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myth and celestial
catastrophe
(comet encounters, novae and supernovae)
what the experts
say
(last update
The conjunction of
these ideas, linking astronomy and history, therefore suggests that human
societies may have been witness to a somewhat more active celestial environment
during past millennia.[1]
Could the prehistoric
'sky' have been much more active than now?[2]
In fact, the extreme preoccupation of
most early societies with celestial imagery and the making of astronomical
observations appears to be part of a world-wide phenomenon during the period
leading up to and including the Bronze age
This would be consistent with the
presence of a once powerful extraterrestrial source with the capacity to cause
both local and global destruction and to trigger a common social response.[3]
Further arguments for a possibly more
active sky in the past include
the fact that iron was apparently first known
through its occurrence in meteorites
and
the fact that flood myths and
related ceremonies from around the world frequently seem to have a common
historical basis
[4]
indirect support for such a picture
comes from a wide range of historical arguments
which suggests that there was
indeed more astronomical activity in the past than now.[5]
Episodes of bombardment
may provide an
explanation for periods of global cooling as registered in the historical
record, even for the strong interest displayed by most early civilizations in
celestial phenomena, providing a possible common origin for myths and legends
from around the world.[6]
The boulder-sized particles and dust ejected during evolution of a giant
comet will spread around the orbit and undergo mutual collisions leading to
more dust and eventually a brighter zodiacal light
The general prediction,
therefore, is for a significantly more active 'sky' than that we are now used
to, with implications for the appearance of the night sky during past millennia
and the perceived connection between the sky and the Earth. It should be
emphasized, however, that the details of such a model, in particular whether
the presumed streams of cometary debris and the zodiacal cloud can really be
shown to evolve on the short timescales (~ 103 yr) of interest to
historians and archaeologists, have still to be worked out
[7]
Encounters of the Earth with cometary decay products (asteroids, boulders
and dust) have important implications for the evolution of life on earth, and
on shorter timescales the development of civilization. The existence of streams
of cometary debris on Earth-crossing orbits during past millennia would have
produced a much more active astronomical environment than that currently
observed, with possibly important implications for the study of ancient myths
and religion.[8]
Mark Bailey
astronomer at the Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland
-
modern
astronomical evidence does not support the common supposition that the night
sky has been unchanging for 5,000 years.[9]
There are likely to
have been epochs when the sky contained one or more visible, periodic comets,
associated with annual fireball storms of huge intensity, and perhaps also with
devastating impact. Such phenomena, enduring for centuries, surely had a
profound effect on the minds of early peoples. At a minimum, traces of this
ancient sky should still be detectable in the artefacts and belief systems of
the earliest cultures.[10]
Bill Napier
astronomer at the Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland
-
This leads us to recognise the
relatively sudden flowering and foundering of civilizations during
interglacials as the principal signatures of punctuational crises that arise as
the corresponding debris of a giant comet in a short-period, Earth-crossing
orbit passes through the final stages (splittings) of its evolution and
decline.[11]
It follows from considerations such as
these that the evolution of civilization may be no more than a simple extension
of the evolution of biological species. Thus we are accustomed to the idea of
punctuated equilibrium in biological evolution reflecting isolated encounters
with the single km-plus (meteoritic) asteroids which have undergone a prior
series of orbital deflections since leaving the asteroid belt. But we are less
familiar perhaps with the idea of 'punctuational crises' affecting biological
evolution and the advance of civilization,
these being due to the more sustained bombardments by fragmentation debris when
active, dormant or dead comets which have deviated from the most likely source
of comets (the Oort cloud, say) undergo significant splitting in Earth-crossing
orbits. Such orbital debris encountering the Earth's atmosphere is evidently
capable of introducing both high-level dust and low-level explosions, depending
on its mass and cohesive strength
[12]
Civilization in other words is merely
the latest random facet of a continuing galacto-terrestrial interaction
expressed through the action of comets on the resident gene pool![13]
Astronomers at the
dawn of civilisation perceived danger in the sky and society was notably
unsettled. Later, astronomers were to perceive order in the cosmos and society
was to become notably less unsettled.[14]
Victor Clube
astronomer
-
Indeed, recent researches in modern cometary astronomy now independently
suggest that the civilizations of antiquity may have experienced happenings in
the sky which have not since been repeated on the same scale
[15]
Many of the legends of mythology can
thus be interpreted as highly embellished accounts of the evolution of one, or
perhaps a few, very large comets during the last 2,000 years of prehistory.[16]
This enables us to place the facts of mythology in a
new light and it is concluded that many myths have a common core reflecting
world-wide observations of a large active short-period comet. The genealogy of
the gods is interpreted as a history of fragmentation.[17]
Mark Bailey, Victor Clube, and Bill Napier
astronomers
-
Indeed this is the
whole crux of what I perceive as being the limitation in previous
interpretational work in archaeoastronomy: the assumption that the phenomena
seen in the sky by the ancients were the same as those which we see now
To
the contrary, in my opinion their execution of exceptional feats of engineering
or other endeavour might rather be viewed as an indication that exceptional
phenomena were being experienced.[18]
In
astro-archaeological investigations I believe that it should be kept firmly in
mind that the celestial phenomena which ancient man would have been most
concerned with objects which moved around the sky relative to the background
of stars may have been quite different to those observed now.[19]
Duncan Steel
astronomer at Spaceguard Australia, Adelaide, Australia
-
It is certain that
some of those impactors splashed into the oceans to trigger tsunamis and
flooding along coast lines and instilling terror in the minds of survivors, a
terror so powerful that legends about such floods persist to this day. This
possible link between flood legends and impact events is now beginning to
fascinate more than just the pseudo-scientist. The issue is entering the
mainstream of thought
[20]
Gerrit Verschuur
astronomer at University of Memphis, USA
-
There can be little doubt that myths and
legends would have evolved in response to such experiences, experiences that
must surely have been shared by many nomadic tribes scattered widely across our
planet.[21]
Chandra Wickramasinghe
astronomer
-
The known comets of the past have
generally had extremely short and uneventful appearances, and it does not seem
likely that any of these would have involved sufficient drama to produce
lasting myths. Nevertheless, no one can dispute that comets did arouse utter
terror among ancient populations on all continents, and they are still feared
today by some cultures. This is not well understood by those savants who do not
believe the ancients could have ever seen a comet at closer range than we see
them now. If, on the other hand, the fears of comets can be traced to a more
spectacular and destructive comet than ever documented in our time, then the enigma
is removed.[22]
Fred Hall
astronomer
-
Mythology to date
has been largely under exploited as a resource because of our failure to
understand its meaning and logic, and our failure to realize that the data contained
in mythologies can be retrieved by systematic scientific methodology.
Mythology, rather than being fanciful as is commonly believed in Western
science, is actually a large multifaceted window on the major natural
environmental events and processes that have shaped human history.[23]
An equally important
goal of cosmography is that of the reconstruction of past environmental events
and processes not presently known, or at least poorly known to science as
determined from patterns elicited from the archaeological, documentary, oral
historical, and palaeoenvironmental record. Chief among these are cosmic
impacts.[24]
Due to my
familiarity with the literature on volcanic eruptions, I also realized that
many myths did not well reflect volcanic eruptions or other known physical
processes on Earth, but rather seemed to reflect disasters of cosmic origin.[25]
mythologies, at
least in part, represent cosmographic records of real environmental events,
especially temporary celestial events
some iconographic images of gods,
demigods, supernatural beings, and legendary rulers portray specific celestial
phenomena and events
environmental events such as floods, earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, and droughts, are often cognitively linked with unusual
celestial events (e. g., comets, meteor storms, supernovae, planetary
conjunctions, eclipses, cosmic impacts) that may have occurred within a few
years of the earthly environmental event.[26]
the birth names of chiefs and royalty
can encode spectacular temporary celestial events as is also true for names
acquired during the reigns of these individuals
at least some cosmogonic
myths, as well as myths about demigods and culture heroes, encode temporary
celestial events
at least some legendary stories about epic battles and
voyages encode temporary celestial events, especially the passage of
spectacular comets
art, iconography, architecture, and chiefly or royal
symbols of power are sometimes used to encode temporary celestial events.[27]
The secret of humankind's past has long
been locked within the fabric of our cultural traditions
within our
mythologies
within the iconography, art, and architecture of past societies
within the patterns of social behavior that can be elicited from the
archaeological record
and within the corpus of wisdom so zealously shepherded
and preserved by our various religions. It is sobering to realize that until
now the most visually and intellectually stimulating part of humankind's
overall environment, that of the processes and events in the celestial heavens,
has been virtually ignored in nearly all studies of human history and human
behavior.[28]
With the realization of just how
important temporary celestial events were to past cultures, we now have a key
that can unlock many of the biggest mysteries of our past. However, in order
for us to most effectively use this key we must break down the artificial
barriers that presently exist between the social sciences, the physical
sciences, and the humanities, and indeed the barriers between science and
religion. Past cultures worldwide often shared in a single cosmic vision, and
we must not let our own present fragmented fields of knowledge hinder our
attempt to recapture that vision.[29]
Bruce Masse
environmental archaeologist at the US Department of Air Force and
the University of Hawaii
-
What is normal in
nature and society rarely excites the myth-making imagination, which is more
likely to be kindled by the abnormal, some startling catastrophe, some terrible
violation of the social code.[30]
Lewis Farnell
professor of Greek religion
-
the broad spectrum
of cultural responses to cataclysmic events from deep-seated fear and dread,
to intense efforts to mediate what they saw through ritual reenactment, mythic
recounting, and sacrifice, to the ultimate domestication of the frightening
implications of chaotic intrusions into their lives through various forms of deep-play
all attest to the profoundly unsettling impact chaotic events in the skies may
have had on the minds of those ancient Chinese.[31]
David Pankenier
Lehigh University, Philadelphia, USA
-
Could our failure to
understand our distant past be due to our method of approach and a strange
reluctance to pursue a line of enquiry well signposted with clues to its
conclusion?[32]
Can there be any
doubt that, in the absence of written records, myths and symbols, legends and
folklore, passed down from generation to generation, and migrating through
diverse cultures and societies while retaining their original meaning, provide
us with the most reliable clues to the mysteries of the past?[33]
Adrian Bailey
comparative mythologist and author
-
are all these
legends a confused account of great events on a planetary scale which were
beheld in terror simultaneously by the men scattered everywhere over the world?[34]
anonymous editor of the Larousse
encyclopedia of mythology
-
Chance and luck allowed a remnant of
mankind to get through the cataclysm of the former satellite. These survivors
treasured their memories in those reports which we now call 'cosmological
myths'. They recorded the terrors from which they had escaped, and they told of
the time of calm which followed the great upheaval.[35]
Hans Bellamy
comparative mythologist
-
Nature produces
Culture
and the natural cataclysms which our ancestors have collectively experienced
have influenced and shaped the cultural artifacts created afterwards. To put it
simply, cultures are what they have gone through. The past determines the
present, and the cosmic past exerts the greatest influence. A culture, if
properly interpreted, therefore becomes a mirror of what preceded it.[36]
catastrophe leads
to new civilisation: revolutions in Culture arise from the behaviour of Nature.[37]
The catastrophe would
nevertheless have to be large enough to cause violent and sensational
spectacles in the sky and correspondingly sensational effects on nature and
culture.[38]
What is important
for our purposes is the agreement among many researchers that the Ur-story
behind the combat myths is cosmic, for this is what allows us to propose that
it may refer to a real historical event.[39]
the Games served a
therapeutic purpose, in that the athletes emulated the actions of the cosmic
forces which had been seen on the screen of the sky, with the winners
representing the original divine sky champion, able to defeat all enemies at
cosmically symbolic feats
The Games therefore re-enacted in safe and
re-assuring imitation the victory of stability over chaos in the sky.[40]
if humankind for the first time began
to look for and find objective order in the heavens during the pre-Socratic
period, it did not happen because there was a sudden increase in Greek
brainpower, or because of a sudden and unexplainable desire to perceive the
heavens as they were rather than invent things that were not there in the sky.
I think it occurred because for the first time the heavens displayed an
objective order which could be observed. If there was a catastrophe around 700
BC, the skies might have settled down sufficiently by 600 BC or slightly later
to permit recurrent observation of the year-length, the solstices and equinoxes
and lunar cycles and even the Venus-Earth interlock, such that it would be
apparent that the heavens were orderly.[41]
most of the
creations of our culture (idea systems, religions, cosmologies, sports, works
of art) are unconsciously-directed denials of catastrophe, self-delusions
designed to make us believe that cosmically-induced natural destructions did
not occur and therefore will not.[42]
the Games served a
therapeutic purpose, in that the athletes emulated the actions of the cosmic
forces which had been seen on the screen of the sky, with the winners
representing the original divine sky champion, able to defeat all enemies at
cosmically symbolic feats
The Games therefore re-enacted in safe and
re-assuring imitation the victory of stability over chaos in the sky.[43]
If we accept the
hypothesis that Culture follows Nature, then
we have no choice but to guess
that something drastic happened in the skies not too long before the cultural
upheaval, which leads us to ask of course when it occurred and what was its
cause.[44]
Irving Wolfe
professor of English literature, University
of Montrιal, Canada
-
The mythical battle is
generally believed to have been a personification of terrifying natural
phenomena
of cataclysmic proportions.[45]
E. Tripp
classical mythologist
-
The marauding cosmic
agencies responsible for such dire devastation are now identifiable with
reasonable accuracy and are still graphically remembered as the hydras,
griffins, dragons, and Medusas, the world encircling serpents and vast
'monsters' of popular mythology
actually symbolized cosmic phenomena.[46]
For thousands of
years, we all lived more in darkness. The night sky was a fluid movie star
lore that revealed our individual roles in the mythical story of Earth; it
was the library of our thoughts.[47]
The sky did fall within
recent memory, and then the recovery period from 9000 to 1500 B. C. was filled
with periodic upheaval.[48]
The Supernova
fragments approached Earth, our atmosphere became electrically supercharged,
and our waters and winds began to heat up. Earth was becoming hot and fetid,
and a horror unfolded for all living things on Earth: Lurid monsters appeared
in the sky that kept changing shape and color, which sometimes looked like a
giant bird or a writhing serpent or dragon. Whatever it was, it was the most
terrible thing that had ever appeared in the skies
On that day, fear was so
deeply imprinted in human consciousness that ever since our minds have tried to
suppress and deny this memory.[49]
Barbara Hand Clow
writer
-
When we talk of astronomical phenomena,
we usually make an assumption of uniformity in the past, that the long-term
average of these phenomena has always been much the same. We can say with
certainty that this is true for the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars because we
can track their motions back for millennia
But we do not know with the same
certainty that the bombardment of Earth from space has been the same as we now
observe it to be
The present rarity of sizable 'hits' may not always have
been the case. Some of the evidence comes from old records and traditions, that
suggest strongly that the sky some millennia ago was so different as to lie
completely outside our present experience. Early records speak fearfully of the
sky being alive with meteors, much as we have occasionally seen during rare
showers; were there many more small ones, there could be as many more big ones.
At those times bombardment from the sky would have been a real hazard.
Tunguska-sized events may have been common enough, to make people fear the
skies as something to watch with dread, to worship, and to propitiate.[50]
The idea of repeated passage through
'danger zones' in the Solar System would explain much of the fear and worship
of the sky that we still see in place today, albeit diluted. It is otherwise
hard to understand this dread of the sky, since there is no historical record
of anyone actually being killed by a meteorite or threatened physically by a
comet.[51]
Those studying myths and legends, and
early art, could profitably work with astronomers (and vice versa) to learn more about this
little-understood aspect of the history of mankind and of the Solar System.
Historians and anthropologists who do not include astronomical phenomena in
their work, and who do not understand how dangerous the Solar System can be,
are likely to interpret texts or traditions about things 'seen in the sky' or
'falling to Earth' as references to 'heavens' or 'warfare of the gods' rather
than descriptions of actual physical events. When used with understandable
caution, human history does offer a way to probe the astronomical record on a
time scale of millennia.[52]
R. M. Sinclair
National Science Foundation, Arlington,
Virginia
-
We can be sure that the actions of
prehistoric people were very strongly dependent upon their perceptions of the
world, expressed in systems of belief and ritual, and that celestial phenomena
were an integral part of this perception
[53]
C. L. N. Ruggles & H. A. W. Burl
-
We now have a set of
environmental events at 2354-2345 BC, 1628-1623 BC, 1159-1141 BC, 208-204 BC
and AD 536-45
There are connections between the events in that all now seem
to have references to extraterrestrial occurrences. Mythology links several of
them quite explicitly, and the mythological connections suggest some cosmic
linkages to the same events.[54]
It appears that
there may have been a catastrophic set of happenings in or around 1628 BC
involving a close-pass comet and volcanic activity. We have what may be some
reasonably accurate descriptions of what it was like at the time with
incredible coloured sky displays, assorted impacts and general mayhem. It is
not impossible that versions of this may have happened more than once,
especially if the responsible body exhibited even temporary periodic behaviour.[55]
Mike Baillie
dendrochronologist
-
It is necessary to
rethink the 'Axial Age', connecting cultures from Greece to China in the 6th
and 5th century BCE:
The assumption on
which this rethinking is based is that these cultures' simultaneous activities
in rewriting the mythical accounts of world-destructions bequeathed to them by
immediately preceding generations was essentially conditioned by the fact that
human consciousness had only recently emerged from such events into a period of
relative celestial and terrestrial stability.[56]
Erratic events in
the heavens are terrifying; predictable events need not be so. The former
belief is the heritage of the traumatizing catastrophes of the past; the latter
is the product of a new determination to survey the heavens as an orderly
system.[57]
W. Mullen
-
[1]M. E. Bailey,
'Sources and populations of Near-Earth Objects: recent findings and historical implications',
in B. J. Peiser, T. Palmer & M. E. Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes
during Bronze Age civilisations; archaeological, geological, astronomical and
cultural perspectives, in 'BAR International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998,
10-20: 17
[2] M. E. Bailey, 'Time-variability of the interplanetary complex', Environmental
catastrophes and recovery in the Holocene, 28-8-2002 to 2-9-2002, Uxbridge,
United Kingdom
[3] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 663
[4] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 664
[5] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 663
[6] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 659
[7] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 663
[8] M. E. Bailey, 'Recent results in cometary astronomy: implications for the
ancient sky', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4, 1995, 647-671: 647
[9]W. M. Napier,
'Cometary catastrophes, cosmic dust and ecological disasters in historical
times: the astronomical framework', in B. J. Peiser, T. Palmer & M. E.
Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes during Bronze Age civilisations;
archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural perspectives, in 'BAR
International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998, 21-32: 21
[10]W. M. Napier,
'Cometary catastrophes, cosmic dust and ecological disasters in historical
times: the astronomical framework', in B. J. Peiser, T. Palmer & M. E.
Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes during Bronze Age civilisations;
archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural perspectives, in 'BAR
International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998, 21-32: 31
[11] S. V. M. Clube, 'The nature of punctuational crises and
the Spenglerian model of civilization', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4,
1995, 673-698: 684
[12] S. V. M. Clube, 'The nature of punctuational crises and
the Spenglerian model of civilization', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4,
1995, 673-698: 684
[13] S. V. M. Clube, 'The nature of punctuational crises and
the Spenglerian model of civilization', Vistas in astronomy, 39. 4,
1995, 673-698: 688
[14]S. V. M. Clube,
'The problem of historical catastrophism', in B. J. Peiser, T. Palmer & M.
E. Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes during Bronze Age civilisations;
archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural perspectives, in 'BAR
International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998, 232-249: 232
[15] M. E. Bailey, S. V. M. Clube & W. M. Napier, The
origin of comets, Oxford, 1990: 19
[16] V. M. Clube & B. Napier, The cosmic serpent; a
catastrophist view of Earth History, London, 1982: 157
[17] V. M. Clube & B. Napier, The cosmic serpent; a
catastrophist view of Earth History, London, 1982: 283
[18]D. Steel, 'Before
the stones: Stonehenge I as a cometary catastrophe predictor', in B. J. Peiser,
T. Palmer & M. E. Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes during Bronze Age
civilisations; archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural
perspectives, in 'BAR International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998, 33-48: 36
[19]D. Steel, 'Before
the stones: Stonehenge I as a cometary catastrophe predictor', in B. J. Peiser,
T. Palmer & M. E. Bailey (eds.), Natural catastrophes during Bronze Age
civilisations; archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural
perspectives, in 'BAR International Series', 728, Oxford, 1998, 33-48: 47
[20]G. L. Verschuur,
'Our place in space', in B. J. Peiser, T. Palmer & M. E. Bailey (eds.), Natural
catastrophes during Bronze Age civilisations; archaeological, geological,
astronomical and cultural perspectives, in 'BAR International Series', 728,
Oxford, 1998, 49-52: 50
[21] Ch. Wickramasinghe, Cosmic dragons; life and death on
our planet, London, 2001: 110