Not too many people are aware, but one of my areas of study is Ancient Civilizations. We are not discussing Egypt, Mesopotamia or China, but 10,000+ years or older for the most part. I recently, 2019, made a discovery that I would like to share.
I made an amazing discovery a few years ago that I would like to share. While researching a presentation for a Science Fiction Convention where I wanted people to view certain held believes about ancient Egypt differently. In particular, the order in which the Pyramids were build. I discovered that Egypt was devastated by a meteor impact on 29 June 3123 BC. This impact was recorded by a Sumerian Astronomer and this information was copied by an Assyrian Astronomer on a cuneiform disk that now sets in the British Museum.
Figure 1 Tablet K8538, British Museum
Evidence of Meteor Impact in Ancient Egypt and the Effect on Construction and Culture
Before and After the Event on 29 June 3123 BC
a monograph by
Floyd Getchell
Copyright © 2019 Floyd Getchell
Preface
This discovery, like many discoveries, was made by accident. It was made while preparing a presentation that puts Facts to Myths and understanding Space-Time for a Science-Fiction Convention. The presentation included Old Testament Stories like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I was aware that the Köfels’ Impact Event in 3132 BC that had been linked to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, so I included this as part of the presentation as a myth that now had fact to support it and a very likely date of its occurrence. The next part of the presentation simply questioned the order in which Egyptologists currently believe the Pyramids were constructed as part of the presentations. The overall theme of the presentation being questioning what we are told based on poor evidence currently being accepted as fact. How did the Egyptians build four or five marginal pyramids of local limestone, three perfect pyramids built with megalithic stones from 500 miles away and then return to making marginal pyramids of the local limestone? This was the simple question I wanted to ask the audience during my presentation.
I was also unaware at the time, that there are many objects in Egypt that have extreme thermal damage, but I soon found these as I was looking for more picture for my presentation.
The speculation by several researchers as to the origin of this extreme thermal damage was wild to say the least, but having just written about the 3123 BC Impact Event’s effect on two other cities at nearly the same latitude and distance from the impact site, I was immediately aware of the cause of the thermal damage to statues in Tanis, Egypt. As well as a layer of glazed sand throughout the Giza Plateau.
The Köfels’ Impact Event more than likely caused damage that was visible in Egypt. This is clear physical evidence that those statues at Tanis, existed before 29 June 3123 BC and had been damaged by fallout from the Köfels’ Impact Event.
Now, I just had to support what I thought I had discovered with research. What I have discovered is far reaching, as this event appears to have affected a great deal of Predynastic Egypt. What follows is the result of what limited research as I am able to do at this time. It is my hope that I will be able to do additional research that either shows conclusively that this event did affect Predynastic Egypt or that it did not.
Introduction
Many aspects of the Köfels’ Impact Event are still in question and it is not the purpose of this monograph to address those issues. Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell provided an excellent argument in their monograph, “A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels’ Impact Event”, Revised 2008, addressing all points in question and freely admitting when they had not been conclusive and the reasons why they had not. Leaving no logical reason to question their conclusions about the time of the event. They give credit where it is due, even to the ancient Sumerian Astronomer, whom they named, LUGALANSHEIGIBAR meaning, “great man who observes the heavens”[1]. They even mention the Event may have had influenced the unification of Egypt indirectly, but don’t go into any detail as it was outside the scope of their study.[2] With physical evidence on the ground in Egypt, the Köfels’ Impact did effect Egypt directly as I will show throughout this monograph.
I am using a monograph first; because this argument includes several different fields of study; astronomy, archeology, geology, Egyptology, ballistics, sociology, thermal dynamics, cultural anthropology and psychology. Each one of these fields will be included in this study as we see how the Köfels’ Impact Event effected Egypt. I will note each field where appropriate for individual evaluation. Therefore, the scope of this work falls outside of an academic paper, report or journal and must be presented as a monograph.
The second reason for presenting this as a monograph is that it calls into question three significant aspects of what we believe we know about history. This evidence creates a known event that draws a geologic line across Lower Egypt and we can easily say that anything damaged by extreme thermal temperatures was more than likely impacted by this event and therefore older than 29 June 3123 BC.
Third, the Event through Thermal Damage creates a time marker that is hugely significant because the initial evidence of damage that I found is at Tanis on megalithic statues and this would mean that Tanis, which is undated, has to be older than 29 June 3123 BC. Mythology has Tanis disappearing from history in a sandstorm and it is possible that it may have occurred prior to this date. Other researchers have also discussed a thermal line in the soil and attributed it to other events, however I have been unable to find reliable information on this at this time, but if such work were available and combined with the date stamp I have provided, it would mean that anything below this line would more than likely pre-date the 29 June 3123 BC Impact Event.
Finally, the implications of this are far reaching because simply put, it means that Predynastic Ancient Egypt is older and grander than previously believed. This marker in time goes far beyond this in that it also marks a change in Egypt culturally, socially and in their ability to create as I will explain in this monograph.
It is my sincere hope that Egyptologist understand that I am hoping to expand our understanding of the glorious History of Ancient Egypt and not rewrite it and that they will view my work as an expansion of knowledge about Predynastic Egypt and the effects of the Impact Event. This is not an attack on the work previously done and speculated upon in the past. I am trying to put physical facts in place to reconcile historic events with the physical evidence discovered in Egypt.
The Science of the Impact Event
The meteor impact at Köfels in the early morning hours of 29 June 3123 BC is difficult for us to visualize as it was immense and displaced in time by over 5000 years. If the meteor had impacted at a vertical angle, it would have left approximately a 13-kilometer-wide crater, according to estimates by the “Earth Impact Effects Program”[3] and been far more catastrophic to Early Bronze Age Humans and Earth’s Climate than it had been. Instead, the meteor hit the Earth at a very low angle, making a glancing blow off of another mountain, pulverizing the meteor before hitting the hill near Köfels. The event would have gone relatively unnoticed in modern times if the mystery of an ancient massive landslide in the area had not perplexed geologists for so long. This is where Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell began their search for answers in trying to determine if the landslide may have been caused by a meteor strike.
The Event occurred so long ago, that several great civilizations have come and gone in the Western World and we are only starting to unravel some of these distant cultures. Thankfully, in modern Iraq, there is a land referred to as Mesopotamia, there was the Assyrian Culture, estimated 2025-609 BC, that went to great efforts to preserve the artifacts of their predecessors the Sumerians, estimated 6500-1940 BC, and one such artifact now resides in the British Museum. Referred to as Tablet K8538, Fig. 1, it records the events on the morning of 29 June 3123 BC. This date determined through studious research by Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell, and published in “A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels’ Impact Event”. The Planisphere, as it is sometimes erroneously referred to, records the observations of an ancient Sumerian Astronomer as a meteor transits the heavens before it impacts to the northwest of the observer’s location as recorded on the Tablet. The date was derived from planet locations listed on the Tablet, the location of constellations and their location in reference to the equator and a phenomenon known as celestial progression as well as the time of day as determined by Sun Set and Sun Rise as recorded on the Tablet. These records were compared to numerous computer programs that determine the location of these celestial events in ancient times and a match was produced with the date of 29 June 3123 BC. The tablet also accurately records the size of the meteor as verified by data from the impact site as well as velocity as it transits the sky, also verified by data collected at the point of impact near Köfels.
[1] Alan Bond, Mark Hempsell “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”, WritersPrintShop, 2008, Introduction
[2] Ibid., p 64
[3] Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, Gareth Collins, “Earth Impact Effects Program”, Imperial College London / Purdue University, 2010, Retrieved 2013-02-04
Not enough credit can be heaped on the Sumerian Astronomer, whom has been given the name LUGALANSHEIGIBAR, in Sumerian meaning “great man who observes the heavens”[1], that recorded this event. The accuracy of the recording has allowed individuals 5,000 years later to match the event with physical evidence on the ground. The accurate estimation of the size of the meteor as it transited the night sky as well as the velocity that it travelled are astounding. While this event did not seem to affect his or her own civilization as we shall see, it drastically effect those of the Mediterranean and Egypt in particular.
It is my belief that the Köfels’ Impact Event is the cataclysm that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah as referred to in the Old Testament.
The Meteor hit with over 46500 megatons of energy,[2] which is almost 2.8 million times the energy of the atomic blast at Hiroshima. When I first started looking at this Impact Event, I often questioned if it could possibly have any effect on the Lower Nile River Valley from a distant mountain in the Austrian Alps 2500 kilometers away, after calculating this number, I am no longer in any doubt, particularly when combined with the hydrodynamic effects of back jet related to impact events low angle and the fact that the meteor was in a near plasma state upon impact. (ballistics and hydrodynamics)
The Back Jet from the Impact, similar to the back splash that occurs when you throw a big rock into a pond and the water comes back at you and splashes you. The Back Jet effect would actually be carried further west with the Coriolis Effect, caused by the rotation of the Earth, bringing a shower of molten rock into the Lower Nile River Valley. It would have showered the poor people outside in burning meteorite particles and cinders. Thatch roofs would have burst into flames on contact. Clothe door covers would have instantly ignited. Wooden doors would have ignited as well and began to burn. The chaos would have prevented them from witnessing the spectacle of the growing mushroom cloud to the northwest as it caught the morning sunlight and the ionization of the atmosphere that created an aurora above the growing cloud. The mushroom cloud was described as a tree on the Assyrian Tablet in the Plume Sector of Table K8538.[3] (hydrodynamics, Astrophysics)
With the meteor impacting at a speed of 14.95 kilometers per second[4], the Back Jet from impact would be traveling at nearly this speed because the meteorite is at this time going to be acting more like a liquid after it had shattered itself upon making its glancing blown with GamsKogel[5] upon its approach to Köfels. The rebound would be nearly 100% of the meteorite material at this time as it would be nearly plasma like in its current state, any deviation to the Back Jet action would have been caused by irregularities in the surface at the point of impact at Köfels.[6] This hydrodynamic characteristic, Splash Impact would explain the lack of shocked quartz at the Köfels’ Site as an Impact of this nature causes the Impact Object to gather much of its’ own material and surface material and return it along the path of the Back Jet.[7] The lack of shocked quartz has been a major issue with detractors of the Köfels Impact Event. (Ballistics, Hydrodynamics)
Physical Evidence in Egypt
The physical evidence of the impact is on statues in the city of Tanis, Egypt. The granite statues are burned to a considerable depth requiring a short exposure to intensive heat. The granite statues are significant for two different reasons in that they are first, deeply burned by some means that the Egyptians were incapable of creating at any time and second, because of the deep relief hieroglyphs carved into the hard stone. Granite melts at 1215–1260 °C (2219–2300 °F)[8], a temperature that the Egyptians were not capable of creating at any time during their history, in our current understanding. Lightning strikes are also eliminated as a possibility for creating this damage as granite is not ferrous, non-electricity conducting, and there is no strike line, path of the electricity traveled through the statue or an exit point on the statues as would occur with a lightning strike. The strikes are clearly high heat, high velocity impacts that fractured some of the statues involved. Additional evidence in the area has been quite literally blown away with the sands of time.
Figure 2 and 3 show impact evidence, the depth of the heat damage as well as the damage created by the velocity of the impact.
Figure 2. Granite Statue at Tanis, Egypt in the eastern Nile Delta[9]
This Statue also show deep relief Hieroglyph in hard stone which
is a technology that appear to have disappeared after the Impact Event
Ideally, the damage to all the statues at Tanis, Egypt would be all facing north, but more than likely they have been moved over time and as it appears many were knocked over by the physical impact of the event and then they were re-erected in a different manner from where they originally stood. Additionally, many of the statues could have been knocked over in subsequent earthquakes that have been known to devastate the area throughout history. Unfortunately, movement of the Megalithic Stones since the Impact Event prevents trajectory analysis that would point back to the point of origin of the impact event. Ideally, an impact on an immovable object like a pyramid or temple would be perfect for trajectory analysis, however I am unaware of any such markings at this time. (Ballistics)
Figure 3. Granite Statue at Tanis, Egypt showing damage from intensive heat.[10]
This statue is assumed to be Amenhotep III Ruled 1391-1353 BC,
although this statue does not resemble any of the other images
of Amenhotep III that have been verified independently.
Figure 2 also shows deep relief hieroglyphs cut into the granite and this means that with impact occurring in 3123 BC that Predynastic Egyptians on the Lower Nile were capable of creating this feat in hard stone. There is no definitive evidence that shows the Egyptians could cut deep relief hieroglyphs in hard stone after the impact event.
Lost Technology
Megalithic Stones
The three Pyramids at Giza (Fig. 4) are unique in that they are constructed with 20-80-ton stones quarried in Aswan nearly 600 kilometers away. These are the only pyramids constructed with megalith stones, except for some of the substructure of a few of the other pyramids. The statues at Tanis are upwards of 15 tons with building stones in the area averaging 20 tons, again from Aswan, which is 700 kilometers away. Throughout Egypt there are megalith structures and none of them can be definitively dated as having been constructed after 3123 BC. Structures thought to be of more modern construction have been shown to be refaced some times numerous times as with the Builder’s Temple or Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt, (Fig. 5) which has been known to have been resurfaced a minimum of three times.
Figure 4. Giza Pyramids near Cairo
Figure 5. Builder’s Temple or Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt,
Deep relief hieroglyphics in hard stone
Deep relief Hieroglyphs in hard stone appears to be another technology lost at this time. See Figure 2. There are no accurately dated pieces that exist after the impact date, 29 June 3123 BC.
Mud Brick
After the Impact Event, pyramids are no longer constructed with megalithic stones but with local limestone and mud brick. Figure 5 of Saqqara shows megalithic construction at lower levels and then limestone and mud brick construction at upper levels.
Dr. Brien Foerster, PhD, narrates in his video, “Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm At The Bent And Red Pyramids Of Egypt”[11] that there is even a layer of glazed sand between these two levels of Construction. He does however attest them to an impact event 10,000 years ago. I am not sure if Dr. Foerster is unaware of the Köfels’ Impact Event, or if he believes the Event could not have impacted Egypt.
The extreme temperature required to melt sand, 1650 degrees Fahrenheit, was not within the capabilities of what we know about Egyptians at this time and covering such a large area manually melting sand is inexplicable.
The conclusion therefore is that this sand was melted by an impact event and before the event, Egyptians could move megalithic stones with relative ease and after, they could not. The glazed sand makes an obvious demarcation line between the two Technological Periods.
Figure 5. Saqqara showing the lower/older megalithic construction
and the upper/newer limestone and mud brick construction
Bedrock Tunneling
After this event, it appears that the Egyptians we also no longer capable of tunneling in granite bedrock, as in under the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza. Tunneling that appears after this Period as in the King’s Valley is done in limestone.
Spun Stone Vessels
These vessels were collected and preserved by Pharaoh Djoser. Origin is unknown, but they were known by the Pharaoh to have been created before the impact event. Some date as old as 15,000 BC. These he collected and buried with him beneath the Step Pyramid.
Figure 6. Stone Bowl made in the Pre-Dynastic Period 3200 BC
Figure 7. Another Hard Stone bowl found in Djoser’s collection
beneath the Step Pyramid
Speculation about the Political Ramification of the Impact Event
If the Egyptians on the Lower Nile did not hear the sonic crack of the Köfels Meteor as it passed overhead, which would have caused them to rush from their homes. They would have heard the echo of the impact itself, that would have caused them to rush into the streets and away from the safety of their stone and mudbrick homes. The sound would have been like a distant thunder like no one had heard before that early morning event. I am uncertain if the ground would have been shaken by the impact. It is almost certain that the sound drew their attention north to see the impact plume as it grew in size in the early morning hours, surrounded by an aurora of light and then captured by the light of the Sun as it began to rise.
The scene would have changed from one of wonder to abject horror as flaming fragments of meteor began to drop among them. It is possible that they would see it begin to fall in the distance and run for safety in the brief seconds before the fragments began to fall among them. Individuals would be hit and torn from the arms of loved ones, those not hit directly would burst into flames as hair and clothing caught fire from the extreme heat of the falling meteor debris.
Politically
Even if the damage from the fallout of the Impact had been minimal, it was enough to cause instability in Lower Nile Egypt to destabilize the Kingdom to allow it to be usurped by Menes.
The destruction left in the Lower Nile Valley by the Köfels’ Impact Event allowed the Pharaoh Narmer to “unify” Upper and Lower Egypt for the first time as is commonly accepted by Egyptologists. Narmer would have met little to no resistance as he moved north along the Nile River, it would have looked more like a stream of refugees than anything else. Burned, hungry people wondering in columns along the banks of the river looking for refuge and any sign of relief or hope.
Narmer arrives and “unifies” Egypt, who knows if he helped or slaughtered, but judging by the names he is known by outside of official seals, it was the latter. The derogatory primarily used was “raging catfish”, but this translation is not universally accepted and others include; ″angry, fighting, fierceful, painful, furious, bad, evil, biting, menacing″, or “stinging catfish”.[12]
“Angry catfish” is probably the name that he was called behind his back, but as the Royal Seals show his actual name appears to be Menes. The proliferation of Narmer, “Angry Catfish” throughout the hieroglyphic records would cause one to reason that he was not well liked during his reign and this name carried forward with the culture through time.
There is also the distinct possibility that Lower Egypt was much more literate than Upper Egypt and the majority of scribes were from Lower Egypt that had just been subjugated. These scribes could have taken it upon themselves to record the king’s name in the records in a derogatory manner as a means of eroding his power and get back at him for his conquest.
This leaves us with the question is the Köfels’ Impact Event responsible for the unification of ancient Egypt?
It is possible that the fallout from the impact destroyed the Army of Lower Egypt, the military animals of Egypt, the crops and animals used to feed and army let alone the people of the area. It is also possible that the impact killed either directly or indirectly the leaders of Lower Egypt.
At the very least the impact caused climate change, that we are aware did happen, that translated into poor crops and the result was a weakened populace that was unable to resist invasion by Upper Egypt.
Royal Annals “Palermo Stone”
What catastrophic event means about an artifact like the Royal Annals, often referred to as the “Palermo Stone”, is that it is more than likely accurate as can be prior to 3123 BC, and is NOT mythological as some Egyptologist believe it to be and we are lucky that this record was passed down to us through this cataclysm.
Argument Against Immediate Climate Impact in Egypt
It has been suggested that the meteor’s effects were not direct, but indirect in that it effected the climate in Egypt[13] and that is how the Kingdom of the Upper Nile was able to conquer the Kingdom of the Lower Nile at this time. If this were true then how was the Kingdom of the Upper Nile able to conquer the Lower Nile so quickly? Pharaoh Menes was able to quickly conquer the Kingdom of Lower Nile and establish trading posts as far as Israel during his reign. If the Kingdom of Lower Nile had been suffering under the ravages of climate change, why would he have bothered to conquer it?
With the evidence at Saqqara, where the megalith boxes are left in place unfinished. (See Figure 8) It appears that either the devastation or the conquest was rapid and wiped out the knowledge of how to quarry, work and move hard megalith stones.
Figure 8. The 20th Megalithic box in the hallway at Saqqara, south of
the Giza Complex. It appears to have been left in place as it was being
moved to its final location, I am assuming at the end of June 3123 BC.
This would lend to the argument that the event had an immediate short-term effect and had little climate change effect. It wiped out the knowledge as listed and the means for Lower Egypt to defend itself and Menes was able to use this to his advantage and quickly conquer Lower Egypt, where he had failed for the proceeding ten plus years.
I find it odd that a human observed the Köfels’ Meteor Impact, recorded it and other humans fail to see that this event is what set in motion the Piora Oscillation[14] Climate Change Event.
The meteor did affect the climate as it obviously set in motion the Piora Oscillation that effected the civilization in Mesopotamia, causing flooding in the lower Euphrates and Tigris that led to the conclusion of the Uruk Period through expansion of the culture to the point that it made contact with Egypt. The Copper Age Culture of the Levant ceased to exist at this time and there is evidence that this is a direct result of the Meteor’s Impact and the Fallout, however this does not fit with Biblical timeline and is therefore ignored by Biblical Scholars and considered a taboo subject by other researchers. Biblical Scholars have gone so far as to site an unknown air burst event as they claim that there is evidence of scorched soil around the presumed sites of Sodom and Gomorrah, but discount the Köfels Meteor Impact because it doesn’t fit the chronology of the Old Testament. Discounting physical evidence because it doesn’t fit with your mythological timeline is very poor science.
The Piora Oscillation does explain the excessive water erosion seen on the body of the Sphinx as noted by numerous geologists[15] and this does mean that the Sphinx was constructed prior to 3123 BC at a minimum and can no longer be argued logically.
Conclusion
The Köfels Meteor Impact Event did affect ancient Egypt, we just don’t know to what end. Evidence suggests that massive amounts of technology was lost as cited in this monograph. The political structure of Egypt changed after the impact, whether the affect was direct or indirect the impact did have an effect.
With this understanding, I feel that we must look at what we believe to be true about human history and reevaluate our understanding of the ancient past. We cannot get stuck on believing that anything we currently believe to know is fact and must be open to the idea that we are wrong.
As always, I believe that more research is required.
[1] Alan Bond, Mark Hempsell “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”, WritersPrintShop, 2008, Introduction
[2] “Earth Impact Effects Program”
[3] Alan Bond, Mark Hempsell “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”, WritersPrintShop, 2008, p 77-79
[4] Ibid., p 73
[5] Ibid., p 90
[6] Rioboo, Romain, Cameron Tropea, and Marco Marengo. “Outcomes from a drop impact on solid surfaces.” Atomization and Sprays 11.2, 2001
[7] Ibid.
[8] Larsen, Esper S., “The temperatures of magmas”, American Mineralogist, 1929, 14: 81–94.
[9] Foerster, Brien, “Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm At The Bent And Red Pyramids Of Egypt” Video, 19 July 2019, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGEv1FFeDM8
[10] Foerster, Brien, “Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm At The Bent And Red Pyramids Of Egypt” Video, 19 July 2019, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGEv1FFeDM8
[11] Foerster, Brien, “Evidence Of Ancient Cataclysm At The Bent And Red Pyramids Of Egypt” Video, 19 July 2019, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGEv1FFeDM8
[12] Leprohon, Ronald Jacques (2013). The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Writings from the Ancient World. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, p. 22.
[13] Alan Bond, Mark Hempsell “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”, WritersPrintShop, 2008, p 64
[14] The Piora Oscillation was an abrupt cold and wet period in the climate history of the Holocene Epoch; it is generally dated to the period of c. 3200 to 2900 BC.
[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_water_erosion_hypothesis