Subject: The Mysterious Origins of Man, Atlantis, Mammoths, and Crustal Shift Date: Sat, 1
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Newsgroups: talk.origins,sci.skeptic
Subject: The Mysterious Origins of Man, Atlantis, Mammoths, and Crustal Shift
From: Heinrich
Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 00:37:46 -0600
The Mysterious Origins of Man, Atlantis, Mammoths, and Crustal Shift
The last segment of the Mysterious Origins of Man (MOM) concerns the
claims of Rand Flem-Ath and Graham Hancock that an unknown advanced
civilization existed on the Antarctica continent and was destroyed by
cataclysmic shifting of the crust of the Earth. Rand and Rose Flem-Ath
in their book _When the Sky Fell_ claim that the lost advanced
civilization of Graham Hancock was Atlantis based upon a very liberal,
loose, and speculative interpretation of the myth of Atlantis as told
by Plato. Regardless of whatever a person chooses to call it, the main
claim is that the remains of advanced, lost technological civilization
lies buried beneath Antarctica.
As asked by Charlton Heston, if such a civilization existed, why have
not the ruined cities, infrastructure, and other artifacts of a lost
advanced civilization that made the source maps for the Piri Reis,
Oronteus Finaeus, and Buache maps and inspired megalithic architecture
not been found?
The according to MOM, Graham Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods) and
Rand FLem-Ath is that the remains the remains of this civilization lie
buried beneath the Antarctic ice cap where it was destroyed and buried
earth crustal displacement.
In MOM, Graham Hancock notes that currently Antarctica is a virtually
uninhabitable frozen wasteland. He then asks;
_How could any civilization have survived there only 12,000
years ago?_
The Mammoth Myths of MOM
Then Mr. Hancock claims that the discovery of a small woolly mammoth
frozen in ice in Russia in 1977 by a bulldozer operator is a clue to
the answer of the above question. Concerning this topic, Mr. Hancock
made this claim and Mr. Heston provides the details.
Almost immediately, MOM either omits or provides false information
concerning this mammoth. The details provided by Mr. Heston and
the pictures accompanying his narration clearly identify this find
as a baby mammoth, called either _Dima_ or the _Kirgilyakh
Mammoth_ (Lister and Bahn 1994, p. 48-49: Uraintseva 1993,
p. 44-66). First, MOM fails to mention that Dima was dated at
41,000+/-900 B.P.(Uraintseva 1993). Furthermore, MOMıs claim
that this mammoth was found in a _block of dirty ice_ is
incorrect and misleading. Dima was found partially mired in
gravely loams and buried by a gravely debris flow. Later,
two intersecting ice veins formed within these fluvial sediments
of Terrace III. Finally, Dima was greatly malnourished at the
time of her death and heavily infested by intestinal parasites
which explains why she became mired in the sediments (Shilo
et al. 1983, Uraintseva 1993). Therefore, Dima is much too old
to be any sort of evidence for a cataclysm around 12,000 B.P. In
fact, as documented by Shilo et al. (1983) And Uraintseva (1993),
the sediments containing Dima are of noncatastrophic fluvial origin
and contain, as does her gut, pollen from a variety of tundra
types and localized larch forests. There is absolutely no evidence
of temperate or trpoical plants associated with this mammoth.
Referring the time of an alleged cataclysm, 12,000 B.P., Mr.
Hancock in MOM continues:
_A kind of zone of death all over the northern hemisphere,
northern Siberia, and northern Canada. We find the frozen
carcasses of hundreds of thousands of large mammal species._
The _zone of death_ mentioned above is a melodramatic
exaggeration that has no basis in fact. First, their claim that
hundreds of thousands of frozen carcasses have been found is
simply incorrect. At most, only a few tens of frozen carcasses
have been documented in all of Siberia and Alaska. In Canada,
the frozen mammal material found consists of scraps of hide and
muscle found attached to bones. All of these _frozen
carcasses_ that have been carefully examined show evidence of
decomposition, scavenging, or both prior to be buried, e.g.
Gutherie (1990). Also, the sediments in which these carcasses
occur are clearly of noncatastrophic origin (Gutherie 1990,
Lister and Bahn 1994, Pewe 1975, Uraintseva 1993). Additional
information can be found at:
_Woolly Mammoths: Evidence of Catastrophe?_ by Sue Bishop and
P.R. Burns at > http://earth.ics.uci.edu:8080/faqs/mammoths.html <
Radiocarbon dates for such carcasses of mammoths, horses, bison
compiled in the above talk.origins FAQ, Pewe (1975), and
Uraintseva (1993) clearly show that the majority of these frozen
remains greatly predate 12,000 B.P., the date of the catastrophe
alleged by MOM, by a few to tens of thousands of years. Thus,
these _frozen carcasses_ fail to be credible evidence of any
catastrophe around 12,000 B.P.
MOM further claims concerning these fossils:
_When their stomachs contents are examined, as they have
been, they are found to have been grazing on warm weather
vegetation. Yet, they are now positioned extremely close to
the North Pole._
Numerous studies of the pollen and vegetable remains found
in the stomachs clearly prove these claims to be false. Uraintseva
(1993) summarizes the results of studies by several Russian
geologists and palynologists from the guts or sediments surrounding
these carcasses, e.g. Dima (Belya and Kisterova 1978), Berezoka
Mammoth (Tikhomirov and Kupriyanova 1954), the Selerikahn
Horse (Tikhomirov and Kultina 1973), and many more studies. (See
Uraintseva for the references.) In none of these cases were any
evidence of _warm weather vegetation_ found. On this point, an
abundance of evidence clearly proves MOM and Mr. Hancock to
be greatly mistaken and unaware of significant data and research
concerning the subject about which they are talking.
Based on these claims, MOM proposes that Earth crustal
displacement is the only theory which really explains the
mystery of why the land that they on was shoved into a much
colder climate very suddenly. This proposal of MOM is incorrect
because it is based upon false claims and a nonexistent mystery.
There is absolutely no evidence that Siberia, northern Canada,
and northern Alaska suddenly became colder about 12,000 B.P.,
much less shifted. The mystery to which MOM claims Earth crustal
displacement to be the solution, is a mystery fabricated by
presenting misinformation and mythology as fact and ignoring any
scientific research and data that contradicts this claim. There is
no evidence that these areas were shoved suddenly into a much
colder climate. That permafrost containing the remains of frozen
mammoths, bison, and other mammals 32,000 to over 50,000
years old clearly indicate that northern Siberia and Alaska have
been either as cold as present or colder for a long time before
12,000 B.P. As a result, there is no mystery for Earth crustal
displacement to explain.
Professor Charles Hapgood
MOM then talks about how Professor Charles Hapgood was fascinated
by the claim, which MOM incorrectly calls a _fact_, that thousands
of animals being completely frozen in a brief moment in geologic
time and ancients maps that he considered to maps of Antarctica
when it was ice-free. Dr. Hapgood considered these claims to be
evidence that Antarctica was frozen over very quickly which he
explained by Earth crustal displacement.
As previously noted, the _frozen animals_ themselves and the
pollen and plant remains found by and in them all argue against
them being frozen in a geologic moment. Furthermore, Dr.
Hapgood is incorrect in his claims that ancient maps show either
a partially or completely ice-free Antarctica. For example when
the Buache map of 1873 is compared to maps of the subglacial
topography of Antarctica, e.g. Drewry (1983), it shows absolutely
no similarity to it, even when the subglacial topography is
corrected for isostatic rebound. Thus, when Mr. Hancock on
MOM claims:
_About 12,000 years ago, there was a displacement of the
Earthıs crust. the entire outer shell of the Earth moved
something like 2,000 miles._
MOM fails to present any evidence to back it up this claim.
Furthermore in MOM, Mr. Hancock then claims:
_And, ah, when the Earthıs crust shifted, all of Antarctica
is encapsulated by the polar zone and at the same time North
America is released from the Arctic Circle and becomes
temperate. So we have ice melting in north America and ice
forming in Antarctica._
This statement is grossly incorrect. Summaries of the glacial
geology of North America, the Northern Hemisphere, and
Antarctica, e.g. Sibrava et al. (1986) and Denton et al. (1991)
clearly demonstrate the maximum extent of the ice sheets in
both North America and Antarctica occurred at the same time
about 21,000 to 18,000 B.P. The studies cited in both Sibrava
et al. (1986) and Denton et al. (1991) contain numerous papers
that contradict the above claims with hard evidence. The glacial
and interglacial periods are worldwide, not regional in extent.
Curiously, MOM neither acknowledges the existence nor refutes
the validity of any of these papers.
Dr. Albert Einstein
MOM then quotes a letter dated May 8, 1953 and published in
_The Path of the Pole_ by Dr. Charles Hapgood (1970) in which
Dr. Albert Einstein wrote:
_I find your arguments very impressive and have the
impression that your hypothesis is correct. One can hardly
doubt that significant shifts of the crust of the Earth have
taken place repeatedly and within a short period of time._
When reading this quote, a person has to remember that this quote
was made in 1953 long before much of what is now known about
plate tectonics; the structure of the mantle and crust of the Earth;
the Quaternary geology of Antarctica, Alaska, and Siberia; the
creation of the _frozen_ mammoths and other animals; and many
other things had been discovered. No matter how brilliant a
person might be, there conclusions can be only as good as the
data that is available to them. In the case of Dr. Einstein, his
conclusions are erroneous because they are built on data which
research over the last 43 years has shown to be incorrect and
obsolete.
Earth Crustal Displacement
After the statement by Dr. Albert Einstein, MOM makes claims
that the concept of Earth crustal displacement is based upon the
well accepted theory of plate tectonics which proposes that
individual continents have been slowly drifting around for
million of years. MOM claims that continental drifts occurs
_because the outer crust of the Earth floats on a semi-fluid
layer._ It suggests that the theory of crustal displacement
takes this principle one step further by proposing that the entire
crust can shift in one piece like the loose skin of an orange.
In this case, the claims of MOM are built upon a simplistic
and greatly erroneous concept of plate tectonics. It is a
gross misconception to claim that the crust is floating on
a liquid, even semi-fluid, mantle. That is a very inaccurate
and misrepresentation of the earth's structure. The crust
of the earth is firmly attached to the upper mantle such that
there is no possibility that the crust can slide around and about
independently. It is a layer between 100-150 km deep, a low
velocity layer called the _asthenosphere_, that is believed to
be plastic, i.e. highly viscous. It is more viscous than lava
and certainly not semi-fluid as MOM would like us to
believe. The mantle is certainly not fluid enough to
allow the rapid movement that MOM claims has happened.
The rate at which the mantle deforms is measurable
from how fast isostatic rebound and depression occurs as a
result of deglaciation and glaciation. Isostatic depression
has also been documented as occurring under the weight of
newly created reservoirs. Any good beginning geology
textbook, e.g. Plummer and McGeary (1995), explains the
true nature of the crust and mantle which MOM ignores.
(Note: some of this material has been paraphrased from
a post by Jim Loftus.)
Towards the end, Mr. Rand Flem-Ath claims that Hapgood
documented three Earth-crustal displacements in the last hundred
thousand years. Both he and Hapgood (1970) claim that they
occur every 41,000 years. There are many problems with these
claims including that contradictory data and studies are ignored,
the difference between the magnetic pole and geographic pole
is ignored, and that almost innumerable studies of the Quaternary
geology, paleoclimatology, palynology, and paleomagnetism
within North America, Antarctica, Europe, and other places
universally fail to indicate that any such displacements took
place. Many of these studies were conducted after Hapgood
(1970) was published.
Finally, MOM states that _cataclysmic_ Earth crust displacement /
shift is caused by an imbalance of ice at the polar caps as ice
builds up over time at the poles. Eventually MOM claims that
the weight of the ice drags the crust over as the result an
imbalance that drags the outer crust and continents into new
positions. Besides ignoring the fact that the crust is firmly
welded to the mantle, the Earth crust displacement theories
ignores the fact that isostatic depression of the crust by the
weight of the ice sheets completely compensates for any
imbalance. Also, the ice does not continue to build up
indefinitely as MOM and other _crustal displacers_ would
imply. At a certain thickness, the ice starts flowing from where
it is building up to edges of the ice sheet where it either melts,
sublimates, or breaks off into the sea as bergs. Thus, there is a
limit to how much ice can accumulate in one place. As a result
of these processes, it is impossible for enough ice to
accumulate such that an ice cap will create an imbalance at
the poles large enough to cause crustal displacement, even
if it was physically possible for the crust to shift as a single
unit.
Conclusion
In the final segment of MOM, Mr. Hancock concludes:
_If Hapgood's theory is possible and land masses can
suddenly shift 2,000 miles, it might explain how an entire
continent and its people could have been lost to history._
The problem is that the Earth crustal displacement theory is
falsified by what has been currently documented concerning
the Quaternary geology of North America and Antarctica and
the structure of the crust and mantle that it can be considered
scientifically bankrupt and incapable of explaining anything.
In addition, there is a lack of credible evidence for
Antarctica having been ice-free enough to support a civilization
for the last 3 to 15 million years.
References
Denton, G. H., Prentice, M. L., Burkle, L. H., 1991, Cainozoic
history of the Antarctic ice sheet. in R. J. Tingey (ed.), The
Geology of Antarctica, Clarendon Press, Oxford, England,
pp. 365-433.
Drewry, D. J., editor, 1983, Antarctica: Glaciological and
Geophysical Folio. Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.
Gutherie, R. Dale. 1990. Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppes:
The Story of Blue Babe. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Illinois. 323 pp.
Hapgood, C. H., 1970, The Path of Pole, Chilton Book
Company, Philadelphia.
Lister, A., and Bahn, P., 1994, Mammoths. MacMillion, New
York, 168 pp.
Pewe, T. L., 1975, Quaternary Geology of Alaska. U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper no. 835, U.S. Geological Survey,
Reston, Virigina, 145 pp.
Plummer, C. C., and McGeary, D., 1995, Physical Geology, 7th
edition, William C. Brown, New York, 539 pp.
Shilo, N. A., Lozhkin, A. A., Titov, E. E., and Shumilov, Yu. V.,
1983, Kirgilyakh Mammoth. Nauka, Moscow, 433 pp. (Russian)
Sibrava, V., Bowen, D. Q., and Richmond, G. M., 1986, Quaternary
Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere. Quaternary Science Reviews,
vol. 5, Pergamon Press, New York, 507 pp.
Uraintseva, V. V., 1993, Vegetation Cover and Environment of the
³Mammoth Epoch² in Siberia. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs,
South Dakota, Inc., Hot Springs, South Dakota, 308 pp.
Zimmerman, M. R., and R. H. Tedford. 1976. Histologic
Structures Preserved for 21,300 Years. Science, vol. 194,
no. 426, pp. 183-184.
Sincerely,
Paul V. Heinrich
(as a private citizen)
heinrich@intersurf.com
Baton Rouge, LA
Earthquakes don't kill people.
Overpasses and buildings kill people.
-anonymous civil engineer
All comments are the personal opinion of the writer and
do not constitute policy and/or opinion of government
or corporate entities, including my employer.
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank
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