Regarding the catastrophes recorded in tree rings, I recommend the book:
Catastrophe: A Quest for the Origins of the Modern World. By David Keys.
The author presents evidence that a major volcanic eruption in 535AD
destabilized the earth's climate and brought the end to any number of
civilizations. Not being independently familiar with the material, I'd
appreciate feedback from the rock geeks on the list regarding it, but I
found it pursuasive.
Grace & peace,
Dennis Sweitzer
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:00:56 EDT
From: MikeSatterlee@cs.com
Subject: Re: 2900 BC vs. 2350 BC and Bible chronology
Joel (or is it Robert?),
You wrote: I apologize if I missed it but I am interested in the tree ring
data and I was wondering if you had given a reference for climatological
interpretation of the Mesopotanian region based on tree rings. I would like
to get the original articles for my own collection.
One of the articles I originally linked to had a link to this article:
http://www.asnsw.com/articles/tda-gb.htm
It says in part:
Mike Baillie is Professor of Palaeoecology at Queens University, Belfast,
Northern Ireland. He is an authority on tree rings and their use in dating
ancient events (every year, a tree adds a "ring" to its trunk as it grows -
good years are represented by thick rings while bad years are represented by
thin rings). He conducted a complete (and continuous) review of annual
global
tree growth patterns over the last 5,000 years and found that there were
five
major environmental shocks that were witnessed worldwide. These shocks were
reflected in the ring widths being very thin. Wanting to know more, he
turned
to human historical records, and found that the years in question (between
2354 and 2345 BC, 1628 and 1623 BC, 1159 and 1141 BC, 208 and 204 BC, and AD
536 and 545) all corresponded with "dark ages" in civilisation.
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