[meteorite-list] Re: Meteor Clue to end of Middle East Civilizations

From: Charlie Devine <moonrock25_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:47:14 2004
Message-ID: <1231-3C0109DD-6294_at_storefull-138.iap.bryant.webtv.net>

Good morning Frank and listmembers,

There is a German word or term, zeitgeist, which has been translated as
"the spirit of the age." As this term was explained to me in my studies
of the History of Ideas, there are often, in any given age, "ideas in
the air" which are "picked up" or expressed by individuals, often
unknown to each other, and said ideas are in retrospect seen to express
the intellectual and cultural zeitgeist of that age. A prime example
would be the development of the theory of biological evolution by both
Darwin and Wallace, independent of each other.

Cosmic Catastrophism would certainly seem to be a prime candidate for
the zeitgeist of our age.
>From Hollywood movies, to extinction events in the geological events, to
the cataloging of NEA,
etc. Even the development of plate tectonic theory can be seen as a
precursor, as it undermined uniformitarianism and introduced the notion
that our planet is dynamic through time and in the present. Now we see
cosmic catastrophism gaining a firm foothold in the study of human
pre-history.

Yesterday I came across an interesting page
describing theories relating to various possible impact events during
the Bronze Age. Although most of the links go to short abstracts, the
introduction is provided in full and gives a good overview of the
development of the notion of impact events in human history.

The Second SIS(Society for Interdisciplinary Studies) Cambridge
Conference, 11-13 July,1997: Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age
Civilizations: Archaeological, geological, astronomical, and cultural
perspectives.
http://www.knowledge.co.uk/sis/cambproc.htm

BTW, I found this page as a link from a page which updated the recent
discovery of a manmade complex with megalithic structures, pyramids,
Greek-like inscriptions, etc, found in 2000 ft of water of the west
coast of Cuba. Any list-member interested in a link to this story is
welcome to write me off-list.

Best wishes,
Charlie
Received on Sun 25 Nov 2001 10:10:21 AM PST