Vs: [meteorite-list] Re:Kaali meteorite - Estonia, 400BC?

From: rochette <rochette_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:01:30 2004
Message-ID: <v04003a12b9224db86d83_at_[193.49.98.39]>

Hello list

a short comment on Pytheas, who was a greek citizen of Phocea, now
Marseille in SE France. He may have been the first geophysicist as he is
renown for his proposal that tide is linked to the movement of Moon and Sun
relative to Earth. He formed this idea probably by being the first Greek to
sail in North Sea (finding a way to circonvene Carthage blocus on
Gibraltar), so to experience much bigger tides than the few tens of cm
available in his home mediteranean sea. His legendary travel to collect
amber (in Baltica) and tin (in Cornwall and possibly Scotland) and find
trade routes independent of Carthage rule is said to have ended in an
extraordinary way: feared of affronting Carthage troops again (he escape
miraculously the first time thanks to huge fog and to the outgoing surface
current in Gibraltar strait), he is reported to have "sailed" from
practically Kaali to the Black sea, partly using lakes and rivers (from
Ladoga to the Dniepr?) and partly sliding his boot on land!! He succeeded
to get back home safe after a few years of travelling. More impressive than
Ulysse's pleasant cruise, isn't it?
Unfortunately his original writing are not preserved and his book has been
"rebuilt" using fragments quoted by other authors, so one must be cautious.
But his visit to Kaali freshly formed crater area is among the most likely
part of the story.





Pierre
Received on Tue 04 Jun 2002 07:25:40 AM PDT