Earth has endured an episode of coherent catastrophism over the last 20-30 thousand years or so. This means strikes by comet fragments were much more common and violent during this period than the long-term average. Over most of this time, humans were unable to record these comet strikes in writing. But, it seems they were still able to record what happened to them, and when, with a form of proto-writing that involved constellations and the precession of the equinoxes. Martin will describe evidence for two cosmic impacts recorded on stone; Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe and the Lascaux Shaft Scene. Each is an artistic masterpiece designed to endure. The impact described at Göbekli Tepe is probably the well-known but controversial Younger Dryas impact, around 10,850 BC. This, it seems, was a pivotal moment in prehistory, as it ushered-in the agricultural transition in the Fertile Crescent. The impact probably recorded by the Lascaux Shaft Scene is currently unknown. Nevertheless, it appears to have had an equally dramatic effect on the Magdalenian hunter-gatherers of south-west France around 15,300 BC; one that took millennia to recover from. Both these cosmic impacts seem to be described using almost the same kind of proto-writing and similar constellations. Are there other prehistoric examples where cosmic impacts are recorded in art, waiting to be decoded?

Dr Martin Sweatman is the author of the book: Prehistory Decoded, a scientist at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research, which involves statistical analysis of the motion of atoms and molecules to understand the properties of matter, helped him to solve one of the greatest puzzles on earth: ancient artworks stretching back 40,000 years. He has been a guest on Ancient Apocalypse (Netflix), Forbidden History (Discovery) and spoke at Megalithomania in 2021. https://martinsweatman.blogspot.com

Prehistory Decoded | Göbekli Tepe & the Origins of the Zodiac - Megalithomania 2021:    • Dr Martin Sweatman | Prehistory Decoded | ...  

Filmed at the Megalithomania Conference, Glastonbury, May 2024. http://www.megalithomania.co.uk