[RightWhale]

It is stood on its ear

That's almost the best fun there is. Who wouldn't get a kick fron standing academia on its ear?

[blam]

We have a catasthrophic tree ring hit at, 1159BC. My notes on that date say: End of Troy. End Middle Bronze Age. David Plague. End Shang Dynasty. Start Zhou Dynasty.

I thought plato described "orichalcum" as a copper/gold alloy. This alloy occurs naturally in only one place on earth, Peru. I've read reports that some anthropologists speculate that King Solomon's famous gold mines were at the headwaters of the Amazon River.

Egyptian cocaine/nicotine mummies are beginning to find a place in all the unknowns, huh? How did African bananas get to South America via the Pacific Ocean? (Are we beginning to connect the dots or just dreaming?)