The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

The Universe ^ | 9-1999 | Greg Bryant

[blam]

Ping. You'll like this.

[Malesherbes]

END OF THE WORLD!

WOMEN AND MINORITIES ADVERSELY IMPACTED!

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

very cool bttt

[Mike Darancette]

The minimal growth of trees around 2350 BC has been associated in the past with the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Yet, the period in question is also associated with floods, the creation of new lakes, and even the start of Chinese history. Furthermore, Marie-Agnes Courty, an archaeologist from France, has claimed new data regarding a catastrophe said to have occurred in the Middle East. Samples from three separate regions all appear to contain a calcite material found only in meteorites, and analysis of debris show what seems to be a combination of "a burnt surface horizon and air blast."

Is this the Iraqi Meteor strike?

[RandyRep]

Fascinating article.

If this was written in 1999, why did they make the Y2K comment? Or did someone else insert it?

[Post Toasties]

The Romans claimed the invasion of the Huns around 450 AD was what triggered the disintegration of their Empire.

[Eustace]

As far as " Dark Ages " spiritually speaking , I don't think any have been any darker than now.

I'd have to say they are just as stagnant today as they were then or ever.

Man somehow despite technical advances has remained just as ignorant as they were thousands of years ago.

That doesn't necessarily say as much bad about man as it compliments the control of man. Which I guess does nothing for the definition of man.

Has man ever really stood upright? Without another man telling him how to do it.....

Why are we so afraid to listen to God????????

[Mike Darancette]

Friday, 8 September, 2000

Tree rings challenge history

By BBC News Online's Jonathan Amos

Could a comet hitting the Earth 1,500 years
ago have triggered a global disaster in which
millions of people lost their lives?

It is an old claim that historians say has little
evidence in written records to support it, but
now a tree ring expert has said the idea must
be re-examined.

Mike Baillie, professor of palaeoecology at
Queen's University in Belfast, UK, said it was
very clear from the narrowness of growth rings
in bog oaks and archaeological timbers that a
great catastrophe struck the Earth in AD 540.

"The trees are unequivocal that something
quite terrible happened," he told the British
Association's Festival of Science. "Not only in
Northern Ireland and Britain, but right across
northern Siberia, North and South America - it
is a global event of some kind."

Dark Ages

Professor Baillie favours the idea that cometary
fragments smashed into the atmosphere
throwing up dust and gas that blocked out the
Sun. This, in turn, led to crop failures, famine
and even plague among the weakened peoples
of the world.

Professor Baillie said astronomers from Armagh
Observatory in Northern Ireland had published
research 10 years ago in which they said the
Earth would have been at risk from cometary
bombardment between the years AD 400 and
AD 600.

"This event is in AD 540, so it fits very nicely
into the window," he said.

"We know from the tree rings to the year
exactly when this event happened. And some
archaeologists and historians are beginning to
come round to the opinion that this was the
date when the Dark Ages began in Northern
Europe. It wasn't just when the Romans left."

Oral tradition

However, there are many more historians who
believe that if such a major event had
occurred there would be much clearer
references to the disaster in written texts. But
Professor Baillie urged them to go back and
look again - "to read between the lines".

He said mythical stories certainly seemed to
point to a comet striking the Earth at about
the right time. He said King Arthur died in this
period and some stories talk about long arms in
the sky delivering mighty blows.

"Mythology tells you and history doesn't and
that raises some very interesting questions
because the implication is that you could
suppress the written word but you couldn't
suppress the oral tradition."

Professor Baillie said chemical analysis would
be carried out on the tree rings to investigate
the comet idea further. He hopes also to get
access to ice cores to see if they record any
interesting data that might support the comet
theory.

[farmfriend]

bttt

[nopardons]

BTT

[blam]

"Is this the Iraqi Meteor strike?"

That was my thought. In fact, we may have had celestial showers each year for a while if the earth continued to pass through the comests trail that would be littered with derbis.

[blam]

" He hopes also to get access to ice cores to see if they record any interesting data that might support the comet theory."

The ice cores indicate an acid layer (volcanoes) at each of the event dates except for the 540AD event.

[mil-vet]

Does this mean my SUV isn't the cause of all the world's ills, since SUV's didn't exist at these times in history?

Hmmmm! Bet the enviro-terrorists don't like this article!

Great post! Thanks!!

[Consort]

It was probably the Moors.

[The Iguana]

Time for Project Spaceguard.

[blam]

Ping.

[_Jim]

I'd have to say they are just as stagnant today as they were then or ever.

"Adamant pessimism"

I hold no such view ... God's word has affected so many more people's lives today there's *no* comparison with the past ...

The more I dig into applied science at a really basic, fundamental level the more stunned I grow how marvelous God's universe and his physical laws (so-called "Nature's laws") really are.

Perhaps you've grown jaded in your own life with too much ease, to much observation of only "what's on the surface".

[Billthedrill]

Well, it looks like 700-900 year intervals, so we're about 500 years overdue, assuming it or they have some sort of regular periodicity. Guess I gotta start sleeping in the basement and carrying a baseball glove around when I go outside. Can't be too careful...

[blam]

"Well, it looks like 700-900 year intervals, so we're about 500 years overdue, assuming it or they have some sort of regular periodicity."

Just something else to worry about along with West Nile Virus, SARS and Mousepox. LOL.

BTY, Mike Baillie, in his book Exodus To Arthur touches on the (apparent) 700 year cycle. Don't forget we had the 1908 Tunguska explosion (impact).