I apologize for not being able to find anything other than a video link (but its from the Smithsonian Channel, so it has some cred to it), and its short (about 3 1/2 minutes). The gist of it is that around 540 AD a 600 meter piece of Halley’s Comet hit the Earth and this caused severe climate problems which worsened the impact of the Justinian Plague (a starving population has a weaker immune system than a well-fed population, etc.), as well as other problems. By contrast, I want to point out that the rock which blew up over Russia last year was a mere 17 meters across.
Did Halley’s Comet convert the Irish to Christianity?]
Not a civilization killer, by any means, but certainly a city killer, and the environmental problems caused by such a “small” hunk could have some very unforeseen (and long term) consequences.
Sorry, but 600 meters is a huge piece of rock to hit the earth. That’s probably about the size of the one that wiped out the dinasaurs. If it were 6.00 it might be more credible. I’m not that familiar with astronomical phenomena so let’s hope Darron weighs in on this.
Occam
Sorry, but 600 meters is a huge piece of rock to hit the earth. That's probably about the size of the one that wiped out the dinasaurs. If it were 6.00 it might be more credible. I'm not that familiar with astronomical phenomena so let's hope Darron weighs in on this. OccamThe low-end estimate for the dino killer is 4 to 6 kilometers across.]
In what could be a major scientific puzzle, the team's new size estimate for the dino-killing meteorite is a mere 2.5 to 3.7 miles (4 to 6 kilometers) across. The most recent computer models predicted a size of 9 to 12 miles (15 to 19 kilometers) across.
A 600-meter asteroid is big and would cause a lot of damage, but the one that killed off most dinosaurs was 37 to 58 kilometers across. A quick search on the 540 A.D. meteor shows some evidence in landed in the ocean near Greenland and caused the earth to cool by 3 degrees C, which is substantial. I’m glad you brought this up, Trucker. I hadn’t heard of this before.
Interesting speculation but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Of course this isn’t the entire program but exactly where did this chunk of ice hit on the Equator and if it did then where is the evidence? Even if it replicated the Tunguska incident there would have been some damage to plant life or trace elements left. And just how did this convince the native Celts to just chuck their time honored traditions, aside from the usual miracle stories wrapped around St. Patrick? Astral phenomena had been occurring for thousands of years before the 7th Century and the Celts were well aware of it as evidence of primitive astrological sites clearly show. That plus the times of famine either by the usual poor farming techniques, temp. Fluctuations, inequality of food distribution, and local clan wars ( there were many). The whole concept sounds pretty cobbled together but maybe some hard core evidence might be found in the future.
Cap’t Jack
A 600-meter asteroid is big and would cause a lot of damage, but the one that killed off most dinosaurs was 37 to 58 kilometers across. A quick search on the 540 A.D. meteor shows some evidence in landed in the ocean near Greenland and caused the earth to cool by 3 degrees C, which is substantial. I'm glad you brought this up, Trucker. I hadn't heard of this before.Apparently this may not be the first time something like this happened.]
This is the story of the meteor that changed the world forever. In 312 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed he saw a mysterious light in the sky which convinced him to convert to Christianity, forever altering the course of history. Now scientists believe they may have tracked down the source of this mysterious light. A team of geologists have identified a crater in Italy which they believe was produced by the impact of a previously unrecorded meteorite. The finding could explain not only the story of Constantine, but might also provide an explanation for a local legend which recounts how members of a pagan cult were overwhelmed by a light in the sky as bright as a second sun. The cult too immediately converted to Christianity. A team of international experts set out to get to the bottom of the mystery.I stumbled across the first video the other day, posted in on another site, and someone there added the info about Constantine. Coincidentally enough, I'm rereading Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions by TW Doane, and he speculates that the origins of the Flood myth might date back to around the end of the last ice age. (Bear in mind, this book was written in the late 1880s, so there wasn't nearly as much known about the world's climate in ancient times.) And we have some evidence that animals like the woolly mammoth were wiped out by a comet strike around that time.] All of which makes me wonder how much influence cometary impacts have had on human society. I would think that it'd be in the early years of its life (at least as a comet) that Halley's Comet would be most likely to shed large hunks of itself off as it flew by. The earliest recorded sighting of what is believed to be Halley's Comet, at least according to Wikipedia, is 467 BC, so it may not be that. But it would be interesting to see what the climate was like around that time, and if there were any sudden changes to it. I know rock carvings turn up from time to time showing ancient celestial events, those might have clues as well.
Are you familiar with Brian Fagan and his books regarding climate changes and human impacts over history?
http://www.brianfagan.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY_1x0FPTjo Uploaded on Aug 18, 2010 Take a journey through the world of 1,000 years ago, when the Medieval Warm Period brought bountiful crops to Europe and helped the Norse make epic North Atlantic journeys. Recent climatological research paints a very different picture for other parts of the globe, which suffered under prolonged droughts. The climatic events of ten centuries ago have important lessons for our own warming world especially here in the American West. Brian Fagan, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is widely regarded as the leading archaeological writer in the world. His numerous books include The Rape of the Nile. The Adventure of Archaeology, and four works on climate change, including The Long Summer, The Little Ice Age, and The Great Warming.I've read a couple of his and listened to some talks. Interesting stuff, and apparently authoritative and supportable… at least I'm not aware of anyone objecting to his evidence and claims.
I haven’t heard of him, but his stuff sounds really interesting. I’ll have to check it out, thanks!