Hittite Collapse Caused by Climate Change?

A.P. EDITOR: YES! This Evidence of Patterns article falls in line with other articles about the Bronze Age Collapse due to TRUE Climate Change, as also documented in the research of Sapienza University, triggered by the cooling of the Ice Age ocean temperature to present day levels. This ocean temperature cooling caused the severe Post-Flood rains  to lessen dramatically. Less evaporation, less rains, & warmer temperature due to less cloud cover, in turn caused the Northern hemisphere ice packs on land to melt raising world ocean levels some 120 Meters (300 ft), causing severe flooding of islands (Atlantis) coastal areas (Doggerland, Kumari Kandam), entire lands (Sunda) to disappear all over the world!
Also the ice age rains which had watered the fertile North African Sahara cattle-grazing lands, running rivers (now wadis) and great lakes, and had given Egypt great fertility plus water damage on the pyramids & sphinx for example, virtually stopped!  This permanent drought changed the climate of the now desertified belt from North Africa, via Mesopotamia, to  the -stan lands.
This article also shows that it caused the Hittite kingdom to first lose its capital Hattusa and then shrink in power from  1200-1000 BC when they were still mentioned by King Solomon, to total disappearance from recorded history! Where did they go?
Did the Hittites with their upturned shoes move to China like the Sinites? It’s a mystery!

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Lora Gilb, |  March 3, 2023,  | Evidence

Summary: The vast Hittite Empire mentioned in the Bible mysteriously collapsed more than 3,000 years ago and a recent study suggests it may have been due to climate change.

Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” The Hittites replied to Abraham, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs.” – Genesis 23:3-6a (NIV)

Mysterious Hittite Move from Hattusa

Centuries ago, the ancient Hittite Empire dominated most of Anatolia for nearly 500 years until its mysterious collapse. A recent study published in Nature on February 8th, suggests their fall may have been due to climate change. Could severe drought be the cause of this powerful biblical kingdom’s decline? It is one theory, among other competing ideas, that deserves a look.

The Hittites are prominently featured in the Hebrew Bible and ruled over the area that is now present-day Turkey and Syria from around 1650 to 1200 BC, according to standard chronology. In the Hittite accounts, the last ruler recorded is King Suppiluliuma who came to power in 1207 BC. After that, they seem to have disappeared.

The recent study found that the growth of trees in central Anatolia had reduced significantly during the 12^th century BC from a decrease in rainfall. Three consecutive years of extreme drought from around 1198 to 1196 BC may have led the Hittites to abandon their capital city of Hattusa.

The Hittite Empire in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey and Syria, at the height of its power. (credit: Ancient History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hattusa, located in Turkey’s Çorum province, was an important city and the primary place of the Hittite gods. “It was both a spiritual and political center,” said Sturt Manning, an archaeologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a co-author of the paper on the study.

For unknown reasons, suddenly around 1200 BC, Hattusa was abandoned by the royal administration and only later burned down by enemies, perhaps the Sea Peoples mentioned in Egyptian history or local Anatolian raiders.

“One year of real drought across a large area wrecks lives even in the modern world,” explained Manning, but three years of drought in the ancient world would mean “no food, no taxes, and no ability to feed the army” thus undermining any civilization.

Twelve Hittite gods of the Underworld in the nearby Yazılıkaya, a sanctuary of Hattusa. (credit: Klaus-Peter Simon, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Narrow Tree Ring Analysis

The researchers based their conclusions on dendrochronological (tree ring) analysis of juniper trees that grew between 1775 and 748 BC at the archeological site of Gordion, 143 miles west of Hattusa. The team was able to examine timbers from a wooden structure that had been previously discovered in a 1950s excavation of a king’s tomb. Eighteen different trees from the ancient structure were used in the study.

Narrow high-resolution tree rings from 23 samples were examined. With no evidence of fire or insect infestation, the reduced growth rate indicated by narrower rings suggests a sudden onset of climate fluctuations, including decreased rainfall.

Modern meteorological records for the region from 1929 – 2009 were also studied. Researchers discovered that roughly 1 out of every 15 years, annual rainfall was less than 9.8 inches. For crops such as wheat and barley to grow in the area a minimum of 11.8 inches of rain is needed.

Ruins of the Great Temple in Hattusa, dedicated to the supreme deities of the Hittites. (credit: Murat Özsoy 1958, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Famines in Ancient Anatolia

“We’re not saying the climate solely caused the collapse of the Hittites,” Manning said, because the Hittites could have survived a drought by switching to a different crop. “Humans are incredibly good, if they want to be, at being resilient,” he explained.

The Hittites did plan ahead for drought years by building reservoirs near their cities. “It shows an awareness of the fact that there are going to be dry periods,” Alan Greaves, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, UK told Nature.

“Even with a good system and good adaptation to drought, this was simply too much to cope with.” said Dominik Fleitmann, a palaeoclimatologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Documents recording other famines during the Hittite empire have been found, but it seems the Hittites weren’t equipped to withstand three consecutive dry years. This long drought not only led to a famine, but also to a political crisis. “They just weren’t politically or economically prepared for that particular drought,” said Greaves.

The Hittites eventually left, relocating from Hattusa to a new capital called Tarhuntassa, the ruins of which have not yet been discovered.

The question of why the Hittites suddenly abandoned Hattusa is still not entirely settled but perhaps with more tree-ring data the answer will become clearer. “What we need is a network of similar records to understand the spatial extent of the drought, and also, maybe, to have a complete picture,” said Fleitmann.

Yazılıkaya, the Hittite sanctuary of Hattusa, Turkey. (credit: Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hittites Throughout the Bible

CONTINUE AT THE SOURCE

Dr. Henry Bauer, Why We Shouldn’t Trust Science [Esp. Historical Science]

Just under an hour- Absolutely worth listening to! via Skeptiko with many thanks for providing a great interview so freely
Listen Now: Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Henry Bauer: We have to be skeptical about what scientists say, because what scientists tell you is not necessarily the same as what science can tell you.

A selection of quotes from the interview

Henry Bauer: Right, thanks. I was turned on to science in high school and I studied chemistry and I taught chemistry and did research in chemistry [he is emeritus professor of chemistry and science studies, and emeritus dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Virginia Tech”]

Henry Bauer: Exactly, thank you. The thing is that even as science is accepted as being the hallmark of a true understanding, the fact of the matter is, the history of science shows quite clearly that scientific consensus, at any point in time, can’t be accepted as absolutely correct.

Ottoman Empire & Ming Dynasty Fell During a Mini Ice Age Like Happens Today!

Are We Next?

The fall of the Ottoman Empire, Inca Empire and Ming Dynasty all collapsed during the early 1600’s due to a grand solar minimum influencing the societies of the day. The mini ice age brought about crop shortages, famines, nomadic raiders, so the question for our modern society with the onset of the new grand solar minimum beginning now, how will our modern society fair? After all each of the above listed dynasties and empires were at the apex of technology and trade during their times as well.

Six Ancient Maps that should not Exist

Numerous maps have been discovered throughout history that even today remain as an enigma to scholars as well as skeptics. How is it possible that they display features that were unknown to man according to mainstream history academics?

1. The Map of the Creator! The Dashka Stone. Don’t accept the Darwinian myth that it would be “120 million” years old. it is merely post-Flood, so no older than 4.400 years ago.
2. The Piri Reis map is a Turkish map based on ancient source maps when the real recent Ice Age was just starting around 2200 BC and Antarctica was still not frozen over yet, and perhaps still in its original position close to Madagascar?
3. The Zeno map features islands that are now  under water, and therefore was drawn at least before 1500 BC but probably earlier as it shows Greenland without ice, and the island called Frisland that is mentioned in the for mainstream historians ‘controversial’ Oera Linda Bok, the ancient history of the Frisians in Northern Netherlands.
4. The Ibn Ben Zara Map shows certain regions of Britain covered in ice caps. Why? Because it was based on maps of the times of the recent POST-Flood Ice Age lasting from around 2200 BC until 1500 BC. it also shows more islands in the Aegian Sea because the ocean level was 125 M (300 ft) lower before 1500 BC when the ocean levels rose due to the ending of the REAL Ice Age, due to REAL Climate Change, when the ocean temperatures came down to our present day level and the oceanic evaporation diminished which diminished also the heavier Ice Age rains that eroded the Giza pyramids and Sphinx!
5. Hamy King Char Map, obviously also based on a pre-Ice Age map showing Siberian rivers emptying into the Arctic ocean! Also it depicts the ancient first Suez Canal!
6. The King Jaime World Chart also based on base maps from before the end of the real Ice Age that ended around 1500 BC, as it shows the Sahara desert as fertile grazing land with huge lakes, rivers that are no called “wadis” (dry river beds) and cities? Amazing stuff. The Sahara was one giant cattle grazing area that dried up when the Ice Age rains stopped there and those cattle tribes had to move to other areas where they could survive. this huge movement of tribes and peoples is also called the Bronze Age Collapse, which was long proven to be caused by Climate Change and resulting desertification of the Sahara, Sinai, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, the Indus Valley, the Silk Route countries like Turkmenistan where the great 2200 BC city of Gonur was totally deserted as the Margush river dried up, and parts of Mexico, as well as other places.

Enjoy the video!

“Humans Created Sahara Desert?” Not so! Cooler Ocean Climate Change Did It! MS Media Non-“Science”

Most true historians were beginning to KNOW that the Bronze Age Collapse around 1200 BC was caused by Climate Change, when the big rains began to stay away for good, which dried the Sahara & Sahel into desert, and the cattle grazing peoples and their cattle had to move away.

It wasn’t just the Sahara either. Vast swats of land over the entire Middle East, Mesopotamia, Persia, Afghanistan, the Indus Valley, Turkmenistan, Mexico, and many other parts of the earth. (See our animated world-map gif below.)

Dear archaeologists and David Wright from Seoul University, you are not right. I’m sorry to tell you, but your conclusions are wrong, and many of your peers know it.

Check the research by Sapienza University about the desiccation of the Sahara which they proved to be cattle grazing land, plus with a much better dating from 5000 to 3500 years ago – the last date corresponding with our researched estimates. (see graphics below)

Darwinian ‘Creationists’ Obfuscate Ancient Patriarchs’ True Accounts of Post Flood History

Stumbled onto a Darwinian ‘Creationist’ blog called ‘Naturalis Historia’, which means as much as Natural History, but I didn’t find it so natural, other than it being a Naturalistic Materialist Darwinian philosophy blog, under Christian Flag? I guess by the time you have written over a hundred articles defending Darwinism, it is awfully hard to have a metanoia, as Heinrich Heine, the great Skeptic, had, who at his end changed his attitude. In the postscript to his poem collection “Romancero” (30.9.1851) he wrote:

“When you are on your deathbed, you become more sensitive and you would like to make peace with God and the world. Poems, that only contained halfway reproaches against God, I delivered over to the flames in a fearful zeal. It is better, that the verses burn than the verse maker, I returned to God as a prodigal son, after I fed the swine with the Hegelians for a long time. In the theology I have to accuse myself of retreating, because I returned to a ‘personal God’.”
As he died: “God will forgive me. It’s his job.”  source

They seem to believe – I think – in the  spurious, unproven, “millions of years” undocumented history and the widely accepted morphology from postulated “primates” into (squatting of course! Like monkeys, you see?) Photo-shopped Cavemen, then Hunter-gatherers, and Neanderthalers, into agricultural “Homo Sapiens”, and then finally “Homo Sapiens Sapiens” (Think twice!) paradigm.

Because they have such a hard time adopting a recent ancient history, limited by the global Flood around 2400 BC, the 10 Pre-Flood Kings, and the 8 Flood Survivors, whom all the Ancients talked about, incl. the Sumerians, Indians, Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, and others, plus the now over 700 counted global Flood histories! That can hardly be called a fluke, can it now?

I think many academically trained Christians have a very hard time accepting the Patriarchs and their honest accounts, that Earth was recently created, not long before the Flood, because they all testified of it.

I guess it stems from shamed embarrassment and ridicule that they already had to endure for being Christians in skeptic leftist universities, and especially for confessing a recently created Earth. It is so hammered into them – and all of us! – that they feel like they just can’t make the break from the “millions and billions of years” postulated age of the Earth, afraid to be  delegitimatised by their peers. Peer pressure is a real problem, especially in the modern mostly Marxist-led universities. It is very hard to shake the inevitable mind clamp!

Here is a comment of an intimidated believer(?) on that blog, despairing Ken Ham’s Noah’s Ark Park, illustrating that fear of peers!

They have an article about Bronze Age Doggerland, in which they deplore empirical Flood history and Flood science that only has ONE Ice Age and far more recent, melting around 1500 BC.

Here is a screen shot of their article

I left the following comment which is awaiting moderation. (without the graphics)

Open Letter to Rixon Steward Concerning Graham Hancock’s Darwinian, but NOT Alternative History

Because I could not find a way to convey this to him by posting as comment on his website, I will have to post it myself and mention the name of Graham Hancock after all as well. Hopefully it will help him to see the light of the errors of his “alternative” ways. Here is Hancock’s faulty video, Rixon posted on his alternative site:
(Warning: Don’t be sucked in by this Revised Neo Darwinism)

INDEED THEY ARE ALL LIES !

Dear Rixon Steward,

I’ve been visiting your news blog the last ten years & have had a presence on the web myself, already since 2001 as powerpointparadise.com, and lately here as ancientpatriarchs.wordpress.com

I saw your latest promotion of a video by a presumed alternative historian, but I just had to write you as I have a very different take on alternative ancient history than him. I would therefore like to bring to your attention the following points:

Sunken Swedish Settlement NOT “Stone Age” NOR 9000 years old, or it would be Pre-FLOOD!

By Lu Paradise

Yet another sunken settlement, one in a rising number, was found below sea level again, this time off the coast of Southern Sweden. And once again it was mis-diagnosed, this time by the geological department of the Lund University with two handicaps. One, died-in-the-wool Darwinian geologists, and two, IF historians, they were obviously mainstream ones, as usual obfuscating the 1500 BC Bronze Age global Sea level rise! “Science Daily” followed right along in faux pas, doing its assigned media job to pound the paradigm into the minds of the mold-able masses.

IF this settlement and its elk antler axe were really 9000 years old, it would have been PRE-FLOOD! That by (qu)academia totally ignored Global Flood, documented in over 700 narratives found among every tribe, nation, language, and ethnic group, took place around 2400 BC, 4400 years ago. So the elk of the antler of the axe was certainly not older than that. That shows how a mere (false) paradigm can lead some researchers by the nose, BIG time!

Sunken Civilizations Secrets of Lost Cities Underwater Full Documentary

As Greg in the documentary says, this Bimini Road is the biggest stumbling block for History, and that they don’t want to talk about, that before 3500 BP or 1500 BC, the Bimini Road was above water. It was probably a break water dam, and shows that the ocean level was much lower then. In the days when Atlantis sank under the sea!

Greg says, that if only Mainstream Historians would be a little bit more flexible and receptive they would see that that Bimini breakwater is pretty big and therefore could have handled many big ships, and it did, long before the days of Columbus when cross ocean travel was the order of the day! But that also is suppressed information!

What Greg and these others fail to realise and see, is that Mainstream historians are actually not “skeptics” at all, but really don’t want to discuss the entire issue, but rather bury it! Why!

Because it would prove things that are not conducive for the old paralytic paradigm, Darwinism! According to Darwinism there was no Flood, and no recent Ice Age, nor the 1500 BC catastrophic melting of the global ice caps, which caused not only the sinking of Atlantis, and Yonaguni, but of so many other areas and coast lands around the entire world!

You see, such a strong acknowledgement of these phenomena is politically not convenient, and therefore NOT “politically correct” also, which means in simple words: JUST NOT ALLOWED! OFF LIMITS! WHY!

The Ancient 15th Century BC When Global Sea Level Rose 125 Meter

By Jonathan Gray

A HIGH-SPIRITED FILLY, WAS THE PRINCESS. 

She could down alcohol with the best of them.  The binge had gone on all afternoon. I don’t know what triggered the idea.  It may have been a dare.  Or just plain and simple curiosity.  In any case, what I shall relate to you shortly is almost beyond belief…

GRADUALLY RISING SEAS

For 4,000 years, the world’s sea level has been inching up. The Hadji map of 1559, whose original source dates back thousands of years, shows a land-bridge between Siberia and Alaska, which existed when the original map was drawn.  If the ocean between these two land masses were lowered 100 feet today, there would be a dry-land path between them.

According to some oceanographers and geologists, the ocean level may have been as much as 500 feet lower than today. Ireland was connected with England; the North Sea was a great plain;  Italy was joined to Africa, and exposed land cut the Mediterranean into two lakes.