Aftershock

by Brien Foerster

  This suggests that the survival of mega fauna populations during earlier interglacial periods is essentially irrelevant to the terminal Pleistocene extinction event, because bison were not present in similar abundance during any of the earlier interglacial periods.

  The most obvious change associated with the termination of an ice age is the increase in temperature. Between 15,000 and 10,000 BC, a six-degree Celsius increase in global mean annual temperatures occurred. This was generally thought to be the cause of the extinctions. According to this hypothesis, a temperature increase sufficient to melt the Wisconsin ice sheet could have placed enough thermal stress on cold adapted mammals to cause them to die. Their heavy fur, which helps conserve body heat in the glacial cold, might have prevented the dumping of excess heat, causing the mammals to die of heat exhaustion. Large mammals, with their reduced surface area-to-volume ratio, would have fared worse than small mammals.

  The catastrophic event of about 12,000 years ago, having melted much of the planet's ice and causing a global sea rise of some 350 feet, could have been so intense as to have raised global temperatures by six-degrees Celsius, as has been previously stated. This we will get into in more depth later, as we explore the idea that the ending of the last ice age was not a gradual event, as most people would assume, but fast and intense.

  Finally, the Hyper Disease Hypothesis attributes the extinction of large mammals during the late Pleistocene to indirect effects of the newly arrived aboriginal humans. (22) The Hyper Disease Hypothesis proposes that humans or animals travelling with them, such as chickens or domestic dogs, introduced one or more highly virulent diseases into vulnerable populations of native mammals, eventually causing extinctions. The extinction was biased toward larger-sized species because smaller species have greater resilience due to their life history traits, as in shorter gestation time, greater population sizes, etc. Humans are thought to be the cause because other earlier immigrations of mammals into North America from Eurasia did not cause extinctions. (23)

  If a disease was indeed responsible for the end-Pleistocene extinctions, then there are several criteria it must satisfy. First, the pathogen must have a stable carrier state in a reservoir species. That is, it must be able to sustain itself in the environment when there are no susceptible hosts available to infect. Second, the pathogen must have a high infection rate, such that it is able to infect virtually all individuals of all ages and sexes encountered. Third, it must be extremely lethal, with a mortality rate of around 50 to 75%. Finally, it must have the ability to infect multiple host species without posing a serious threat to humans. Humans may be infected, but the disease must not be highly lethal or able to cause an epidemic. Numerous species including wolves, mammoths, camelids, and horses had emigrated continually between Asia and North America over the past 100,000 years. For the disease hypothesis to be applicable in the case of the Americas, it would require that the population remain immunologically naive despite this constant transmission of genetic and pathogenic material.

  By the 20th century, scientists had rejected old tales of world catastrophe, and were convinced that global climate could change only gradually over many tens of thousands of years. But, in the 1950s, a few scientists found evidence that some changes in the past had taken only a few thousand years. During the 1960s and 1970s other data, supported by new theories and new attitudes about human influences, reduced the time a change might require to hundreds of years. Many doubted that such a rapid shift could have befallen the planet as a whole. The 1980s and 1990s brought proof (chiefly from studies of ancient ice) that the global climate could indeed shift, radically and catastrophically, within a century, perhaps even within a decade.

  Graph showing millions of years of the Earth's surface temperature

  For one group of American scientists on the ice in Greenland, the ‘moment of truth’ struck on a single day in midsummer 1992 as they analyzed a cylinder of ice, recently emerged from the drill hole, that came from the last years of the Younger Dryas. The Younger Dryas was a geologically brief (1,300 ± 70 years) period of cold climatic conditions and drought, which occurred between approximately 12,800 and 11,500 years BC. The American scientists saw an obvious change in the ice, visible within three snow layers that spanned scarcely three years! The team analyzing the ice was first excited, then sobered their view of how climate change had shifted irrevocably. The European team reported seeing a similar step within at most five years (later studies found a big temperature jump within a single year). (24) Might the change have been restricted only to parts of the world near Greenland? The first results, from the Norwegian Sea in 1992, confirmed that the abrupt changes seen in Greenland ice cores were not confined to Greenland alone. Later work on seabed cores from the California coast to the Arabian Sea, and on chemical changes recorded in cave stalagmites from Switzerland to China, confirmed that the oscillations found in the Greenland ice had been felt throughout the northern hemisphere. (25)

  The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis or Clovis comet hypothesis is the theoretical large air burst or Earth impact of an object or objects from outer space that initiated the Younger Dryas cold period about 12,900 BC. (26) The hypothesized impact event scenario stated that the air burst(s) or impact(s) of a swarm of carbonaceous chondrites (nonmetallic meteorites high in carbon content), or comet fragments, set areas of the North American continent on fire, causing the extinction of most of the mega fauna and the demise of the North American Clovis culture after the last glacial period. (27) This swarm is hypothesized to have exploded above or possibly on the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the region of the Great Lakes, though no impact crater has been yet identified.

  The hypothesis proposed that animal and human life in North America not directly killed by the blast or the resulting coast-to- coast wildfires, would have likely starved on the burned surface of the continent. The evidence claimed for an impact event includes a charred carbon-rich layer of soil that has been found at some 50 Clovis dated sites across the continent. The layer contains unusual materials (Nano diamonds, metallic micro spherules, carbon spherules, magnetic spherules, iridium, charcoal, soot, and fullerenes enriched in helium-3) interpreted as evidence of an impact event, at the very bottom of the black mat of organic material that marks the beginning of the Younger Dryas. (28) The idea that Earth-based volcanism, other natural processes, or human activity being responsible have been ruled out.

  Telltale points of the Clovis culture

  Recent research has been reported that at Lake Cuitzeo in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, evidence supporting the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis was found in lake bed cores dating to 12,900 BC. The evidence included properly identified Nano diamonds, carbon spherules, and magnetic spherules. Multiple analyses demonstrated the presence of three allotropes of Nano diamond: n-diamond, i-carbon, and hexagonal Nano diamond (lonsdaleite). Multiple hypotheses were examined to account for these observations, though none were believed to be terrestrial.

  If it is assumed that the hypothesis supposes that all effects of the putative impact on Earth's biosphere would have been brief, all extinctions caused by the impact should have occurred simultaneously. However, there is much evidence that the mega fauna’s extinctions that occurred across northern Eurasia, North and South America at the end of the Pleistocene were not synchronous. The extinctions in South America appear to have occurred at least 400 years after the extinctions in North America. (33)

  If there was indeed a strike from outer space, the effect would have most likely been global, affecting wind patterns, and thus the climate of the entire planet. Whether this catastrophe was the result of celestial bodies impacting the Earth, plasma from the sun, energy from the galactic center or in fact a combination of all of the above, the effects on human populations would have most likely been as dire as those on the mega fauna.

  As we look around the world, especially in Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, the west coast of Italy, Peru, and Bolivia, there are stone structures and the rema
ins of others which don't easily fit into the standard picture of history. The pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Puma Punku in Bolivia, and the great megalithic wall of Sachsayhuaman in Peru are but three examples of astonishingly well-made stone works which modern engineers, stone masons, and other experts puzzle over. Conventional academics in general date these structures well within the standard timeline of so-called civilization. The generally prescribed creation date of the three pyramids of Giza is about 2500 BC, Puma Punku is alleged to have been constructed around 600 AD, and Sachsayhuaman approximately 1200 to 1400 AD. However, what intrigues engineers, architects, stone masons, and other professionals is the extreme precision of the work, often in very hard stone, which many archaeologists insist was usually achieved using bronze and or copper chisels, wooden measuring devices, and stone hammers.

  The rise of civilization as we know it, or are taught in school, tends to follow the following formula. Two prerequisites for civilization are the human ability to organize and the production of food in large quantities. Large amounts of food made large populations possible, but only if they could be effectively organized.

  In the space of 5000 years, from 8000 to 3000 BC, the earliest settled villages grew into full civilizations in Iraq, Egypt, Anatolia, Iran, India, Pakistan, and China. Among the important steps in the movement toward civilization were irrigation, the city-state, trade, metalworking, and writing. (30) It is not accidental that the cradles of civilization were river valleys such as the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow.

  The mysterious and famous 'H blocks' of Puma Punku

  The land around these rivers must have been recognized as being rich, but the source of their richness was new soil deposited each year when the rivers flooded. The valleys were not useful to the earliest farmers until they learned to control flooding or adapt to it. The rise of civilization was partly the story of learning to control these rivers and realizing the potential of the land. More is known about the history of the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile civilizations than others because these areas have been extensively excavated.

  The Nile at Aswan

  These three rivers carry water from highlands far inland to the sea, passing through very arid regions. The contrast between the land adjacent to the river and that a short distance away is striking. Desert can exist only a few hundred yards from the Nile, for example. The land around the rivers is rich, but making it bloom required the transfer of water to those parts of the valley not adjacent to the river; and the construction of large-scale irrigation projects required a large communal effort and organization. Once irrigation was understood and in place, food production soared along the rivers, making these valleys the richest and most populous places on Earth. The relative riches of the area made possible specialization of labor, leisure time, the development of the arts and, in some cases, the necessity of defense. (31) Though wars, climate shifts and other disturbances have occurred in Iraq, Egypt, Anatolia, Iran, India, Pakistan, and China, cultures there have continued to exist to the present day.

  2. Peru and Bolivia

  We will now discuss where megalithic remains can be found to this very day that may be examples of works done prior to the great cataclysm. Of course, this flies in the face of conventional history and archaeology, but is in fact the point of the book.

  In the cases of Bolivia and Peru organized groups, or civilizations, appeared later. The Tiwanaku culture, and the area it inhabited by the same name on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca,was the largest and most famous in Bolivia. The area around Tiwanaku may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BC as a small agricultural village. (32) Around 400 AD a state in the Titicaca basin began to develop and an urban capital was built at Tiwanaku itself, which is now an archaeological site still undergoing, and awaiting, future excavation. The community grew to urban proportions between AD 600 and AD 800, becoming an important regional power in the southern Andes. Early estimates figured that the city had covered approximately 6.5 square kilometers at its maximum, with 15,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. (29)

  However, satellite imaging since the late 20th century has caused researchers to dramatically raise their estimates of population. They found that the extent of fossilized suka kollus across the three primary valleys of Tiwanaku appeared to have the capacity to support a population of between 285,000 and 1,482,000 people. (30) The empire continued to grow, absorbing cultures rather than eradicating them. The elites' power continued to grow along with the surplus of resources until about 950 AD. At this time a dramatic shift in climate occurred, as is typical for the region. (31)

  In Peru, though there were many cultures of relative sophistication, none rivaled the fame and levels of development of the Inca. Prior to their existence as a cohesive civilization - and some say that the Tiwanaku were their forebears - the Wari were the largest organized people of the Andes and Peruvian coast. The Wari flourished from about 600 to 1000 AD, centered on a city called Wari near present day Ayacucho. They created new fields with terraced field technology and invested in construction of a major road network. Several centuries later, when the Inca began to expand their empire, they drew on both of these innovations. As a result of centuries of drought, the Wari culture began to deteriorate around 800 AD. Archeologists have determined that the city of Wari was dramatically depopulated by 1000 AD, although it continued to be occupied by a small number of descendant groups. Buildings in Wari and in other government centers had doorways that were deliberately blocked up, as if the Wari intended to return, someday, when the rains returned. (32)

  The gradual collapse of the Wari more or less corresponded with the rise of the Inca. As was stated above, the Inca may have been the descendants of the Tiwanaku, but opinions greatly differ on this issue. It is more likely that the Inca evolved on the islands of the Sun and Moon in Lake Titicaca, and were forced out of the area by climate change, and attacks from the local Aymara people. (33) The case for the islands versus the Tiwanaku origin theory is that the terracing systems on the islands of the Sun and Moon are very Inca-like in character, as are the building construction styles. Also, Inca style pottery can be found in profusion on both islands, but the same cannot be said of Tiwanaku. Evidence of Inca ceramics at the latter was most likely from Inca occupation centuries later, and Inca-style construction was in fact far inferior to what is seen at Tiwanaku.

  The Inca made Cusco their center, to the north of Lake Titicaca and it remained their capital until the arrival and destruction by the Spanish conquistadors in 1533. By this time, the Inca world stretched from Colombia in the north to the middle of Chile and Argentina in the south, the Pacific Ocean in the west and Amazon basin to the east. Some of the most astonishing achievements of the Inca, which puzzle, again, experts such as engineers and stone masons, are their constructions in stone. The arrival of the Spanish in 1532 brought knowledge of concrete, and this process was used extensively by these colonists to construct their cities, including Cusco. The Inca did not know of concrete, and used instead a local clay mortar to fill in the spaces between the stones in their buildings, walls, etc.

  Astonishing accuracy of the Coricancha - the stone is basalt

  One also finds, even to this day, some amazing works such as the aforementioned Sachsayhuaman and the Coricancha in Cusco, where no mortar of any kind was used. It was stone-on-stone, with astonishing accuracy of fit. In the Inca toolkit, as found in the archaeological record, only copper and bronze chisels have been found, along with wooden measuring instruments and stone pounders or hammers. Conventional archaeologists contend that such tools were responsible for the refined workmanship seen in Cusco and other ‘Inca’ areas. However, the stone used - granite, andesite, and basalt - are harder than the majority of the tools used, and thus could not have been responsible for the work. The same is true of Tiwanaku and the connected site of Puma Punku. Massive megalithic blocks with sculpted surfaces are found at these locations, made of local sandstone, which would be difficult to shape with bronze chisels and ston
e hammers. However, the real enigmas are the even harder andesite and basalt stones, cut and shaped with such precision that modern engineers, stone masons, and other professionals question how such work could have been achieved without at least 20th century technology.

  The author with 'H blocks' at Puma Punku

  Most historians and oral traditions suggest that the Inca left their homeland of the islands of the Sun and Moon, and nearby Copacabana, around 950 AD, having been driven out of the area by approximately 40 years of drought and attacks by local Aymara tribal people. Although of course Lake Titicaca has massive amounts of water, the minerals that it contains to this very day as the result of having once been ocean makes that water not useable for agriculture. It is well known that the Inca traveled to Cusco following an ancient Wari, and perhaps even earlier Tiwanaku culture trail. This trail closely hugs the Vilcanota River from its source in the high Altiplano near Pucara in present day Peru. Along this route, there is a megalithic construction at a small town called Raqchi, which was adopted by the Inca and eventually became what is known as the temple of Viracocha.

  Megalithic foundations below adobe work at Temple of Viracocha

  Viracocha could have been the creator God of the Inca, a separate and earlier race known as the Viracochan, or the high Sapa ruling Inca that named himself after the creator. The evidence that the Inca inherited an older and far more technologically sophisticated site is most evident in the central wall of the temple of the Viracocha complex. Here we can see that the base of the construction is made up of large and tight fitting basalt blocks whereas above is rough stone and mud clay work. Since the lower work must be older, it is safe to presume that it is pre-Inca.