Re: A bolide did it! No... not really.

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

Mr. Lovejoy, yes, I agree with you when you say the stories are circumstantial, 
and thanks for posting them.

Think about it... Signs from the sky, especially comets, meteors and stars, 
have always been seen as signals from god and/or harbingers of impending 
doom... Even if there were no objects traversing the sky at the time, they 
would be made up and slapped into the story for dramatic effect. Jesus Christ 
supposedly was born under what? Even if there is little in the way of evidence 
to say that the *star* actually occurred, people have tried over and over and 
over again to jam in a phenomenon that would fit the *star*. The term 
*disaster* even means *death star*. I see these stories as being insights into 
the mindset of people of those ages. Astrology is still used today. Why?  It's 
not because it predicts anything. 

Again... It is as I wrote in my original post... The authors of the article 
blaming a bolide for the cooling of climate seem to be forgetting that it 
didn't just snap cold over night in the years 536-545 A.D. The Dark Ages Cold 
Period actually began roughly 100 B.C. and lasted until about 700 A.D. How many 
historical meteor showers, as in those that happen even today, would have taken 
place over such an expanse of time??? They would have been perfect scapegoats 
for completely destitute people to dump their woes upon with elaborate story 
telling. Just as you wrote, Dr. Clube thinks that he has shown a peak in the 
Taurid-Arietids taking place at the start of the Dark Ages. Even though we are 
unable to accurately predict the size or intensity of meteor showers that occur 
today, giving Dr. Clube the benefit of the doubt would be an impact loverâs 
dream come true. Sure, these showers are caused by the earth entering into the 
debris trail of comets, and even Tunguska is suspecte!
 d !
to have been a piece of comet Encke since the air-blast took place during the 
Taurids... an idea I believe to be correct. But seriously... Imagine if we 
would snap into a bad cold spell... akin to what took place when 
theThermohaline Circulation weakened in the 1970s... and during that time, 
years after it got cold, we had one hell of a Leonid show... the entire sky set 
ablaze... and a paper is published blaming the meteors for the weather......... 

I often think that the theory... the need... for impacts to be THE cause for 
extinctions, particularly the KT, has become such an effective cloud of 
judgment, that other, more viable alternatives, in this case for climate 
change, are gingerly tossed aside as support for *The Impact-Induced Event*, no 
matter how circumstantial that support may be, is sought out with an almost 
religious fervor, and when found, is taken as evidence after the fact for an 
already foregone conclusion.

And that's really all I have to say about that.

Kris
http://hometown.aol.com/Saurierlagen/Paleo-Photography.html