Catastrophe

Everyone who has had a history class that covered the Middle Ages knows of the plague that wiped out the world population in 1348-1350. What most people don't know is that around 500 AD, it happened then as well. The same results, 1/4 of the population died, and the author believes that possibly the major eruption of Krakatoa was the catalyst for the events that happened worldwide. Very good read, both for history, anthropology, archaeology, and paleopathology.

Recent years have seen the publication of several books offering radical new explanations of ancient events or presenting sweeping revisionist theories of history. Examples include Noah's Flood, Eden in the East, Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, and 1421: The Year China Discovered America. Catastrophe is one of the best of these. Archaeological writer David Keys has assembled multiple arguments supporting his theory that a major natural disaster around the year 535 altered the world's climate for years, causing famine and plague and triggering the collapse of existing political systems. He gives us brief but well-written summaries of events that sprang from this catastrophe, including the rise of Islam. According to Keys, this event ended an old world and gave birth to a new one whose patterns we still see today. After a process of elimination, Keys proposes that the cause of this disaster was a volcano in what is now the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. He warns that natural catastrophes in the future could change the world we know. Even if you don't agree with his conclusion, you will learn much from his reviews of historical events. This is fascinating stuff, and highly readable.

This is a remarkable book. Normally I feel almost automatic scepticism when encountering new theories that claim to completely trasform currently accepted views and conventional wisdom on a subject. Usually they fall far short of that. But this "Catastrophe" of David Keys is a rare exception. Not that I agree with everything the author claims, but it is well-argued, well-researched and very readable and interesting study.The period around the first half of the 6-th century A.D. is usually relegated to obscurity (with a few exceptions like the king Arthur mythology). For example, the standard edition of the classic Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" gives several chapters describing that period only in 1-page summaries, without mentioning anything resembling the events of the "Catastrophe". But something very important indeed happened around the year 535, although precisely how important will likely to be the subject of a scientific debate following D. Keys thesis.One of the drawbacks of the book, in my opinion, is author's attempt to describe the impact of the "Catastrophe" everywhere, which is sometimes repetitive and not always convincing, rather than concentrate on the regions and civilisations where the influence of the 535 A.D. climate event was the most crucial. To have a great impact on the world history, an event does not have to completely change everything in absolutely every corner of the globe, as the author painstakingly tries to prove.It would be more illuminating to make a "what if?" analysis, to compare the outcome of the 535 A.D. event to what could have happened without it. Had the "Catastrope" completely changed the course of history, or had it only accelerated the trends which were already in the making (decline of the Roman Empire, emergence of Islam, etc), and cut short some blind alleys? The book does not persue "what if" analysis, argues mostly for the first alternative, and offers very little on the second possibility. However the author could hardly be blamed for it. He is staking a claim by his thesis of the crucial role a 535 A.D. event, which is yet to be accepted (or not) by the scientific community and general readers. Naturally he wants to present this claims in volume and in dramatic fashion, rather than argue over some finer points. Author presents a rich and impresive collection of tree growth and temperature measurements to substantiate his analysis. But there are some questions arising. In some graphs the temperature and tree growth drop is most severe in 539 or 540, several years after the event, rather than its immediate aftermath. On some graphs a sharp drop of temperature around 535 looks in fact like a reversal to normal after increase in previous years. More detailed explanations and studies are due. There are other contradictions. For example, the geopolitical changes in the Eastern Mediterranean, in particular the invasion of Avars an

Within minutes of finishing this riveting, wide-ranging book, I was composing an email recommending it to several friends.The author -- archaeologist and journalist David Keys -- posits that a single event in about 535 CE triggered between 18 months and 3+ yrs of bad weather worldwide. The first calamity to follow the catastrophe was drought in some places, massive floods in others. On the heels of terrible weather came famine worldwide and plague in the old world. Implicated in and resulting from these, he traces massive movements of peoples in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and radical changes in government everywhere. (He reaches a bit when discussing North America, which has the thinnest archaeological and no historical evidence.)Among -- but not limited to -- the changes he attributes to the catastrophe are these --- the triumph of the Anglo-Saxons over the Celts- the entrenchment of Buddhism in Japan, and Japan's unification- new governmental structures in various SE Asian states- the "fall" of the Roman Empire- the rise of Islam- the flowering of Anasazi culture- the rise of the first pan-Peruvian empire- the abandonment of Arianism- the development of a Jewish state in today's southern Ukraine, leading to the separation of the Ashkenazim from the "original" JewsA significant part of the book is spent in explanation of some of the science used in dating historic events. Keys explains dendrochronology (dating by tree rings), the development of the study of glacial ice cores, and variations in carbon isotopes over time, among other methods. His explanations are thorough but simple, never lapsing into jargon.As an example of the breadth of his reach, here are the entries for "O" in the index (chosen because it's significantly shorter than most): Obadiah, king of Khazars; Oc Eo (Funan); Oghuz Turks; Ohio State University Institute of Polar Studies; Opone (East Africa); Osman; Ostrogoth; Ottoman Empire; Outuken Yish; Oxkintok, Teotihuacano influence in.Despite the fact that Keys writes as a layman, for a lay audience, the book is well footnoted. Don't worry, they're at the back of the book and can be ignored by those who choose to do so. Readers who use footnotes will find dozens of topics (that would be distractions in the text) explored, or at least mentioned in the notes. Keys also includes a several-page bibliography. I have already read several titles mentioned in the bibliography and no doubt will continue to use it as a resource.I am bored by reviewers who go on about what a book isn't. What Catastrophe is, is a well-annotated book that's readable, nicely written, and thoroughly researched, that won't insult its readers and is likely to inspire quite a few to explore new areas of interest. Oh yes, it's entertaining too!

I found this book to be a fascinating look at a time in history that is often skipped and glossed over as simply the 'dark' ages - indeed, the thesis of this book explains why it turned out to be the dark ages. Although the book discusses a particular disasterous event and its after effects, I found the world-wide overview of the time (500 AD - 1000 AD) exciting in and of itself. Few popular history works discuss this period in any detail - especially from a truly global perspective as is done in this work.The author shows that a catastrophe (he keeps it secret until the end of the book - an interesing device for a non-fiction book) set in motion a chain of events that led to the final collapse of the ancient world of Rome, Persia, etc... This led to the genesis of the modern world. Overall, his explanations are convincing, but I'm not so sure that the world would have been totally different had it not been for the event. For instance, Rome had been declining for years before the event so it may have collasped anyways and led to a fragmented Europe.The only other thing I found lacking in the book, is a little more discussion into the scientific evidence at the catastrophe site itself. This may simply be a function of the hypothesis being so new that a lot of evidence has not been collected yet.If you are interested in the 'dark' ages or if you have any interest in History, Geology, or Meteorolgy you should find the book fascinating (and scary).