Catastrophes and Prehistory

Now that we have a better picture of the people who became

'the Polynesians', let us look at the bigger picture, of how
humans have changed over time.
The general consensus of geneticists is that the present species
of humans - Homo Sapiens began in Africa 150,000 years ago.
This has been spelled out fairly clearly by Bryan Sykes in his
book 'The Seven Daughters of Eve'. Despite this, we must not
forget that there have been many species of humans or bipetal
hominids with opposing thumbs that have populated the world
before us. The Leaky family did extensive studies in Africa on a
3 million year old bipetal hominid they called Lucy. Recently a
7 million year old bipetal hominid (human) skull was unearthed
in Chad by professor Michel Brunet of the University of
Poitiers in France. There is also a variety of Homo erectus, Java
man, Peking man and Australopithecus, Giganthropus to name a
few, some were less than a metre tall others were over four
metres tall. With their opposing thumbs, they were all capable
of using tools such as hammers, axes and spears. Large 20kg
axe heads have been found associated with 60cm footprints in
New South Wales, which indicates the size and technological
development of these people 800,000 years ago. The tools are
thought to have been made by 'Java Man', as similar aged tools
have been found in Indonesia. Just as we see a great range of
body sizes in the canine species, from Great Danes to
Chihuahuas, it is only logical to assume there has been a similar
variation with humans. When Sabre toothed tigers,
Diprotodons, Woolly Mammoths and other large and powerful
beasts dominated the environment, large and powerful people
would have had a better chance of survival against these
predators. On the other hand, smaller people would have had a
better chance of survival after a natural catastrophe, such as a
comet impact, where dust was thrown up into the atmosphere,
dimming the earth for a few years, causing cooling, massive
droughts and a scarcity of food. The locality of impacts,
eruptions and tsunamis would have played a big part in who the
survivors were. Rather than 'survival of the fittest', chance, had
a much bigger part to play in determining who the survivors
were.
Proof of the diversity in humans can be seen from recent studies
in Indonesia where they unearthed 'the Hobbit' a very small
human, from about 13,000 years ago. The skeleton was about
one metre tall.
Skeletons at Kow Swamp in New South Wales shows that
Homo Erectus was alive and well in Australia only 10,000 years
ago. Clear evidence that there were many breeds of humans
right up to less than 10,000 years ago.
In the book, The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,
author John Haywood describes; "very large" bones in stone
graves found in Williamson County, Tennessee, in 1821. In
White County, Tennessee, an "ancient fortification" contained
skeletons of gigantic stature averaging at least 7 feet in length.
In February and June of 1931, large skeletons were found in the
Humboldt lake bed near Lovelock, Nevada. The first of these
two skeletons found measured 8 1/2 feet tall and appeared to
have been wrapped in a gum-covered fabric similar to the
Egyptian manner. The second skeleton was almost 10 feet
long.(Review - Miner, June 19, 1931).
George W. Hill, M.D., dug out a skeleton "of unusual size" in a
mound of Ashland County, Ohio. In 1879, a nine-foot eight-
inch skeleton was excavated from a mound near Brewersville,
Indiana(Indianapolis News, Nov 10, 1975)
In 1875 workmen were constructing a bridge near the mouth of
Paw Paw Creek at Rivesville. While digging through heavy clay
soil they were astonished to uncover three giant skeletons
strands of reddish hair clinging to the skulls. A local doctor was
called to examine the remains and was able ascertain after
careful measurement, the skeletons had supported people
approximately 8 feet tall.
Gigantism often found in America, is not an abberant mutation,
but a genetic throwback to a 'time that was'. As variations in the
environment put pressure on these groups, whether it be large
predators or famine, numbers dwindled in the populations less
suited to the environment. This eventually led to the situation
today where most humans are between five foot and six foot
6inches.
The first migration of Homo sapiens spread out from Africa
between 80 and 100,000 years ago across India into S.E. Asia
and across to America. It is believed from genetic markers in
remnant populations around the world, that these people were
dark skinned, short, with very frizzy, almost woolly hair. Relic
populations of these pygmies can still be found in the; Congo
Basin, Andaman Islands, the Highlands of New Guinea and the
Phillipines. It has been confirmed by geneticists that there are
specific DNA markers that indicate without a doubt that The
Highlanders of New Guinea are directly related to the Pygmies
of the Congo Basin, albeit 100,000 years ago. Skeletons of
these people have been found in Tennessee, Brazil, Tierra del
Fuego and Tasmania, indicating that they constituted a major
pan global population that was crushed by a major natural
catastrophe 75,000 years ago. This catastrophic event has been
linked to the creation of the Lake Toba Caldera, creating a
massive lake in the highlands of Sumatra. Dust from this
massive explosion would have dimmed the planet, cooling it
down and creating droughts and famine that may have lasted for
over 10 years. Survivors of this world population of Pygmies
can still be found in the Congo, Andaman Islands, Phillippines,
New Guinea highlands and some Aborigines of North
Queensland. Even Polynesians have traces of this ancestry in
their DNA through contact with Melanesians 11,500 years ago.
It is interesting to note that these pygmies all appear to have the
bow and arrow as a hallmark of their culture. It is quite likely
that they had this technology 100,000 years ago.

1. Pygmy skull found in Holliston Mills, East Tennessee. They

were 3-4 feet tall and their cranium size was equivelant to a 7
year old child. From America B.C. by Barry Fell. A significant
population of these people lived in this area between 40,000 and
3,000 years ago.
2. Andamaneseii from the Andaman Islands.Photo; Steve Sailer
website (See links).
Their passage to New Guinea from Africa can also be traced by
the Malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that they brought
with them. Recent studies on the Malaria parasite gene have
shown that; "Plasmodium falciparum appeared in Africa and
spread around the world with migrating populations, as much as
100,000 years ago. Both the parasite and the mosquito
underwent rapid evolutions about 10,000 years ago, forming
Plasmodium vivax, which ranges widely through Asia, Africa,
Melanesia and the Americas. Their coincidence with the
development of settled agricultural societies in tropical regions
seems to be a telling clue to the history of the disease and the
movement of man around the world".
As malaria is a tropical disease, it is highly unlikely that it
travelled between continents via the Polar Ice caps, therefore;
trans oceanic voyages in the tropics must have been undertaken
10,000 years ago. This is the only way this disease could have
spread from Africa to Panama. This disease needs to have a
significant population of people living close together in order to
survive, therefore, this parasite was brought not by some
wayward fisherman, but by a whole fleet of ships, carrying
hundreds of people. It must be logical to assume that because
they had boats seaworthy enough to cross the Atlantic, and they
knew how to utilize equatorial currents and the trade winds,
there would be nothing stopping them from giving the Pacific
Ocean a go. Malaria in New Guinea bears testament to their
curiosity. When they crossed the narrow isthmus of Central
America, they found another ocean beckoning them. The
islands of Melanesia are in the exact place boats from the
Panama region would end up, it would have been a case of
'going with the flow' letting the wind take them to a new land
over the horizon. From this, we can only assume that
Melanesians originated from a number of different migrations at
different times from Africa. The Blue Black Solomon Islanders
bear testament to a separate migration to the Papuans from
Africa. Once again 'isolationism' has marked comparison of
African to Melanesian genes a no go area for research.
The second wave of humans to leave Africa after the Toba
disaster were the Anu. The age of the Pygmy was over and a
new balance of human genes spread across the planet. This time
they were taller, had wavy black hair and beards. In Africa they
were called the Anu, in India - the Veda, in Japan - the Ainu, in
Lake Toba - the Batak and in Australia, numerous tribes went
under many different names.
Japanese Ainu, racially similar to the Indian Veda and
Australian Aborigines, These people once populated Asia,
Australia and America 50,000 years ago
Genetic studies indicate that Cro Magnon man and the Veda
separated ~28,000 years ago. Cro Magnon man lived in the
colder areas of Eurasia, had pale skin, blonde hair and a beard,
he was very tall, averaging 6 to 10 feet. The Veda were also tall
and had beards, but living in the tropics they developed a darker
skin for protection against the damaging rays of the sun. These
people saw the sea levels around the planet, recede to 140m
below their present level. They are bound to have witnessed
many natural catastrophes. Needless to say a significant pocket
of Veda/Anu survived in India and carried on to begin Western
civilization in the Middle East as we know it today.
In Biblical records, Lord Anu was the culture bringer to the
Sumerians. According to Hebrew texts, this occurred 10,000
years ago. In other words, knowledgeable survivors of the
Veda/Anu civilizations of India, decided to resurrect their
civilization amongst the Sumerian tribesmen. According to
Christian O'Brien, in his book "The Genius of the Few" The
great 'Lord Anu' decided to 'plant a garden in Eden' which was a
fertile valley overlooking fertile plains in Lebanon where a
village named Ehdin still exists. Then 600 years later the
"Shining ones" - white faced, purple robed people with gold
wings came and gave them incredible scientific knowledge.
These people were obviously survivors of the pan Atlantic
culture that also gave rise to the purple robed, red haired
Phoenicians, the blue robed copper culture of the Tuaregs, the
seafaring Berbers, Celts, Basques, Toltecs, Anasazi and
Araucano. Therefore we have a Veda bringing knowledge of
agriculture and a Caucasian American bringing science to the
Sumerians to start Western civilization as we know it today. It
would only be natural, that the survivors of a global catastrophe,
regardless of their origins, would have pooled together their
recources to start anew.
So what was this global catastrophe that ended these
civilizations?
In Plato's Critias, The wise Egyptian priest in talking to Solon,
gives a fairly good picture of what has happened in the past; "
There have been and will be again, many destructions of
mankind arising out of many causes, the greatest have been
brought about by the agency of fire (comets) and water (ice age
meltdown), and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes
(volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis)."The declination of bodies
moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great
conflagration of things upon the earth (comet/asteroid impacts),
which recurs after long intervals; at such times those who live
upon the mountains and in the dry lofty places are more liable
to destruction than those who dwell by the rivers or on the sea
shore. When on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a
deluge of water, the survivors will be those who dwell up on the
mountains, as the water always having a tendancy to come up
from below (Tsunamis and sea level rises)." He also says "that
wherever the extremity of winter frost (Ice ages) or of summer
sun (climatic change and drought after volcanic eruptions) does
not prevent mankind to exist, sometimes in greater, sometimes
in lesser numbers." These disasters "leaves only those of you
who are destitute of letters and education, and so to begin all
over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in
ancient times."
Catastrophic events such as massive volcanic eruptions, comet
or meteor impacts as well as associated earthquakes and
tsunamis have not been given enough consideration when
assessing the forces that have shaped the development of man.
The earths ancient geological history is full of evidence of such
catastrophes. For example; 256 million years ago a large
celestial body impacted the planet south of South Africa, the
reverberations around the planet met in Siberia, rupturing the
earth's surface, creating a massive 12,000 feet thick lava flow,
this catastrophe ended the 'Age of Amphibians' and almost
wiped out all life on Earth. 210 million years ago another
meteor impacted the planet in Canada - the Manicouagan Crater
- 100km wide. This meteor brought to an end the Triassic
period. Then 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous
period a meteor impacted the Yucatan Peninsular, once again,
the opposite side of the planet ruptured, creating the Deccan in
India, a 5,000 foot thick lava flow. This catastrophe brought to
an end the 'Age of the Dinosaurs'. The Atherton Tablelands in
Queensland is a 2,000 foot thick lava flow that formed about 1
million years ago in a geologically stable area. A meteor impact
in the North Atlantic would most likely have been the
perpetrator of this catastrophe.
During human history, similar, but smaller events have
occurred. The cave system in Malta called the Hypogoeum was
filled with 7,000 bodies, soil and debris washed in from a
massive tsunami, possibly from a meteor impact in the Mid
Atlantic. On the other side of the Atlantic, the island which is
now the Bahama banks, also appears to have been devastated by
a tsunami at about the same time. This island that was once as
big as Ireland was known as Tulapin or Turtle Island and
according to legend was the homeland of many native American
tribes. Numerous floors and foundations under the sand indicate
that a large city was devastated by a massive tsunami ~7,000
years ago when the sea level was over 10metres lower.
The underwater ruins around Yonaguni and India are also
testament to rapid sea level rises within the last 20,000 years.
Scientists are beginning to realise that the 140metre rise in sea
level since the last ice age was not necessarily gradual, but may
have occured in steps, as massive ice shelves broke off the Polar
ice cap and drifted into tropical waters, melting within the year.
Rapid rise in sealevel is also believed to have been caused by
massive lakes forming on top of the ice sheets as the ice melted,
then in one terrible moment the ice holding back the water
would break and this huge body of water would gather all the
other lakes in its path, resulting in a massive sheet of water
punching into the ocean causing a tsunami and contributing to a
rise in sea level of a couple of metres.
From this we can see that catastrophic events have occurred
repeatedly in the past and have most definitely played a big part
in the evolution of species on our planet. Charles Darwin in his
'Evolution of the Species' did not put enough emphasis on the
effects of catastrophes and the part that random chance played
in determining who the survivors were. The most obvious
example of random chance changing the course of history is the
meteor that ended the reign of the large and powerful dinosaurs
allowing smaller mammals to freely develop, without predators.
Here is the geologic history of our planet showing the
chronological connection between meteor impacts and major
extinction events.
The geological time scale compared to meteor impact craters.
Lattitude and longitude is included so they can be viewed on
Google Earth. (I wonder how creationists explain the various
stages of weathering of these impact craters?) You will note
from the above chart, there appears to have been periods of
particularly intense bombardment at a frequency of
approximately 35million years. Some people believe this to be
when the solar system oscillates through the plane of the
ecliptic of the Milky Way Galaxy. You will notice a major series
of impacts 144myrs ago, then another series from 65-74myrs
ago, then another 35-50myrs ago. Most of the impact dates
coincide with the end of geologic ages. Although there have
been no major impacts during the reign of man, it would be
foolish to discount the effect of smaller impacts on global
human populations. They may not have been large enough to
cause total extinction of the human species, but enough to cause
a massive reduction in population followed by a re-emergence
of a new breed from the surviving lucky ones.
So far170 meteor craters have been recorded on the Earth
Impact Database, as 75% of our planet is ocean, it stands to
reason that there are at least over 500 craters on the sea floor
waiting to be discovered. The mind boggles at the effect of a
5km object impacting the ocean.
Not all impact craters have been correctly identified and there
are sure to be many more. For example the Richat structure of
Mauritania is clearly a very ancient meteor scar, yet there is still
controversy over it's origin. This 40km structure is merely the
central rebound spike of a massive ancient impact causing the
crust to rebound into a dome. The existence of Coesite (heavily
compressed quartz) in and around the structure is proof that it is
a meteor scar.
Picture 1 is the 40km Richat structure. Picture 2 is a weathered
rock from the Richat structure Photo by Jebrak. Inclusions are
surrounded by pressure waves in sedimentary rock liquified by
the impact. The third picture shows something similar -
pseudotachylitic brecchia in granite from the Johannesburg
dome which is a 3,200myr old impact site.
Interestingly over the last 3,000million years of Earth History,
there has been no significant reduction in frequency of impacts.
It appears the size has reduced somewhat, but disturbingly there
appears to be no reduction in frequency of 5km bodies
impacting the earth. As we see from the end of Geologic ages,
this sized body impacting the earth at over 25,000mph has a
devastating effect on life on earth.
Craters of particular intererst are;
A 480km crater in Wilkes Land Antarctica at the end of the
Permian (248myr) marked the end of the age of Amphibians. (A
12,000foot thick lava flow on the opposite side of the planet in
Siberia was caused by shock waves from this impact).
A 220Km crater Manicougan, Quebec at the end of the Triassic
(206myr) marked the end of the massive lycopod and
glossopterid forests that produced today's coal.
A 160km crater Morokweng S Africa, a 40km crater Gosses
Bluff and a 40km crater Mjolnir, Norway at the end of the
Jurassic (all at 44myrs) marked the end of conifer and cycad
forests resulting in the rise of flowering plants.
A 170km crater Chicxulub, Yucatan at the end of the Cretaceous
(65myrs) marked the end of the dinosaurs. (Opposite this, a
5,000foot thick lava flow in India - the Deccan was caused by
shock waves from this impact).
A 100km crater, Popigal, Russia and a 90km Chesapeake Bay
crater at the end of the Eocene (both at 35myrs) saw the
emergence of modern mammals.
Even though modern man (during the last 50,000 years) has
only seen impacts resulting in 2km diameter craters or less,
such catastrophic events would still have had a devastating
effect on populations through the effect of earth dimming or
tsunamis if the impact was in the ocean. Dust from a terrestial
impact as well as dust from volcanic eruptions caused by the
impact (from shock waves meeting on the opposite side of the
planet) would have caused the sun to be blocked out resulting in
severe cooling for a number of years. This in turn would cause a
drought due to absence of solar induced evaporation, resulting
in failure of crops and famine. The ecological imbalance caused
by such a catastrophic event would also cause plagues of
opportunistic vermin as the predatory creatures died from the
harsh conditions. The people lucky enough not to be effected by
this terrible sequence of events would go on to repopulate the
planet with a new mix of genes.
Legends often speak of their ancestors emerging from caves to
repopulate the planet. Is this because caves held the only
survivors of the firestorms and cold from a meteor strike?
Here is just one example of the destruction caused by a comet in
human history. Andrew Collins in Gateway to Atlantis talks
about this event in detail.
This event is thought to have occured around the time that the
civilization of Atlantis ended.
USA showered by a watery comet ~11,000 years ago,
ending the Golden Age of man in America.
Approximately 11,000 years ago a variety of animals went
extinct across North America. These were mostly mammals
larger than approximately 44 kg. Some of the animals that went
extinct are well known (like sabre toothed cats, mammoths and
mastodons). Others were less well known animals (like the
short-faced skunk, giant sloth and the giant beaver). Some
animals went extinct in North America but survived elsewhere
(like horses and tapirs).
Before this extinction the diversity of large mammals in North
America was similar to that of modern Africa. As a result of the
extinction, relatively few large mammals are now found in
North America.
The possibility that a comet destroyed the mega fauna and
human population of North America is highly likely.
Photos from George A. Howard website (see Links)
Carolina Bays - 11,000 year old Impact sites, caused by bullets
of water either from a disintegrating watery comet or bullets of
water from a meteorite impacting a 2-3km thick ice sheet North
West of the region. Either way it is direct evidence of a
cataclysmic event around the time of the Clovis hunters of
America.
The geological formation of the oval shaped depressions termed
Carolina Bays, which number in total, 500,000 litter the SW
corner of North America. Their orientation across the landscape
is in a NW to SE direction, with earth piled up on the SE rim up
to 25 feet high. Carolina Bays tend to become more elliptical
with increasing size - up to 10km long. This is consistent with a
large body of water taking longer to dissipate as it travels at
speed across the landscape. Large bays tend to be deeper than
small bays and they tend to occur either in linear arrays or in
complex clusters. The consistent repition of shape and
alignment can mean only one thing. Comet impact.
It is believed that these depressions were not caused by a rocky
comet as no heavy metals have been found in the craters, but by
bullets of water hitting the ground from a disintegrating comet.
There has been some disbelief that such a catastrophic event
could have occured in human times, people have tried
desperately to think of some other way that these depressions
could have occured. The fact is that these depressions occur in
sand, mud, soil, upland gravel, but not on any rocky outcrops.
The only mechanism for similar shaped depressions to occur in
a diverse range of sediments is by a massive body of water,
travelling at a high velocity at a low trajectory and dumped
upon the earth. All the craters show a similar amount of
weathering and infilling, therefore they must be all of the same
age. It has also been noted that there are two oval shaped craters
on the bottom of the ocean, just north of the Grand Bahaman
banks.Their orientation is consistent with a NW to SE trajectory
comet impact. It is believed that these impact sites are
associated with the Carolina Bays. Whether or not there are any
craters on the bottom of the ocean, the nature of a disintegrating
comet entering the atmosphere is that small pieces of debris
break off first, the largest remaining piece/s travels the furthest.
Therefore as there are 500,000 small craters along the Atlantic
coast, one must assume that a significantly large body impacted
the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a massive tsunami.
Core samples indicate the Carolina Bay formations was
between 11-15,000 years ago, a more accurate date for their
formation has not been ascertained as yet. Pollen samples
indicate a pine forest prior to their formation changed to a
deciduous forest after their formation. This change is seen in the
core samples either side of a layer of sandy blue clay, devoid of
pollen. This marks the time of creation of the lakes, and the
resultant settling of dust after impact. The change in forest type
after these depressions were formed indicates that they
precipitated a radical climate change. Whoever was living in
America at the time would have found this event totally
devastating as shown in the following accounts of tribes from
the area. Whether it was this, or a later event that destroyed
Atlantis is yet to be determined.
The Anasazi have a legend that talks of a fiery sky serpent
destroying the civilizations on the islands of the Carribean, or
more specifically Tulapin (Turtle Island), their homeland. One
can imagine an elongate meteor, rotating as it enters the
atmosphere, creating a wiggly, snake like trail. The speed at
which a meteor enters the atmosphere also gives the visual
impression of the speed of a striking snake.
From Andrew Collins book; "Gateway to Atlantis" we get the
following interesting information.
Many native American traditions tell of:…a moon fell out of the
sky, onto the earth. During it's passage through the sky it looked
like a feiry snake, there were terrible earth quakes and the day
turned into night, there was a gigantic flood and a formidable
rain that lasted many days, many people died.
This most likely describes the impact of the comet that created
the Carolina Bays.
"The water having poured over the land (2km thick ice sheet
collapses into the sea),
human dwellings disappeared. The wind carried them away.
They fastened several boats to one another.
The waves traversed the Rocky Mountains.
A great wind drove them.
Presently the moon and the sun disappeared (atmospheric dust,
post impact).
Men died of a terrible heat (firestorms post impact).
They also perished in the waves.
Men bewailed what happened.
Uprooted trees floated about in the waves.
Men having fastened boats together trembled with cold.

The above translation is attributed to the native tribe called the

Esquimaux of Canada. Just one of hundreds of flood traditions
that many scholars have collected.

Also from further south in the Carolinas we have the following

very interesting tradition:
"a star fell to the earth, and rain soon followed (oceanic impact,
causing vast amounts of water to evaporate).
Days and days of rain quenched the fire.
Great holes burned in the earth by the fire were filled,
forming a great inland sea.

A number of cultures retained stories of impact induced winter.

Most telling of such lore this author has read are these
amazingly informative tales of the Yakuts:
. . . is said to be "the daughter of the Devil and to have had a tail
in the early days". If it approaches the earth, it means
destruction, storm and frost, even in the summer; . . . , the
daughter of the Devil is a beautiful girl ... she is the bride and
the sweetheart of Satan's son ÜRGEL (Pleiades). When these
two stars come close to one another, it is a bad omen; their
eager quivering, their discontinuous panting cause great
disasters: storms, blizzards, gales. When they unite, fathom
deep snow will fall even in the summer, and all living beings,
men, animals and trees will perish . . .
…… five planets went out of their courses. In the night, stars
fell like rain. The earth shook. The E and Loh became dry.

What is remarkable about these particular tales is the

conjunction of several pieces of information. From these lines
we gather that a comet with a tail came close enough to
influence weather on Earth--i.e. deadly storms, frost and deep
snow in summer. Also, we are told that this is most likely to
occur if the comet appears close to the Pleiades. In short, these
legends accurately describe what can now be inferred from
astronomical data on comet Encke and the ring of debris its
progenitor strew about the Sun, according to the above
information; into five significant chunks. "Stars falling like
rain" indicates a large amount of debris entering the
atmosphere, "the earth shook" suggests a sizable impact.

As the above example suggests, contemporary researchers need

to be wary of assuming our predecessors' folk memories of
astral events relate to bodies familiar to our time. There is
considerable reason to suspect that the majority of the planets
namesakes were comets--probably of the Encke family. Human
belief systems have been greatly influenced by the phenomena
attending the progressive break-up, over thousands of years, of
this large comet. The idea of a wrathful sky god or star positions
influencing events on Earth are legacies of this influence.
Recent studies on ice cores in the Antarctic have found
numerous Iridium layers during the last 100,000 years. Often
these layers of Iridium are mixed with Volcanic ash, confusing
the origin of the Iridium. Iridium is commonly found in
meteors, but is an extremely rare mineral on Earth. This mixing
suggests that the impact of a Comet or Meteor precipitated
volcanic eruptions. Scientists have also found a direct
correlation between Iridium layers and the beginning of many
ice age events suggesting that the combined effect of a comet
impact and the resultant volcanic eruptions had a big part to
play in turning points in human history.
Comets are not the only cause of major changes in the earths
population over the last 15,000 years. It appears that sea level
rises since the end of the last Ice Age have not been as gradual
as previously believed. Sudden sea level rises appear to have
happened a number of times in the past, destroying coastal
trading ports causing a shift in surviving populations.
Antarctic ice sheet key to sudden sea level rise
Researchers show Antarctic ice sheets may not be as stable
as previously thought. by Janet Wong

March 28, 2002 -- Physicists from Canada, the United States

and Britain have concluded that a massive and unusually abrupt
rise in sea level about 14,000 years ago was caused by the
partial collapse of ice sheets in Antarctica, solving a mystery
scientists have been heatedly debating for more than a decade.
Near the end of the last Ice Age, the Earth's sea level abruptly
rose over 20 metres - four times faster than usual for that time
period and at least 20 times faster than sea levels are rising now,
report geophysicists Jerry Mitrovica of the University of
Toronto, Peter Clark of Oregon State University , Glenn Milne
of the University of Durham in the U.K. and Mark Tamisiea, a
post-doctoral fellow at U of T, in the March 29 issue of Science
.
The cause of this event - called the global meltwater pulse 1A,
first identified in 1989 - has been unknown until now. The
scientists say their research not only pinpoints the source of the
meltwater pulse as coming from West Antarctica. It also makes
the case that significant climatic events can occur very rapidly
and unpredictably.
Ancient Mangrove Forests Found Under Reef

North Queensland marine researchers have opened a window

into the past by exposing ancient mangrove forests entombed
beneath the Great Barrier Reef.
Dr Dan Alongi from the Australian Institute of Marine Science
says they have unearthed 9,000-year-old mangroves in old river
channels that were swamped when sea levels rose after the last
ice age.
He says the relic mangroves show an abrupt rise in the sea level,
20 times faster than previously thought.
"Material was very much intact, it didn't even have time to fully
decompose when it was buried, so it does tell us that when
climate change happened at least when it happened in the past it
was comparatively quick," he said.
A cold event 8,200 years ago
Nature 22 July 1999

A cold event occurred between 8,400 and 8,000 years ago

which affected Europe, North Africa and North America
causing significant climate changes. It is believed to have been
triggered by global warming which caused a catastrophic
drainage of the Laurentide lakes in Canada.
This cooling event was forced by a massive outflow of fresh
water from the Hudson Strait. The glacial lakes Agassiz and
Ojibway were originally dammed by a remnant of the
Laurentide ice sheet and drained catastrophically 8,470
calendar years ago. The sudden increase in freshwater, reduced
sea surface salinity and altered ocean circulation, thereby
initiating the most abrupt and widespread cold event to have
occurred in the past 10,000 years.
Antarctic mud reveals ancient evidence of global climate
change
By Mark Shwartz

In 1998, ODP scientists extracted a 150-foot-long sediment core

from the muddy bottom of the Palmer Deep - a submerged
section of the continental shelf along the west Antarctic
Peninsula about 3,000 feet below sea level. The sediment
sample was loaded with the shells of microscopic creatures
called diatoms dating back some 10,000 years to the beginning
of the Holocene - the most recent geologic epoch.
"The Antarctic Peninsula is an ideal region to investigate
climate change at decadal to millennial time scales due to its
location in one of the Earth's most dynamic climate systems,"
noted Dunbar. "The ODP sample gives us the first continuous,
high-resolution Holocene sediment record from the Antarctic
continental margin."
The sediment sample revealed higher concentrations of diatom
shells during the mid-Holocene, roughly 5,500 to 7,000 years
ago, which indicates that the waters surrounding the Antarctic
Peninsula were more biologically productive then. According to
Dunbar, higher productivity suggests that sea ice was less
abundant during the mid-Holocene - a further indication that
temperatures were higher.
"We think it was quite a bit warmer then," he observed, noting
that geochemical analysis of the sediment also revealed higher
levels of nitrogen during the mid-Holocene. "Warmer
temperatures appear to have produced freshwater streams that
fed nitrogen and other nutrients into coastal waters," he
explained.
During this warm period, sea levels rose from approximately
10m below the present sea level to approximately 1.7m higher
than present day levels.
Legends around the Caribbean tell of a heavy rain falling for
many days and many were drowned. It was this deluge that
separated their islands from the mainland.
Little by little subsequent tempests submerged the lands of the
Bahamas, separating the people from one another by arms of
the sea.
Future studies of archaeological remains on the Bahama Banks
will most likely prove that this strategically placed large island
at the end of the Northern Equatorial current and at the
beginning of the Gulf Stream was not only the homeland of
Many American tribes, but was also the homeland of many
European tribes such as the Basques and Celts.