THE IRON AGE OF MARS The Author wishes to extend his thanks and gratitude to the Mainwaring Archives Foundation for its support of his research. At the same time, he would acknowledge the affectionate collaboration of Anne-Marie Hueber de Grazia, his wife. Copyright 2005 by Alfred de Grazia All rights reserved Second Edition, March 2009 Metron Publications P.O. Box 1213 Princeton, NJ 08542-1213 USA Metronax B.P. 60062 74003 LA FERTE-BERNARD Cedex FRANCE ISBN: 978-160377-077-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009901917 Cover: One of the statuettes of the god Reshef found by Claude Schaeffer in the ruins of Enkomi-Alasia. Reshef is identified with Mars and Nergal (p.434) Alfred de Grazia The Iron Age of Mars Speculations on Quantavolution and Catastrophe in the Greater Mediterranean Region of the First Millennium B.C.E. metron To Paul Rafael “Let me tell you, said Mercier, before you go any further, I haven’t an answer to my name. Oh there was a time I had, and none but the best, they were my only company, I even invented queries to go with them. But I sent them all packing long ago.” Samuel Beckett, Mercier and Camier * *French edition 1970, Grove Press English language edition (1975) with Samuel Beckett’s own copyrighted translation (1974), p.87. Table of Contents Foreword 15 1. The Iron Age Quantavolution 19 2. The Q Paradigm Applied 30 3. Spheres of Change 59 4. Earth and Heaven: Conjoined and Interactive 80 5. Heroic Scholars: Old and New 95 6. Ruination of Trade, Lands and Peoples 130 7. Vagrants of the Phantom Age 160 8. Mars and Its Doppelgaengers 175 9. Mars Brings Iron to Earth 196 10. Hebrews of the Iron Age 220 11. The Fabled Holy Land 254 12. The Arabian Alternative 268 13. Changed Ideologies 287 14. The Extermination of Volsinium 307 15. The Wolf of Rome 338 16. The Burning of Troy 350 17. Profiles of Many Destructions 378 18. An Atlantis Connection 436 19. A Society in Shock 447 20. A Neurosis of Concerned Scholars 488 21. Near and Far Future Defenses 516 Fig ure s 516 Bibliog raphy 554 About the Author and Appreciations 601 Endnotes 603 Table of Contents (Including Subheadings) Foreword 15 1. The Iron Age Quantavolution 19 Predecessors 20 Holospheric Quantavolution 21 Explaining the Phantom “Dark Age” 27 Switching from ~-1250 to ~-850 28 2. The Q Paradigm Applied 30 Defining Quantavolution 30 Measuring and Indexing Quantavolutions 31 Principles of Quantavolutio 36 Convention vs Quantavolution 49 C-Q Test 52 3. Spheres of Change 59 Holism 60 The Spheres of Quantavolution Defined 61 The Three Errors of Iron Age Timing 62 Work of Edwin Schorr 65 Earth Sciences 66 The Behavior of Sky Systems 67 Biosphere and Cultural Spheres 72 The Alphabet 74 4. Earth and Heaven: Conjoined and Interactive 80 Downgrading Planets to Comets 81 Iron Age Disasters Known Worldwide 85 The Mobile Heavens 87 5. Heroic Scholars: Old and New 95 Schaeffer’s Magnum Opus 96 A Warm Relationship Develops 99 Schaeffer Reads Velikovsky’s Work 101 Schaeffer’s Extensive Objections to ‘Ages in Chaos’ 105 A Grazian Intervention 123 Israel Finkelstein 126 Kamal Salibi Enters the Lists 128 -viii- 6. Ruination of Trade, Lands and Peoples 130 No City or Village Left Standing 132 Ashes, Flames and Fires 134 The History of Peat Deposits 137 The Number and Extent of Mars Visitations 141 Expert Explanations of the Destructions 142 International Trade within the Ambit of Amber 144 The Plagues: Local, Worldwide and Exoterrestrial 148 Earthquakes 149 Exoterrestrial and Terrestrial Catastrophe 151 Placement of Ramses III and Medinet Habu 154 Our Revised Calendar 156 Summary of Reasons for Displacing Ramses III 158 7. Vagrants of the Phantom Age 160 Blood Genes and Farming 161 Jewish Descent 162 Need for Maps of Migrations 163 “Peoples of the Sea” Stand for Universal Vagrancy 166 Thucydides on Wild Early Greece 172 8. Mars and Its Doppelgaengers 175 Earth, Moon and Mars Scenarios 177 Patten-Windsor Theory 178 History of the Quantavolution of Mars 183 God by Any Other Name... 186 Recent Geological Marks on Mars 189 Historical Indications of the Mars-Earth Interaction 191 Astrophysical Agonies of Mars 194 9. Mars Brings Iron to Earth 196 Strange Patterns of Bolides 197 Mascons of Iron 198 Banded Iron Formations 199 Chemical Processing of Iron in Nature 200 Iron Foundries 202 The Word “Iron” and Myth 204 Lightning Transfers 205 Soft Landings of Meteorites 208 -ix- Interplanetary Welding 211 Fall-Outs of Poisons and Germs: Arsenic 217 Iron and the Ocean Bottoms 218 10. Hebrews of the Iron Age 220 Where did the Hebrews Come From? 221 Finkelstein’s Scope and Method 223 Ignoring Catastrophe and Amnesia 225 Failure to decipher Myth and Legend 226 Joshua’s Legend and the United Monarchy 228 King Hazael or Mother Nature? 229 Hillbilly Hebrews 231 Jerusalem’s Mice 234 Robert Forrest’s Exacting Critique 236 The Jews as Planet-Worshipers 239 Remembering Horrors Poorly 241 Bible as a History of Blame and Punishment 242 The Judges as Condottieri 243 Isaiah’s Madness 246 Charity and Welfare in the Bible 247 Limiting Hostilities Among Archaeologists of the Bible 249 Deconstructing the Bible 250 11. The Fabled Holy Land 254 “King David the Nebbish” 254 ‘Der Spiegel’ Collects the Minimalists 256 The Little Struggling Kingdoms 260 The Monotheism Project of King Josiah 260 Scandalous Religious Practices 262 Like Falsifying Medieval Monks 264 The Hebrews Born an Iron Age People 266 12. The Arabian Alternative 268 The Background and Thesis of Salibi 269 Toponymics 271 Opposition to the Arabian Scenario 272 Beginning the Defense of the Arabian Thesis 273 Arabia Deserta 274 The Promised Land 278 Moving the Peoples North to “Priori-Palestine” 278 -x- The Erasure of Ubar 279 A Confusion of Places: the Wabar Craters 280 A Literal Bible Meets a Topsy-Turvy Geography 282 The Babylonian Experience from Arabia 283 Asura Mazda and Yahweh 285 13. Changed Ideologies 287 Résumé: Meanwhile, in the Sky... 288 Was Yahweh a Doppelgaenger? 290 “A Plague on All Ye God-Names...” 292 David in His Martian Role 294 The Messiah Idea, from David to Jesus, and Astrology 296 The Human-Mind Turns into Pre-Socratic Philosophy 300 Martian Theater and Martian Engineering 303 The Divine Succession: Jesus, Christ 305 14. The Extermination of Volsinium 307 From Villanovans to Etruscans 308 The Volsinium Story 309 Pliny’s Relevant Comments on Astro-Catastrophe 310 Conjuring Lightning 311 Lightning Geology 313 Etruria Dating Less Obsessively Askew 315 Orvieto Not the Center of the Volsinii 316 Lightning and Ashes of Etruria 318 Changed Moods in Art, Culture and Rituals 321 Chronometry, Vulcanism, Topography 323 An Asteroid Impact? 326 A Tunguska Blast Scenario 327 Lightning Storm Scenario 328 A Martian Gas Cloud and Particle Storm 330 Hercules and the Monster Volta Active at Volsinium332 Conclusion: Destruction by Bolide and Lightning-Fire Shower 334 A List of Matters for Investigation in a Further Program Concerning the Volsinium Quantavolution 335 15. The Wolf of Rome 338 A Founding Date of -747 338 2000 Years of Virgil 342 -xi- Peroni’s Problem With the Old Early Date 343 Aeneas Lands at Sol Indiges and Names it Troy 345 The Trojans Stop at Carthage 346 Did Aeneas Quit Troy Early? 347 16. The Burning of Troy 350 The Burnt City of Troy 352 Discovery of the Treasure of Priam 353 The Puzzle of the Scorched Treasure 356 A Catastrophe Without Warning 357 A Natural Force Helped to Devastate Hisarlik-Troy359 A New Interdisciplinary Method 364 Salvaging the Ashes and Debris for Analysis 365 The Lack of Geo-Mythology 368 Testing the Metals and Calcinated Debris 370 Postscript of November, 1983 372 Troy of the Trojan War since the Blegen Expeditions 374 17. Profiles of Many Destructions 378 Thebes 379 The Tsunami of Euripides 380 Prototype: the Mycenae Model 381 The Phantom Age Spanned in Athens 386 Pylos 389 Asia Minor, Anatolia, West Asia 392 Nisyros 394 A Focus on Syria-Palestine 397 Tel Rehov 399 Peter James on Lachish and Ramses III 401 Italy 407 Lago Albano 408 Sicily 411 Crete (Tarshish) 412 Thera-Santorini and the Cyclades 416 Phrygians, Cimmerians, Scythians and Ethiopians 419 Egypt 422 The Founding of Carthage 426 Central and Celtic Europe 427 Enkomi 428 Ugarit 434 -xii- 18. An Atlantis Connection 436 My Earlier View to be Amended 437 Helgoland, the Crash Scene of Phaethon 438 The Eddas and Fenris-Wolf 441 Felice Vinci’s Troy in Finland 441 The Amber Trade 445 Spanuth’s Work Attracts Disgraceful Support 446 19. A Society in Shock 447 Q-Shock 448 Iron Shortens Life Variously 449 Isaiah and the Hebrew Prophets 467 Humanity Shocked Beyond Recall 472 King Nabopolassar’s Stress and Shock 473 Collective Shock Response 474 High-Energy Shocking Forces 475 Did God Call in “Katrina” to Destroy New Orleans?479 Why Societies Collapse 480 Inventiveness in the Iron Age 483 Changes, in Greek and Jewish Societies, and in General 485 20. A Neurosis of Concerned Scholars 488 Professional Hazards 489 The Zionist Dilemma of the Western Scientist 491 What Makes a Yalie into an Archaeologist 493 Anxieties Peculiar to Archaeology 494 Aesthetics Respond to Quantavolution 496 The Broad-Gauged Archaeologist 498 Paradigm Paralysis 499 21. Near and Far Future Defenses 508 A Radical Approach to Applied Science 508 Providing for Short-Run Defense 511 Far Future Sky Defense 513 Figures 516 Bibliography 554 About the Author and Appreciations 601 Endnotes 603 -xiii- -xiv- Foreword “Damn the torpedoes!..Go ahead!.. Full speed!” Admiral David Farragut Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 I seek in this book to apply the theory of quantavolution to events in the Greater Mediterranean world of the First Millennium B.C.E., describing how a set of sudden, intensive changes enveloped that region owing to erratic proximate movements of planet Mars and to other astrophysical phenomena.