THE DIVINE FIRES OF CREATION. HOMERIC HEPHAESTOS AS A COMET / METEOR GOD. PART III: THE GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Amanda Laoupi Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning - NTUA
11. THE GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 11.1. Lemnian Earth and the destruction layers The ‘flame of Hephaistos’ or his ‘red breath’ (characterized as purest flame) was a leit motif among ancients (Orphic Hymn 66 to Hephaestus; Homer Iliad, II.426, IX.467, XVII.88 & XXIII.33 and Odyssey xiv.71; Hesiod Theogony, 864; Aristophanes Birds, 436; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 13.170,13. 367 & 4.160; Suidas, s.v. 'Hephaistos'). Although ancient writers mention it together with Keian, Cappadocian and Sinopic earths, [82] all four being identified as red earths, Pliny’s comment makes the difference. This earth (terra lemnia, rubricata or sigillata) resembles cinnabar ( 35.14), it had a pleasant taste, too, while Galen (13.246b) adds that “it differs from miltos because it doesn’t leave a stain when handled”. The same writer , during his visit to Hephaestias , analyzes the myth of Hephaistos and his relationship with Lemnos, saying that “the mythical hill, also known as Mosychlos, appeared to be burnt due to its color and from the fact that nothing grows on it”. Belon, during his journey in the 16th cent., refers also to the yellow/white colors of the earth, equally explained by the presence of hydrothermally altered rocks. The ritual of its extraction highlights its peculiarity. On the other hand, the god was reknown as an ‘ aithaloeis theos’, meaning the sooty god (Suidas , s.v. 'Aithaloeis theos') and in Lemnos, Hephaestos was worshipped as a god of healing, his priests possessing antidotes to poisons. Later on, the priestesses of Artemis had the right to use this earth (http://www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/projects/indminerals/LemnianEarth). [83] That Artemis was connected to the Anatolian nucleus of Amazons. Consequently, hydrocarbon evolution due to past volcanic activity may be one explanation. Destruction layers with hydrocarbon presence and other characteristics mentioned above (like cinnabar, with sweet taste, loosing its power with the time passing over or being periodically recharged) may be another evidence of past celestial events (combustion residues, chemical fusion). In his dissertation, LaViolette [61] proposed that invading cosmic dust would have caused the Sun to become more luminous and engage in continual flaring activity. At least on one occasion, the Earth and Moon may have been engulfed by a large prominence remnant ‘fireball’ (coronal mass ejection) thrown out by the Sun in a highly active T-Tauri like flaring state at as much as 1000 times currently observed levels. Satellite observations showed solar flares ejecting expanding balls of plasma, capable of travelling outward beyond the Earth's orbit. Similarly, astronomers announced that they had observed large explosive outbursts from the surfaces of nearby normal sunlike stars. This confirmed the Lovell hypothesis and increased the plausibility of LaViolette's suggestion that the Sun was producing mega solar flares and intense plasma fireballs at the end of the last ice age. Furthermore, in the late 1970's , Dr. Han Kloosterman was arguing that a global conflagration was the cause of the black layer found in AllerΩd sediments in S. England and in the Great Lakes Region. Later in 2002, when Dr. LaViolette examined, in a geological field trip, the accumulating evidence of the black Usselo Horizon [61] dating from the AllerΩd/Younger Dryas transition and correlative with similar horizons found in Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Poland, and the S.W. U.S. A. They both
concluded that this layer was produced by a global conflagration which was also responsible for the exitnction of the Pleistocene megafauna. Troy IIg conflagration (first fall) produced an up to 6 m. bed of ashes and a layer of calcined debris up to 3 m. high. Experts on wild fires claim that there was never seen ‘red ashes of wood in natural fires, because ash residue from the burning of a city is measured in inches, rather than feet’. The mysterious melted copper and lead which covered a large area, according to Schliemann, might have originally been deposits that contributed to the attractiveness of the site for lightning discharges. After Schliemann’s observations on this destruction layer of the ‘burnt city’, the Cincinnati archaeologists, under the leadership of Carl Blegen, examined closely the ruins of the Burnt City-Level IIg by their code. The stratum of Troy IIg had an average thickness of more than 1 m.; it consisted mainly of ashes, charred matter, and burned debris. This deposit apparently extended uniformly over the entire site, eloquent evidence that the settlement perished in a vast conflagration from which no buildings escaped ruin.The catastrophe struck suddenly, without warning, giving the inhabitants little or no time to collect and save their most treasured belongings before they fled. Moreover, the Cincinnati team mentions several places of the greenish-yellow discoloration (? sulphur oxides). The calcinated debris of the old city was strong enough to become the foundation of the new city walls of Troy III. [29] In 1948, Professor Schaeffer, excavator of Ras Shamra-Ugarit, published a treatise on comparative stratigraphy of the Near and Middle East during the Bronze Ages of the 2nd millennium B.C. , in which he includes the permanent destructions of settlements from Troy and Egypt to Persia, and even beyond into China. A cometary or planetary near-encounter results in falling of gases, hydrocarbons, burning pitch and stones Such events are unknown to modern experience but are indicated by ancient legends from many places and by various geological and biological phenomena. [12; 28 & 29; 87; 97; 98 & 99;115] The Mexican Annals of Cuauhtitlan speaks of an “age which ended in the rain of fire”. The Popul-Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas, narrates about an endless fiery rain from the sky. The Manuscript Quiche from the people of Mexico is more detailed as it speaks about a rain of bitumen and a sticky substance. The Papyrus Ipuwer notes that the fire almost ‘exterminated mankind’, ‘naphtha, together with hot stones, poured down upon Egypt’. Naphtha means petroleum in Aramaic and Hebrew (http://philologos.org/bpr/files/h001.htm) [23; 25, 27 & 29; 41; 108; 109 & 110; 115 & 116]. The afore-mentioned clues intrigue us to think that the famous Deluge oh Noah describes a period of fiery rain and not a merely water flood. In addition, the Exodus from Egypt contains evidence of celestial. [19] Biblical references indicate radiation and radiance of various types: a complex chemically-loaded dew, red phosphorus; hydrocarbons (naptha), unidentified poisons; sulfur, mercury, ammonia, cinnabar (cinnamon), formaldehyde, manna and perfumes. [27] 11.2. Volcanic activity and other fire disasters Lemnos, the island that was sacred to Hephaestus, as well as the name Aethaleia, sometimes applied to it, points to its volcanic character. It is said that fire occasionally blazed forth from Mosychlos, one of its mountains; and Pausanias (8.33) narrates that a small island called Chryse, off the Lemnian coast, was swallowed up by the sea. All volcanic action is now extinct. Geologically speaking, the broader area of N. Aegean is characterized by the presence of magmatic rocks, dated mainly to the Tertiary. The youngest boundary of volcanic activity in the island is the Lower Pleistocene. Markers of this decreasing activity are now the geothermal activity, the hot springs of mineral water. [40]
Anatolia and Asia Minor were one of the most significant cradles of the worship of ‘MotherGoddess’ since the Neolithic times. Excavations during 1961 - 1965 unearthed ²atal Hüyük in central Anatolia (modern Turkey) as a major site. [73] The religious quarter contains several shrines with wall paintings of outstanding quality. A vivid, nearly naturalistic wall painting from one of the shrines depicts the plan of the city and a remarkable Neolithic portrayal of the active twin-peaked volcano of Hasan Dag, 12.9 km to the east of the city. This is the earliest known visual record of a volcanic eruption, dating to about 6200 B.C. with an error margin of less than 100 years. Several features suggest that the painting is not simply a landscape, but is an icon of the Volcano Goddess. The contours of the volcano are breast-like and the overall shape of the volcano closely matches schematized ‘bison-woman’ Paleolithic designs and other goddess representations; it looks distinctly like a body, much more so than like a mountain. The painting is a shrine mural, an expression of religion, and clearly a representation of the Mother Goddess of Obsidian [43; 113: ‘a dark, chthonic milk which flowed out of the breast of the volcano’) as the city was built and consecrated by Her graces. The evidence suggests that dozens of shrines, as well as the city's artwork, artisanry and architecture, may have all been inspired and supported by a religious control of the sacred obsidian trade.This is a crucial observation which can be made at this point, initially the volcanic activity was embraced by the chthonic character of female nature. On the other hand, new interdisciplinary evidence comes up daily showing that a strong complicated relationship between volcanic activity & impacts has been long existed, even before the human presence on Earth. A team of scientists in the 1990’s (McGuire, Kilburn , Zielinksi et al.) studied the relationship between the volcanic eruptions and the sea-level changes in Mediterranean during the Ice Ages and came to some extremely interesting conclusions (http://www.agiweb.org/geotimes/nov99/newsnotes.html). Furthermore, correlation found between impacts and increased volcanic activity occurring over the last 4 billion years (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroids_volcanoes_ 030204-1.html). Comet and meteorite impacts (http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/tpsseti/ climate.htm;http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/volcano_asteroid_010731. html; http://www.amsci.org/articles/96articles/Larick.html ) on Earth have directly correlated with the activity of strong and normal mantle plumes - heated mantle rock causing volcanic eruptions, e.g. Hawaii and Iceland . Ten major peaks in terrestrial impact activity were seen, nine of these are directly matched to peaks in mantle plume volcanism. [24] Yellowstone Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America. Although the impact causing the Yellowstone hot spot probably occurred 17.5 mya , has been also some evidence to verify that comet/meteorite impacts were responsible for Yellowstone eruptions 2.1 and 1.3 mya. (http://wwwvolcano.geog.cam.ac.uk/database/bibliography.html). New seismic and deep-sea surveys conducted in 1995 by the German research ship Polarstern [Kyte et al. in 37]enabled the scientists to accurately date the blast to the late Pliocene period, ca. 2.15 mya, and to gauge its effects, because it was a really mega-colossal event (VEI 8). Eltanin, the only asteroid ever known to have hit water, triggered waves 20 to 40 meters high, devastating mega-tsunamis, that swamped the coasts of South America and Antarctica. The researchers estimate the asteroid was at least 1 kilometer and possibly up to 4 kilometers in diameter. The Bosumtwi crater, now the Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana , is about 10.4 km in diameter and 1.3 my old. 11.3. Impact craters: submarine or terrestrial? In 1927 Franz Xaver Kugler, a Jesuit scholar who had devoted over thirty years to the study of cuneiform astronomical texts, published an essay entitled ‘The Sibylline Starwar and Phaethon In the Light of Natural History’, asserting that a large impact event in the Mediterranean Sea inspired fire-from-above legends such as Phaethon's ride. Coincidentally,
it was also in 1927 that Leonid Kulik, a Russian Scientist, located the area which were devastated by the 20 MT aerial explosion in 1908 (http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/bobk.html). [58] The taphonomic aspect of the sedimentary record of meteorite impacts , though, has only recently begun to receive attention. In the ‘fortunate’ case of the Chesapeake Bay impact, dinocyst taphonomy includes initial deposition, shock, heat, ejection into the atmosphere, tsunami and resurge transport, secondary deposition, exhumation, transport, and third-time deposition. The official report found in the Web http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/ 01/060113114702.htm; http://chesapeake.icdp-online.org http://geology.er.usgs.gov/ eespteam/crater/; http://www.dosecc.org/) . [Edwards in 37] Apart from the terrestrial impact ctaters all over the world, one submarine feature deserves special mention. Burckle crater is located in the central Indian Ocean on the edge of a fracture zone at 30.87ϊ S. 61.36ϊ E. The whole setting infers to a Shoemaker - Levy type impact of a comet, the fragmentation of which also produced two other large impact centers, one in the N.W. Pacific and another in the C.E. Pasific. The scientific team who examines the case, trying to co--estimate various astronomical, geaarchaeological and mythological data and information, suggests a specific calendrical date of around May 10, 2807 B.C. Similar investigations correlate the major environmental and social uphevals of the past to crucial impact events. [1] Let us return to circum- Mediterranean area. Phaethon’s myth is related to the events of 12th cent. B.C. But the Myth of Hephaistos’ fall from heaven seems to be originated earlier. Destruction layers exhibiting abnormal traits, are found around the Bronze Age Mediterranean world, at Thebes, Pylos, Olympia, Troy, Phylakopi, Athens’ Acropolis, e.t.c.. Similar traits do not justify natural events like earthquakes and human-induced fires. [31] Excessive influx of cometary debris (without impact events) may precipitate an enhanced zodiacal light, and provoke extreme aurora events caused by a disturbance of the geomagnetic field in our planet (http:www.mythopedia.info/). These spectacular instabilities in the plasma were remembered as dragons and waring gods. Of course, the phenomenon of an enhanced aurora may be triggered by an extreme solar weather, the passage through a gigantic molecular cloud or the disintegration of a giant comet in the inner solar system, event by a combination of these parameters. Such visual experiences reformed the psychological, sociological and artistic aspects of the myths. Respectively, the scenario of conflagration is enriched by other natural phenomena related to cosmic invaders which cause a ‘Tunguska type’ event. Gas cloud (de Grazia, 1981), ‘swamp gas’ (usually called that way even if it is generated from earthquake gas-issing fissures) that cause asymmetric areas of destruction (Ion Nistor, http://www.tunguska101.org/hypothesis_ uk.htm), or ‘vacuum bomb’ during high altitude explosions (G. A. Nikolsky et al.) can be added to the catalogue of impact phenomena. [31] Moreover, mega-lightning and fire-storm (due to interplanetary discharge or to bolide and lightning-fire shower?) could be considered as the main contributors to the destruction of Troy VIIa (Phaethon’s time). Ancient writers often refer to the catastrophes of prosperous cities, like Sodom and Gommorah, and Bolsena, the richest town in Toscany, by extreme thunderbolts. [31] 12. CONCLUSIONS There is a -till recently neglected- agent which could destroy civilization and cause earthly turbulence, the exo-terrestrial encounters. Astronomical evidence indicates our ancestors viewed a much more active sky than we do. Particularly during the past twelve thousand years , such deliveries were not uncommon . Much evidence suggests that humanity witnessed, and was affected by, the break-up of a very large comet over this time period. Along with the two
luminaries, the solar deities (e.g. Apollo, Hercules, Helios) and the moon goddesses (Aphrodite Ourania : Hecate - Hera - Artemis) which represented the female reproductive force, there was another sacred fire represented by cosmic ‘invaders’ (e.g. Typhoon, Hephaestos, Phaethon) or other phenomena (e.g. Sirius, Saturn, Jupiter). In summary, the strong parallelisms of symbols, words, images and allegories in the worldwide knowledge indicate that the ‘Greek’ Hephaistos was derived from the Pelasgian religious circum-Mediterranean substratum, reflecting some major celestial events dated back to the beginning of 2nd millennium B.C. The Homeric Epics are a palimpsest of archaeoenvironmental knowledge, as they are built on layers of information. Florence and Kenneth Wood, Alfred de Grazia and NASA firt alledged that Vulcan may be connected to meteoritic phenomena. The present paper focuses on the argumentation of this statement by collecting data from the ancient writers, the worldwide iconography and the geoarchaeological, palaeoclimatic and archaeoastronomical evidence. Furthermore, the paper deals with the spatial and temporal itinerary of myth’s elaboration.The psychological filtration is also taken under consideration when comes to matters of disaster dealing within the socio-cultural framework of ancient societies. To conclude, Disaster Archaeology finds a very powerful ally in the name of Catastrophist Mythology, which echoes real occurrences through various myths. The Homeric figure of Hephaistos and his puzzling mythical motif holds a prominent role in it. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my mental companions in Disaster research , Professors Alfred de Grazia (one of the worldwide leading personalities in Disaster Studies), George Ferentinos (Marine Geology & Physical Oceanography, University of Patras), Stavros Papamarinopoulos (Applied Geophysics, Patras University) and Effie Photos - Jones (Department of Archaeology, University of Glascow), who inspired me in various ways. REFERENCES [1] Abbott, D.H., Masse, Br.W. & Bregerr D. (2005). Burcle Abyssal Impact Crater: Did this impact produce a global deluge? International Conference on ‘THE ATLANTIS HYPOTHESIS: SEARCHING FOR A LOST LAND’, 11 – 13 July 2005, Island of Melos, Greece. In press. [2] Ackerman, J. (pseudonym Angiras) (1996 / 1999). Chaos: A new Solar System Paradigm. Haverford, Pa.: Infinity Publications. [3] Ackerman, J. (pseudonym Angiras) (1996 / 1999). Firmament. Haverford, Pa.: Infinity Publications. [4] Allen, R. H. (18991 / 1963). Star-Names and Their Meaning. G.E. Stechert Publications or Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. New York: Dover Publication. [5] Asher, D.J., Clube, S.V.M. & Steel D.I (1993). Asteroids in the Tauri Complex. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 264 (1), p. 93. [6] Asher, D.J. & Izumi K. (1998). Meteor observations in Japan: new implications for a Taurid meteoroid swarm. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 297(1), pp. 23-27. [7] Bancroft, H. H. (1886). The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. 3 "The Native Races". San Francisco: The History Co. [8] Barnard, N. (ed.) (1972). Early Chinese Art and its possible Influence in the Pacific Basin, vol. 1 New York: Intercultural Arts Press. [9] Barnard, N. (1973). The Chu Silk Manuskript .Translation and Commentary, part 2. Canberra: Australian National University.
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