I became completely fascinated by ancient civilizations about a decade ago, when I stumbled upon Graham Hancock. In school, we’re all force-fed a litany of questionable facts as if these were knowledge, with only some of us getting to pursue professional training in college and being exposed to the more complex nature of “truth”. I understand teenagers can’t handle relative epistemologies, but our society burns into our skulls things like “the birth of civilization”, or sells us paradigm shifts like a smooth transition: “and then we invented the telescope, and after using it, it became pretty clear that the heliocentric theory was correct”. We’ll leave epistemology for another day; let’s just say Paul Feyerabend makes a pretty straight case in his book, “Against method” about how a medieval, crappy out-of-focus telescope put together with shards of glass proved little to nothing to the people in that time.
“Traditional” anthropology affirms that the change from a nomadic lifestyle to an agricultural one, circa 10,000 BC, lead to a huge revolution for our species (you can find more of that in Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens”, for example). Written language appears around 3,500 BC with cuneiform symbols in Mesopotamia. Then it’s off to the races: the pyramids were built (supposedly) in 2,500 BC and about 3,500 years later, we sent a car to Mars, for no reason. The end.
Except that many inexplicable cases keep on appearing. The doxa would have us believe that those civilizations preceding the written word were barbaric ignorants incapable of anything relevant, like building a pyramid. Yet how did these proto-savages build Göbekli Tepe, 5,000 years before language was invented?
One plausible hypothesis is that a previous civilization, much more advanced than we think, was wiped out by a climate catastrophe (insert your favorite “Atlantis” meme). This idea, laughable a couple of decades ago, has garnered more and more interest, now that we know that at the end of the younger dryas period a huge flood occurred. We also know that it’s cause was very probably a meteorite and its debris.
These findings and speculations lead to an alternative story: an advanced civilization was wiped out during a flood 10,500 years ago, leaving only megaliths like the pyramids behind.
My point isn’t to advance half-baked anthropological theories I know very little about, it’s simply to question the linear history of mankind that we’ve received. I find this interesting, since we’re very likely on the verge of an environmental catastrophe that will radically transform our species.
However, I know “climate change” has become a charged word, impossible to discuss rationally. It’s those wimpy snowflakes, trying to force companies to pay for healthcare, or communism!, or something (a circle of pedophiles exploiting children in a pizzeria, Bohemian Grove, etc).
So don’t take my word for it. But how about the word of past generations? People who suffered famine and droughts? Maybe they know a thing or two?
This summer, a Hungerstein or Hunger Stone appeared in Europe, sparking the interest of… absolutely nobody. What is a Hungerstein, you ask? It’s a hydrological marker put in place by our ancestors to warn us about impending doom. Am I being too hyperbolic? Here’s the Hunger Stone that appeared this year, on the banks of the Elbe river:
With the inscription, “If you see me, start crying” (bad translation, but you get the idea).
The Hunger Stones were placed in mostly Prussian regions, on the river bank, between the 15th and 19th century to signal a time of drought and the hardships that followed. One appeared in 1918, for example, heralding the famine caused towards the end of WWI.
To be fair, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Hunger Stones, they also appeared in 2018 when the Elbe started running dry. However, the frequency with which they’ve been appearing has accelerated.
Personally, I’m appalled at how little coverage the impending climate apocalypse gets in the media. If there’s something I’m pessimistic about, it’s our ability to avoid said apocalypse. We’d need everyone on board to solve this one: the Chinese, Indians, Americans, Brazilians… We’re talking about a rag-tag of different countries that’d have to be seriously committed to reducing consumption drastically, together, all at the same time, in order to attain even the most conservative goals. This is unrealistic: in game theory, the “Tragedy of the commons” explains why this will always be but a fleeting promise from politicians and governments.
I really don’t want to depress you with climate-whining, but if a medieval stone buried centuries ago appears suddenly with the inscription, “If you see me, start crying”, what sort of reaction are we supposed to have? Isn’t this how some extravagant Rolland Emmerich movie begins?
Meanwhile: keep on partying; God knows I’m going down with a martini in my hands…