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Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations
and Biblical Tales
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
13 November 2001
"...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their torches, lighting the
land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven
when the god of the storm turned daylight into darkness, when he
smashed the land like a cup."
-- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2200
B.C.
If you are fortunate enough to see the storm of shooting stars
predicted for
the Nov. 18 peak of the Leonid meteor shower, you'll be watching
a similar but
considerably less powerful version of events which some
scientists say brought
down the world's first civilizations.
The root of both: debris from a disintegrating comet.
Biblical stories, apocalyptic visions, ancient art and scientific data
all
seem to intersect at around 2350 B.C., when one or more
catastrophic events
wiped out several advanced societies in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Increasingly, some scientists suspect comets and their associated
meteor storms were the cause. History and culture provide clues:
Icons and myths surrounding
the alleged cataclysms persist in cults and religions today and
even fuel terrorism.
And a newly found 2-mile-wide crater in Iraq, spotted
serendipitously in a
perusal of satellite images, could provide a smoking gun. The
crater's discovery,
which was announced in a recent issue of the journal Meteoritics
& Planetary
Science, is a preliminary finding. Scientists stress that a ground
expedition
is needed to determine if the landform was actually carved out by
an impact.
Yet the crater has already added another chapter to an intriguing
overall story
that is, at best, loosely bound. Many of the pages are washed
away or buried.
But several plot lines converge in conspicuous ways.
Too many coincidences
Archeological findings show that in the space of a few centuries,
many of the
first sophisticated civilizations disappeared. The Old Kingdom in
Egypt fell
into ruin. The Akkadian culture of Iraq, thought to be the world's
first empire,
collapsed. The settlements of ancient Israel, gone. Mesopotamia,
Earth's original
breadbasket, dust.
Around the same time -- a period called the Early Bronze Age --
apocalyptic
writings appeared, fueling religious beliefs that persist today.
The Epic of Gilgamesh describes the fire, brimstone and flood of
possibly
mythical events. Omens predicting the Akkadian collapse
preserve a record that
"many stars were falling from the sky." The "Curse of Akkad,"
dated to about
2200 B.C., speaks of "flaming potsherds raining from the sky."
Roughly 2000 years later, the Jewish astronomer Rabbi bar
Nachmani created what could be considered the first impact
theory: That Noah's Flood was triggered
by two "stars" that fell from the sky. "When God decided to bring
about the Flood, He took two stars from Khima, threw them on
Earth, and brought
about the Flood."
Another thread was woven into the tale when, in 1650, the Irish
Archbishop
James Ussher mapped out the chronology of the Bible -- a feat
that included
stringing together all the "begats" to count generations -- and put
Noah's great
flood at 2349 B.C.
All coincidence?
A number of scientists don't think so.
Mounting hard evidence collected from tree rings, soil layers and
even dust
that long ago settled to the ocean floor indicates there were
widespread environmental
nightmares in the Near East during the Early Bronze Age: Abrupt
cooling of the
climate, sudden floods and surges from the seas, huge
earthquakes.
Comet as a culprit
In recent years, the fall of ancient civilizations has come to be
viewed not
as a failure of social engineering or political might but rather the
product
of climate change and, possibly, heavenly happenstance. As this
new thinking
dawned, volcanoes and earthquakes were blamed at first. More
recently, a 300-year
drought has been the likely suspect.
But now more than ever, it appears a comet could be the culprit.
One or more
devastating impacts could have rocked the planet, chilled the air,
and created
unthinkable tsunamis -- ocean waves hundreds of feet high.
Showers of debris
wafting through space -- concentrated versions of the dust trails
that create
the Leonids -- would have blocked the Sun and delivered horrific
rains of fire
to Earth for years.
So far, the comet theory lacks firm evidence. Like a crater.
Now, though, there is this depression in Iraq. It was found
accidentally by
Sharad Master, a geologist at the University of Witwatersrand in
South Africa,
while studying satellite images. Master says the crater bears the
signature
shape and look of an impact caused by a space rock.
The finding has not been developed into a full-fledged scientific
paper, however,
nor has it undergone peer review. Scientist in several fields were
excited by
the possibility, but they expressed caution about interpreting the
preliminary
analysis and said a full scientific expedition to the site needs to
be mounted
to determine if the landforms do in fact represent an impact crater.
Researchers would look for shards of melted sand and telltale
quartz that had
been shocked into existence. If it were a comet, the impact would
have occurred
on what was once a shallow sea, triggering massive flooding
following the fire
generated by the object's partial vaporization as it screamed
through the atmosphere.
The comet would have plunged through the water and dug into the
earth below.
If it proves to be an impact crater, there is a good chance it was
dug from
the planet less than 6,000 years ago, Master said, because
shifting sediment
in the region would have buried anything older.
Arriving at an exact date will be difficult, researchers said.
"It's an exciting crater if it really is of impact origin," said Bill
Napier,
an astronomer at the Armagh Observatory.
Cultural impact
Napier said an impact that could carve a hole this large would have
packed
the energy of several dozen nuclear bombs. The local effect: utter
devastation.
"But the cultural effect would be far greater," Napier said in an e-
mail interview.
"The event would surely be incorporated into the world view of
people in the
Near East at that time and be handed down through the
generations in the form
of celestial myths."
Napier and others have also suggested that the swastika, a symbol
with roots
in Asia stretching back to at least 1400 B.C., could be an artist's
rendering
of a comet, with jets spewing material outward as the head of the
comet points
earthward.
But could a single impact of this size take down civilizations on
three continents?
No way, most experts say.
Napier thinks multiple impacts, and possibly a rain of other smaller
meteors
and dust, would have been required. He and his colleagues have
been arguing
since 1982 that such events are possible. And, he says, it might
have happened
right around the time the first urban civilizations were crumbling.
Napier thinks a comet called Encke, discovered in 1786, is the
remnant of a
larger comet that broke apart 5,000 years ago. Large chunks and
vast clouds
of smaller debris were cast into space. Napier said it's possible
that Earth
ran through that material during the Early Bronze Age.
The night sky would have been lit up for years by a fireworks-like
display
of comet fragments and dust vaporizing upon impact with Earth's
atmosphere.
The Sun would have struggled to shine through the debris. Napier
has tied the
possible event to a cooling of the climate, measured in tree rings,
that ran
from 2354-2345 B.C.
Supporting evidence
Though no other craters have been found in the region and
precisely dated to
this time, there is other evidence to suggest the scenario is
plausible. Two
large impact craters in Argentina are believed to have been
created sometime
in the past 5,000 years.
Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores
University in
England, said roughly a dozen craters are known to have been
carved out during
the past 10,000 years. Dating them precisely is nearly impossible
with current
technology. And, Peiser said, whether any of the impact craters
thought to have
been made in the past 10,000 years can be tied back to a single
comet is still
unknown.
But he did not discount Napier's scenario.
"There is no scientific reason to doubt that the break-up of a giant
comet
might result in a shower of cosmic debris," Peiser said. He also
points out
that because Earth is covered mostly by deep seas, each visible
crater represents
more ominous statistical possibilities.
"For every crater discovered on land, we should expect two oceanic
impacts
with even worse consequences," he said.
Tsunamis generated in deep water can rise even taller when they
reach a shore.
Next Page: Terrorism of today rooted in ancient impacts
Reverberating today
Peiser studies known craters for clues to the past. But he also
examines religions and cults, old and new, for signs of what might
have happened way back then.
"I would not be surprised if the notorious rituals of human sacrifice
were a direct consequence of attempts to overcome this trauma,"
he says of the South American impact craters. "Interestingly, the
same deadly cults were also established in the Near East during
the Bronze Age."
The impact of comets on myth and religion has reverberated
through the ages, in Peiser's view.
"One has to take into consideration apocalyptic religions [of today]
to understand the far-reaching consequences of historical
impacts," he says. "After all, the apocalyptic fear of the end of the
world is still very prevalent today and can often lead to fanaticism
and extremism."
An obsession with the end of the world provides the legs on which
modern-day terrorism stands, Peiser argues. Leaders of
fundamentalist terror groups drum into the minds of their followers
looming cataclysms inspired by ancient writings. Phrases run
along these lines: a rolling up of the sun, darkening of the stars,
movement of the mountains, splitting of the sky.
It is in the context of such apocalyptic religions that a large
meteorite, enshrined in the Kaba in Mecca, became the most
feared and venerated object of the Islamic faith, Peiser said.
By using such language, radical fundamentalist leaders instill
"absolute commitment
and fanaticism into their followers," Peiser said. "Once you
believe that the
end is imminent and that your direct action will hasten the coming
of end-times, every atrocity is sanctioned."
No smoking gun yet
Despite the excitement of the newfound hole in the ground in Iraq,
it is still far from clear why so many civilizations collapsed in such
a relatively short historical time frame. Few scientists, even those
who find evidence to support the idea, are ready to categorically
blame a comet.
French soil scientist Marie-Agnes Courty, who in 1997 found
material that could only have come from a meteorite and dated it to
the Early Bronze Age, urged caution on drawing any conclusions
until a smoking gun has been positively identified.
"Certain scientists and the popular press do prefer the idea of
linking natural catastrophes and societal collapse," Courty said.
Multiple cosmic impacts are an attractive culprit though, because
of the many effects they can have, including some found in real
climate and geologic data. The initial impact, if it is on land,
vaporizes life for miles around. Earthquakes devastate an even
wider area. A cloud of debris can block out the Sun and alter the
climate. The extent and duration of the climate effects is not known
for sure, because scientists have never witnessed such an event.
It might not have taken much. Ancient civilizations, which
depended on farming and reliable rainfall, were precarious.
Mike Baillie, a professor of palaeoecology at Queens University in
Belfast, figures it would have taken just a few bad years to destroy
such a society.
Even a single comet impact large enough to have created the Iraqi
crater, "would have caused a mini nuclear winter with failed
harvests and famine, bringing down any agriculture based
populations which can survive only as long as their stored food
reserves," Baillie said. "So any environmental downturn lasting
longer than about three years tends to bring down civilizations."
Other scientists doubt that a single impact would have altered the
climate for so long.
Lessons for tomorrow
Either way, there is a giant scar on the planet, near the cradle of
civilization, that could soon begin to provide some solid answers,
assuming geologists can get permission to enter Iraq and conduct
a study.
"If the crater dated from the 3rd Millennium B.C., it would be almost
impossible
not to connect it directly with the demise of the Early Bronze Age
civilizations
in the Near East," said Peiser.
Perhaps before long all the cometary traditions, myths and
scientific fact will be seen to converge at the Iraqi hole in the
ground for good purpose. Understanding what happened, and how
frequent and deadly such impacts might be, is an important tool for
researchers like Peiser who aim to estimate future risk and help
modern society avoid the fate of the ancients.
"Paradoxically, the Hebrew Bible and other Near Eastern
documents have kept alive the memory of ancient catastrophes
whose scientific analysis and understanding might now be vital for
the protection of our own civilizations from future impacts," Peiser
said.
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