> ... Oh, and while we're on matters historical, has anyone heard
> anything about a huge, almost humanity-ending cosmic or geological
> event around 540 AD? Apparently geological and archeological evidence
> agrees pretty compellingly that 'the dark ages' were introduced by a
> cataclysmic disaster of some sort. Heard it in a half-sleep, and then
> heard no more of it.
US 'public' television has a program on the subject. Here's their blurb:
'Did a geological or meteorological event of cataclysmic proportions
cause the period known as the Dark Ages? And if so, how did it change
the course of history? The New Theory --
Tree rings reveal that abnormally cold weather swept the Earth in 535
A.D. Written accounts from around the world tell of plague, famine and
drought in Constantinople, Italy, Korea, Japan, and China. What caused
this mini-Ice Age? There is no scientific data suggesting that an
asteroid or comet struck the Earth at the time. However, high levels of
carbon and sulfur have been found in ancient ice from the polar caps,
indicating volcanic activity. There are also scattered reports from
Asia of a "large bang" heard in the sixth century. The Book of Kings
recounts that Java and Sumatra were created by a huge eruption in the
Sunda Straits. Could this have triggered the beginning of the Dark
Ages?' <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/html/e1-resources.html>
It's based on *Catastrophe: A Quest for the Origins of the Modern World*, by David Keys, published in the US by Ballantine (ISBN 0345408764). Here's the Kirkus comment:
"The political face of the world changed irrevocably in midsixth century a.d., says the archaeology correspondent of The Independent, in a formidably argued treatise. Armed with advice from dozens of academic consultants and visits to archaeology sites worldwide, Keys proposes that a catastrophic volcanic eruption in a.d. 535 launched persistent and devastating climate change. Atmospheric dust obscured the sun, leading to crop failures, drought, famine, and epidemic disease, followed by floods in many areas, more disease, more civic disruption, major migrations and large- and small-scale warfare. It meant the end of storied old regimes -- the Roman Empire and Teotihuacan in Mexico, as well as more obscure chiefdoms among the peoples of central Asia and the Far East, Northern Europe and the British Isles -- indeed, no continent was untouched. This domino theory focuses first on Egypt, where the drought-cum-flood scenario led to a population explosion of rodents, bringing flea-borne bubonic plague to devastate the Mediterranean world and thence to the western British Isles. Keys catalogues the chronology of climate change and social disruption area by out-of-the-way area, buttressing his case by diverse contemporary observations that 'yellow dust rained down like snow' (China) and 'the sun gave forth its light without brightness like the moon during this whole year' (Rome). Still, skeptical readers may look to other forces at work -- political, circumstantial, even personal -- especially since Keys admits that conclusions about changes in the New World are more speculative. In the end, the evidence of a volcanic eruption more powerful than Krakatoa, occurring in that same part of the world, is the linchpin of Keys's argument. Such an event could wreak major mayhem in a much less populous world. Let the scholars debate the evidence while the rest of us enjoy the encapsulated history of all those tribes ancestral to the nation states we recognize today. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club selection)..."
C. G. Estabrook