2012 Blog » Mammoths

70 American Ancestors / Exploding Transformers

Robert Bast — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:30:46 +0000

By using nine different genes, and real genetic data (instead of estimates) new research suggests that just 70 people crossed the Bering Strait 12-14K years ago. This means that the wiping out of megafauna in North America, especially the mammoths, is now less likely to have been by human hands. Therefore the odds of a cataclysm being responsible have now increased. More at the Daily Mail.

In the USA there appears to have been a dramatic increase in the number of electrical transformers exploding. These news items could become this year’s sinkholes – weird everyday events getting highlighted a lot in blogs and forums. My take on it is that the increase in the Sun’s activity combined with the extra strain on the US power grid since the last solar peak is the culprit. This would mean that any major solar storms in the next few years are still a major risk – the US grid could be down for months, and that would be massive tragedy. More at SOTT.

70 American Ancestors / Exploding Transformers is a post from: 2012 Blog

Mammoth Killing Humans Caused Mini-Ice Age

Robert Bast — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:49:44 +0000

I feel like a movie villain after the good guy has fallen into my trap. This is so absurd (to catastrophists), it feels like an April Fool’s Day prank!

The suggestion is as follows:

Humans migrated to North America
They slaughtered millions upon millions of mammoths and other megafauna, to extinction (in Siberia there were 150 million mammoths!)
These beasties were a major source of methane = global warming
The result was the Younger Dryas cold event, a mini-Ice Age

Of course the alternative explanation, one that does not involve a slaughter not seen outside of the movies – is that the cold snap killed the mammoths, or perhaps the cause of the cold snap (a pole shift or comet/asteroid) killed the mammoths. But that is too obvious, and breaks the unwritten archaeological rule that nature cannot be catastrophic, only man can…

Mammoth Killing Humans Caused Mini-Ice Age is a post from: 2012 Blog

Mammoths Survived the Cataclysm?

Robert Bast — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:47:13 +0000

While research into the global cataclysm of roughly 10,000 years ago regularly mentions the extinction of mammoths, it appears that pockets of these giant creatures survived until more recent times.

The core [soil] samples revealed the local Alaskan fauna at the end of the last Ice Age. The oldest sediments, dated to about 11,000 years ago, contain remnant DNA of Arctic hare, bison, and moose; all three animals were also found in higher, more recent layers, as would be expected. But one core, deposited between 10,500 and 7,600 years ago, confirmed the presence of both mammoth and horse DNA.

The team also developed a statistical model to show that mammoth and horse populations would have dwindled to a few hundred individuals by 8,000 years ago.

The range of 7,600 to 10,500 years ago is substantially earlier than the orthodox extinction era of 12,000 years ago. But that date is tied to the faltering ideas of the mammoths suffering from over-hunting, disease or climate change. Some cataclysmic theories are for a more recent period, and consequently this new evidence could potentially be supportive of “alternative” research.

Mammoths Survived the Cataclysm? is a post from: 2012 Blog

Mammoths in UK later than thought

Robert Bast — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:33:00 +0000

Mammoth bones found in Shropshire, England provide the most geologically recent evidence of woolly mammoths in the UK and North Western Europe. The new evidence proves that mammoths existed in Britain long beyond when they were previously believed to have become extinct.

The bones, of one adult male and at four baby mammoths, were first excavated in 1986, but back then the carbon dating used was not as accurate as today. Consequently the extinction date has been advanced from 21,000 years ago to roughly 14,000 years ago.

“The new dates of the mammoths’ last appearance correlate very closely in time to climate changes when the open grassy habitat of the Ice Age was taken over by advancing forests, which provides a likely explanation for their disappearance,” said Lister. “There were humans around during the time of the Condover mammoths, but no evidence of significant mammoth hunting.”

Instead of a pole shift, or other global cataclysm that seems to have occurred in that era, the best explanation for the mammoth’s extinction these particular scientists can come up with is “advancing forests”. Sounds like something out of LOTR…

Mammoths in UK later than thought is a post from: 2012 Blog

Settlers Took a 20,000 Year Rest in Beringia?

Robert Bast — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:30:00 +0000

According to the new theory, humans heading east after leaving Asia about 40,000 years ago were blocked by two huge glaciers that met at present-day Alaska.

With no way forward, the humans settled on the land bridge, called Beringia, that connected Asia and North America.

There they remained for 20,000 years. Beringia was cold and harsh, comparable to winters in modern-day Siberia. Small populations of mammoth, bison, caribou, and other animals provided sustenance for the migrants.

It’s a theory designed to make sense of some DNA research. In my mind it has a serious flaw – rather than spend 20,000 years in a cold, harsh place – why didn’t they just go back the way they came?

Settlers Took a 20,000 Year Rest in Beringia? is a post from: 2012 Blog