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.
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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 BeginningThe 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 , IntroductionPart 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
