only a few thousand years ago, raining
fireballs and meteors in its wake.

Dr Bill Napier, astronomer at Armagh Observatory, and Dr Victor
Clube of Oxford and Armagh Universities, have investigated the
doom-laden cosmic myths of early civilisation. From the Persian
prophet Zooraster, who in 500 BC predicted the end of the world
caused by 'a huge comet sent by Satan', to the description in the
Book of Revelations of a 'burning mountain' falling from the sky,
early history is full of myths of celestial combat, rains of fire
and many-headed dragons, which support astronomers' theories of the
existence of a tumultuous night sky.

Recent terrestrial research has provided 'hard' evidence to support
theories of close encounters with comets. Tree-ring studies of
Irish oaks at Queen's University, Belfast, show a dramatic climatic
downturn around 2354-2345 BC, perhaps caused as the Earth entered
the path of a comet's meteor stream. Archaeological digs in
Northern Syria reveal, at around the same time, a cataclysmic
environmental event accompanied by destruction of mud-brick
buildings caused by a 'blast from the sky', again pointing to an
encounter with a giant comet.

Dr Napier's article, 'Comets, dragons and prophets of doom' appears
in the second issue of Frontiers, published by the Particle Physics
and Astronomy Research Council.
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