Synopses & Reviews
Collection of quirky papers from the second Society for Interdisciplinary Studies Catastrophists' Convention held in Cambridge in 1997. The papers bring together thoughts from a wide range of disciplines - physics, astronomy, archaeology, geology, and anthropology - and from around the world. Amos Nur (Stanford University) explains how the collapse of Bronze Age civilisation can be related to a 50-year-long earthquake storm; Gunnar Heinsohn (Universitat Bremen) argues that Bronze Age ritual and blood sacrifice was a response to living in catastrophic times; and Mark E. Bailey (Armagh Observatory) presents a review of recent findings and historical implications in the study of Near-Earth Objects.
Synopsis
Research in the field of neo-catastrophism and impact cratering has quickened its pace since the early 1980s. An increasing number of astronomers have suggested that a series of cosmic disasters punctuated the earth in prehistoric times. Scholars such as Victor Clube, Bill Napier, Mark Bailey, Sir Fred Hoyle and Duncan Steel claim that a more 'active' sky might have caused major cultural changes of Bronze Age civilisations, belief systems and religious rituals. Can the astronomical evidence brought forward by these astronomers be substantiated by the historical, archaeological and climatological records?