Archaeologica.org

Not really convincing...

They try to tie it to myths about Atlantis, which is somewhat off-putting.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015 ... y-atlantis

Hacker attack and slander attack continues...

Yes, this piece is poorly written.

Impact mega-tsunamis differ from seismic tsunamis in size and force.
The piece should have started with that data, and then gone on to the literature.

What is interesting is the total number of tsunamis that have occurred in the Mediterranean
in the recent past.

A really big one destroyed Malta ca 2,360 BCE - it left no one alive.

The recent tsunamis in the Med are not related to impact ,and there is no suggestion that the earlier ones were either .
Absolutely no evidence to support “it left no one alive.” which used to be “the complete disappearance of that culture”

Hi George -

First off, I need to state that it may not have been an impact mega-tsunami that hit Malta.

It may well have been an air burst.

Other than that, you need to go back and check the data from Malta.
No one was left.
Either blown or washed from the face of the Earth.

It would kind of be nice to know which.

Yes of course it may not have been an impact mega-tsunami that hit Malta .
Malta has been hit with tsunamis regularly, throughout prehistory and recorded history with no evidence to support any having been impact mega tsunamis .
“A really big one destroyed Malta ca 2,360 BCE - it left no one alive.”
No it didn’t , Malta was still there along with the monuments that predated the tsunami to suffer even more tsunamis .
“No one was left. Either blown or washed from the face of the Earth. “
Is just hyperbole , we know the effect of the tsunami and there is absolutely no evidence to support that comment .

Sorry, George, but there is about a 200 year hiatus with no one around.

The material culture appears to have simply disappeared, as far as is currently known.

This is for the whole island, so regular tsunami will not explain it.

If there are no signs of impact mega-tsunami, or some massive seismic tsunami,
then one other possibility is air burst.

In any case, since people live on Malta now, it would probably be a very good thing to determine exactly what happened then.

PS - Who do you think may put together plans to help Turkey with the Karahan Tepe site?
Keep in mind that whoever gets it, their careers will be just about as guaranteed as possible, unless they are really really really incompetent.

Turkey also has the Tel of bronze age Lydia, which for me appeals very closely to troweling through the seismic tsunami deposits on Crete.

E.P. Grondine wrote:
there is about a 200 year hiatus with no one around.

A nonsensical statement .How do you imagine you retrieve this from the archaeological record ?

A change in culture does not mean "the people on Malta disappear from the face of the Earth the same year as the Rio Cuarto impacts, 2,360 BCE."

E.P. Grondine wrote:If there are no signs of impact mega-tsunami, then one other possibility is air burst.

Or , as the people who wrote the recent report suggest , the far more likely reason being due to earthquake(s) .

Hello George -

That is just it - there was no change in culture, there was no culture - a 200 year hiatus in habitation - and the culture does not suddenly reappear elsewhere.

When you have that kind of complete cultural discontinuity, there are several possible causes -
seismic tsunami, impact tsunami or impact airburst, and PLAGUE.

It is important (very very very useful) to know exactly which one it was - in other words exactly what happened. There are people living on Malta now, and a hole lot of tourists.

When you have that kind of complete cultural discontinuity, there are several possible causes -
seismic tsunami, impact tsunami or impact airburst, and PLAGUE.

Or WAR.

Minimalist wrote: Or WAR.

In the case of war, remains of weapons are found, as well as the remains of spoils of war at other locations.

By the way, when I went on to archaeologica at another computer, and the Apache script just appeared as plain text. I apologize if this was caused by the hacker attack on my home machine.

Its hard to say what is feared most: the next part of the rise in sea levels, announcements of the removal of other sites/artifacts from the Ohio Historical Society's control, exposure of some spiritual thieves, discussion of the distribution of X mt DNA, or something else, such as discussion of the distribution of Adena (Andaste) 14 C dates by site location.

When those responsible for this meet their fates, I will have had nothing to do with it.

But you have to know to look for it.

Viking raids on seaside villages left little in the way of evidence. The primary weapons were axes and swords and they would not leave them behind. If the primary goal is to take prisoners and drag them off that leaves little evidence too. The bodies of the dead would soon rot.

E.P.

I like your bringing up the possibility of disease.

This was a home port of a society of sailors.
They could be guilty of bringing home any number diseases from any number of places.

E.P. Grondine wrote:
That is just it - there was no change in culture, there was no culture - a 200 year hiatus in habitation - and the culture does not suddenly reappear elsewhere.
When you have that kind of complete cultural discontinuity, there are several possible causes -
seismic tsunami, impact tsunami or impact airburst, and PLAGUE.

There was a culture ,a very distinctive one . Like other cultures that were replaced it did not reappear elsewhere .
There are multiple possible reasons for the frequent changes in culture that have happened in prehistory and recorded history that are not related to impacts or tsunamis or plagues .

btw , I have had no access to the site ,apart from gobbleygook for over a week .