From: Subject: SEISMOLOGY, CATASTROPHE, AND CHRONOLOGY Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 17:31:36 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1255" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/kronos/vol0804/054seism.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 SEISMOLOGY, CATASTROPHE, AND CHRONOLOGY

SEISMOLOGY, CATASTROPHE, AND CHRONOLOGY

IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY

In 1945 I published a short synopsis, Theses for the = Reconstruction of=20 Ancient History, enumerating certain historical claims but leaving = their=20 substantiation for Ages in Chaos and subsequent volumes. The = fact that=20 the Middle Kingdom of Egypt was terminated in a catastrophe served only = as a=20 point of departure for me; and in the Theses I put it in the = following=20 form:

Thesis 5: "The literal meaning of many passages in the = Scriptures=20 which relate to the time of the Exodus imply that there was a great = natural=20 cataclysm of enormous dimensions." Thesis 6: "The synchronous = moment=20 between the Egyptian and Jewish histories can be established if the same = catastrophe can also be traced in Egyptian literature."

Theses 7 to 13 dealt with the Papyrus Ipuwer and the = naos of=20 el-Arish. The parallels intimated in the Theses were elaborated = upon in=20 Ages in Chaos.

Thesis 9: ". . . Earthquakes, eruptions of volcanoes, changes = of the=20 sea profile, were some of the results of that catastrophe."

Thesis 14: "The Exodus took place at the close of the Middle = Kingdom:=20 the natural catastrophe caused the end of this period in the history of = Egypt.=20 This was in the middle of the second millennium before the present = era."

The balance of the 284 theses dealt with problems of synchronism and = the=20 order of events, always political or cultural. The mid-second millennium = catastrophe constituted but the starting point for the inquiry into = chronology=20 and the true order of succession of political events.

Independently of my effort to construe a synchronical history = starting with=20 the common event that overwhelmed and vexed all peoples of the globe - = the great=20 catastrophe that ended the Middle Kingdom - a similar effort was made by = Claude=20 F. A. Schaeffer, Professor at College de France. The reader of Ages = in=20 Chaos is familiar with his work of excavating Ras Shamra (Ugarit), = from the=20 chapter carrying this title. He observed in Ras Shamra, on the Syrian = coast,=20 obvious signs of great destruction that pointed to violent earthquakes, = tidal=20 waves, and other marks of a natural disaster. At the occasion of his = visit to=20 Troy, excavated by C. Blegen, Schaeffer became aware that Troy was = destroyed by=20 the elements - and repeatedly so -- at the same times when Ras Shamra = was=20 destroyed.

The distance from the Dardanelles, near which the mound of Troy lies, = to Ras=20 Shamra is 600 miles on a straight line. In modern annals of seismology, = no=20 earthquake is known to have happened which would cover an area of that = expanse.=20 Schaeffer investigated the excavated places in Asia Minor or their = reports, and=20 in every place found the same picture. He turned his attention to = Persia,=20 farther to the East -- and again the same signs of catastrophes were = there in=20 each and every place. Then he turned his attention to the Caucasus -- = and there,=20 too, the similarity of the causes and effects was undeniable. In Cyprus, = where=20 he dug at Alasia, he could, once more, establish the very same series of = interventions by the frenzied elements of nature. He was so impressed by = what he=20 found that during the next few years he put into writing a voluminous = work,=20 Stratigraphie comparée, published by Oxford University = Press (in=20 French) in 1948. On over six hundred pages supplemented by many tables, = he=20 presented this thesis.

Several times during the third and second millennia before the = present era,=20 the Ancient East was disturbed by stupendous catastrophes; he also found = evidence that in the fourth millennium, as well as in the first, the = Ancient=20 East went through great paroxysms, but their description Schaeffer = reserved for=20 future publications. In the published work covering the third and the = second=20 millennia, Schaeffer discerned five or six great upheavals. The greatest = of=20 these took place at the very end of the Early Bronze, or the Old Kingdom = in=20 Egypt, and at the very end of the Middle Bronze, or the Middle Kingdom = in Egypt.=20 At each of these occurrences, life was suddenly disturbed and the flow = of=20 history interrupted. Schaeffer also indicated that his acquaintance with = European archaeology made him feel certain that Europe, too, was = involved=20 in-those catastrophes; if so, they must have been more than continental = --=20 actually global in dimension.

Thus Schaeffer, like myself, came to the conviction that the Ancient = World=20 was disturbed by repeated upheavals. We even arrived at the same number = of=20 disturbances, a common realization of their grandiose nature, and the = same=20 relative dating of these events. However, we came to the same = conclusions=20 travelling by entirely different routes. In this there was a = considerable=20 assurance of our having closely approached the historical truth.*=20

[*For a fairly detailed discussion of the work of Schaeffer = and=20 its implications for Velikovsky see G. Gammon, "Bronze Age = Destructions in the=20 Near East," SISR IV:4 (Spring 1980), pp. 104-108. -- = LMG]

A reader unequipped to follow Schaeffer through his large and = technical=20 volume may well let the last chapter (Résumé et = Conclusion) impress him by its=20 questions and answers.

"What is the nature of the event or events that have caused these = severe=20 destructions in the many important cities of Anatolia, such as Troy, = Alaca,=20 Tarsis, Alishar, as well as those of Syria -- Ugarit, Qalaater-Rouss, = Byblos,=20 Chagar Bazar, Tell Brak, Tépé Gawra -- and in the cities = of Palestine, too; the=20 events that are responsible also for the cessation of the Old Kingdom in = Egypt,=20 and the upheavals in Cyprus and in Mesopotamia; the events that had = their=20 repercussions as far as Persia and in the lands of the Caucasus?" (p. = 535).

"It was a general catastrophe; the ethnic movements were, without = question,=20 but its consequences and manifestations. But for the initial and real = causes,=20 one most probably will have to look to some cataclysm over which man had = no=20 control whatsoever" (p. 537).

An intermediate upheaval took place at the very end of the third = millennium=20 and the beginning of the second, and then the world that, like a phoenix = from=20 the ashes, had rebuilt itself and once more came to bloom during the = Middle=20 Bronze was burnt to ashes again in a most horrible cataclysm. This is = the event=20 the description of which opens Ages in Chaos, and Worlds in = Collision as well.

"... We have seen" -- and Schaeffer refers to the great assemblage of = archaeological evidence that he amassed in his volume -- "that about = -1700=20 [Schaeffer uses here the accepted date of the end of the Middle Kingdom] = this=20 great commercial activity, after having spread over the eastern = Mediterranean=20 and most of the lands of the Fertile Crescent, was suddenly stopped in = this=20 entire vast region. Once more, the real causes of the perturbations must = not be=20 looked for in the scheming and enterprising of some warrior nation or a=20 coalition of nations. The military events, invasions, and conquests are = but=20 consequences and proclivities of a general calamity that afflicted the = entirety=20 of the Ancient World from the Caucasus in the north to Egypt in the = southwest=20 and Persia and Mesopotamia...."

Schaeffer, like myself, explained the invasion of the Hyksos = immediately=20 following the end of the Middle Kingdom as an effect of the dislocation = of=20 population; this end was not the result of the conquest but of the = catastrophe=20 that left Egypt prostrate and open to invasion.

"In all sites examined till now in Western Asia, a hiatus or a period = of=20 extreme poverty caused a rupture of the stratigraphical and = chronological=20 sequence of the strata" (p. 564).

"As to the nature of this third great upheaval -- registered in all = the lands=20 of Western Asia at the end of the Middle Bronze -- the effects of which, = in=20 certain areas, have extended into and until the Recent Bronze, we are = reduced --=20 at the present state of our knowledge -- to hypotheses. In most = countries the=20 population suffered a great reduction in numbers; in others, settled = living was=20 replaced by a nomadic existence. In Palestine and on Cyprus the = situation=20 appears to have been complicated by epidemics: into collective tombs, = with no=20 furnishings, in haste, numerous corpses were dumped."

Of Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus Schaeffer wrote: "Our = inquiry=20 demonstrated that here, too, there was no continuity between the = civilizations=20 of Middle Bronze and Recent Bronze." Certain indices suggested to him = that a=20 change in climate followed the catastrophe. "The same phenomenon appears = to have=20 produced, at the same time, also changes in the population of the lands = of=20 pre-historic Europe." A study of this area "is reserved for a projected = sequel=20 to this work".

These claims were made in Ages in Chaos, Worlds in = Collision, and=20 Earth in Upheaval. Actually, in the last named book a large collection = of=20 evidence is produced to substantiate the claim, made already in the = beginning of=20 this century by Scandinavian scientists, that ca. -1500 the climate = suddenly=20 changed all over the world -- in the so-called Klimasturz. Upon reading = Earth in=20 Upheaval, Professor Schaeffer in a ten-page, handwritten letter asked me = to=20 visit his excavation on Cyprus in order to impress upon me the strength = of my=20 claims.

In concluding his book, Schaeffer epitomized: "Our inquiry has = demonstrated=20 that these repeated crises which opened and closed the principal periods = of the=20 third and second millennia were caused not by the action of man. Far = from it --=20 because, compared with the vastness of these all-embracing crises and = their=20 profound effects, the exploits of conquerors and all combinations of = state=20 politics would appear only very insignificant. The philosophy of the = history of=20 antiquity of the East appears to us singularly deformed" -- namely, by=20 describing the past of nations and civilizations as the history of = dynasties,=20 not as a history of great ages, and ignoring the role the physical = causes played=20 in their sequence.

As to chronology -- in his printed work Schaeffer follows, with = certain=20 reservations, the accepted time-table. In correspondence, however, he = envisaged=20 the possibility of shortening Egyptian history but not to the extent = claimed in=20 Ages in Chaos. Then how can we be in agreement as to the times = of the=20 catastrophes?

The answer lies in the fact that both of us relate these catastrophes = to the=20 termination of the (identical) great periods in history. In other words, = we are=20 in agreement as to the relative chronology, not the absolute one.

At the end of his long discourse, Schaeffer also made clear his stand = even=20 before he became aware of my work. He wrote: "The value of absolute = dates=20 adopted by us depends, understandably, to an extent on the degree of = precision=20 obtained in the field of study of the historic documents that can be = used for=20 chronology and that derived from those collected in Egypt, in Palestine, = Asia=20 Minor, Mesopotamia, and Persia."

Thus the absolute dates used in his work are dependent on chronology = that in=20 its turn depends on historical documents. But he adds: "On the other = hand,=20 thanks to the improvement of archaeological methods, today we no longer = depend=20 so completely on epigraphic documentation for an absolute = chronology."

Having arrived, by archaeological research, at his conclusions = concerning the=20 catastrophes, it could have been expected from Schaeffer that he would = turn to=20 historical sources to find a correlation of deductions made from the=20 stratigraphic studies and mute finds. Having found that great paroxysms = of=20 nature ravaged the Ancient World, should he not have asked himself: Are = there=20 not in existence also references to such events in the surviving ancient = literature? How could events of such magnitude and consequence leave no = trace in=20 the monuments and documents? Even if admitted that the catastrophes by=20 themselves and the immediately following weeks and months were not = appropriate=20 times for writing down some records of upheavals, it would be highly = unlikely=20 that the Ancient World would let these events pass without making some = reference=20 to them in contemporary documents or in the writings of succeeding = generations.=20 It was not a prehistoric time; the art of writing was developed; and the = description of things that took place must have been left on clay, = stone, or=20 papyrus.

Here was the side of the field from which I had started. Having found = in the=20 Scriptures descriptions of events that took place in Egypt and in the = nearby=20 desert, I legitimately asked: and where are the Egyptian testimonies to = events=20 of this nature? This inquiry led me, first, to the Papyrus Ipuwer, then = to the=20 naos of el-Arish, then to Arab traditions, and then to the traditions of = many=20 other peoples and races -- to the extent that this material had to be = separated=20 from Ages in Chaos into a book by itself, Worlds in = Collision.=20 The inquiry into paleontological and geological fields, and in = climatology and=20 paleomagnetism then needed to be separated into Earth in Upheaval. I = regard=20 myself very fortunate that the task of presenting the archaeological = evidence=20 from the lands of the Middle and Near East was performed by a scholar of = great=20 stature, Claude F. A. Schaeffer. The almost superhuman enterprise of = unravelling=20 the manifold ramifications of the recent tribulations of this planet, = and of the=20 human and animal races inhabiting it, was not committed all to one = single=20 scholar.

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