Author's Arguments
In Ragnarok, Donnelly argues that an enormous comet hit the earth 12,000 years ago, resulting in widespread fires, floods, poisonous gases, and unusually vicious, prolonged winters. The catastrophe destroyed a more advanced civilization, causing human beings, in panic and terror, to seek shelter in caves. Here they degenerate, lose all knowledge of art, literature, music, philosophy, and engineering, and become cavemen.
He cites as evidence cracks, 900 feet deep, radiating out from the Great Lakes, and stretching for many miles away from the lakes. He admits it has been proposed that ice-sheets caused these cracks, but makes no secret of the improbability of ice sheets producing such great cracks, which he refers to as being like 'cracks in a window which has been struck with a stone'. He also demands why, if ice sheets could produce such cracks, why said cracks can't be found anywhere else on the globe. He also brings up surface rocks in New York City, which seems to have undergone a radical chemical change—the feldspar has been converted into slate and the mica has separated out from the iron, as it would if it were undergoing tremendous heat and unbearable pressure, which would certainly be the case in the event of a comet striking the earth. He rules out other theories that could have caused this, such as nitric acid and warm rains, by pointing out that this is an isolated incident, whereas warm rains can occur at any time and place, and there's no archaeological evidence for the nitric acid's origins.
He points out many legends and myths from various cultures, such as Zoroastrian, Pictish, Hindu, and Ancient Greece, that are all suggestive of a comet striking the earth, the earth catching fire, poisonous gases choking people, and floods and tidal waves swamping large areas. He also points out early culture's tendency to heliotheism, which evolved from an insane gratitude to the Sun, after so many horrific days without it.
Read more about this topic: Ragnarok: The Age Of Fire And Gravel
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