Bones, Rocks And Stars: The Science Of When Things Happened

BONES, ROCKS AND STARS The Science of When Things Happened CHRIS TURNEY macmillanscience e-book BONES, ROCKS AND STARS This page intentionally left blank BONES, ROCKS A N D S TA R S The Science of When Things Happened Chris Turney Macmillan London New York Melbourne Hong Kong © Chris Turney 2006 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2006 by Macmillan Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–8599–6 ISBN-10: 1–4039–8599–5 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 Printed and bound in China To Annette, my ever-patient wife This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of figures and tables List of permissions and figure sources Acknowledgements viii ix xi Introduction 1 The ever-changing calendar 2 A hero in a dark age 3 The forged cloth of Turin 4 The pyramids and the bear’s groin 5 The volcano that shook Europe 6 The Mandate from Heaven 7 The coming of the ice 8 The lost worlds 9 And then there was one 10 The hole in the ground 11 Towards the limits of time Epilogue: Time’s up for creationism 1 5 12 30 46 62 77 88 104 119 135 146 159 Further reading Index 168 176 vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures 3.1 Radiocarbon formation and movement in the environment 3.2 The decay curve for radiocarbon 3.3 The normal distribution 4.1 The ‘wobble’ in the Earth’s rotation causes the precession of the equinoxes 4.2 Making the alignment for the Great Pyramid of Khufu against Mizar and Kochab in 2478 BC 4.3 Dating the Egyptian pyramids of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties 36 38 40 55 57 60 5.1 Using radiocarbon wiggles to date the Santorini eruption 74 6.1 Oak ring patterns for trees growing during the 1628 BC event at Garry Bog, Northern Ireland 81 7.1 The different controls on the Earth’s orbit aro