Prehistory Decoded

Another paper that rejects Holliday et al.'s (2023; HEA) Gish gallop has been accepted for publication in Earth Science Reviews, the journal that published HEA. Because of the word limit imposed by ESR on our rebuttal, we could publish only a summary paper that points out only the major errors in each section of Holliday et al. (2023). We sought other journals but the editors refused our request to publish our response in their journals, stating that ESR is the appropriate vehicle. Given this limitation, we had little option but to publish a summary in ESR with the extended details in Airbursts and Cratering Impacts (see the previous blog post ). So the longer paper in ACI should be seen as an extension of the summary paper in ESR. Note that, originally, ESR limited our response to 3000 words, which is clearly inadequate when rebutting an article of over 96,000 words! After appeal, ESR relented by allowing a word length limit of 6000 words. Ultimately, we were allowed to publish a ...

Our rebuttal to Holliday et al. (2023) is finally published in Airbursts and Cratering Impacts. Rebuttal of Holliday et al.’s Comprehensive Gish Gallop of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis Martin B. Sweatman, James L. Powell, Allen West In an article comprising some 96,000 words, Holliday et al. (2023)  (HEA) claim to have “comprehensively refuted” the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH), even though it has been corroborated by scores of articles in dozens of peer-reviewed journals based on the discovery of some combination of synchronous nanodiamonds, exotic microspherules and platinum enrichment at more than 50 Younger Dryas boundary sites on five continents. No hypothesis or theory is immune from criticism, but to “comprehensively refute” one so well established should require dispositive falsifying evidence. However, HEA provide no new evidence of their own and many of their arguments are based on faulty reasoning. Their remaining differences of opinion do not lend themsel...

The following paper will be presented at the conference " Fourth International Symposium on Megalithic Monuments and Cult Practices", October 10-14, South West University "Neofit Rilski", Bulgaria. METEOR STRIKES RECORDED IN PREHISTORIC ART: FROM GÖBEKLI TEPE TO LASCAUX   Martin B. Sweatman   Abstract: Earth has endured an episode of coherent catastrophism over the last 20-30 thousand years or so. This means strikes by comet fragments were much more common and violent during this period than the long-term average. Over most of this time, humans were unable to record these comet strikes in writing. But, it seems they were still able to record what happened to them, and when, with a form of proto-writing that involved constellations and precession of the equinoxes. Here, I describe evidence for two cosmic impacts recorded on stone; Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe and the Lascaux Shaft Scene. Each is an artistic masterpiece designed to endure. The impact described at...

Jim Powell has just published a paper in the Journal of Academic Ethics called "Data vs Derision: the ethics of scientific publishing. The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis as a case study". In it, he labels Holliday et al. and others as "pseudoskeptics", with good reason. He lists the criteria for identifying pseudoskeptics and then shows that Holliday et al. and others fit this description. Importantly, this paper has been peer reviewed by experts in academic ethics. Data vs. Derision: The Ethics of Language in Scientific Publication. The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis as a Case Study | Journal of Academic Ethics (springer.com)

At last, my lunisolar calendar paper has been accepted for publication in Time and Mind. I must once again thank Dr John Gordon for emailing me the initial insight about the lunar cycle that appears on Pillar 43 (the top row of V-symbols in the picture above). The rest of the paper followed from this. (Dr John Gordon is a psychiatrist at the Turning Winds institute in Montana, USA). The article is published open access and available here . I'm making selected images available below for free use, along with links to other images. Pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe (courtesy of Alistair Coombs) Pillar 43 (right and middle) and  a view from Stellarium (left). Symbols on Pillar 18 compared with the Nebra sky disk (from wikipedia ). Sketch of a likely lunar calendar (from Alexander Marshak, 1972. The Roots of Civilization: the Cognitive Beginning of Man’s First Art, Symbol and Notation. New York: McGraw-Hill). Images of the Master/Mistress of animals can be found here  and here . Sketch of ...

We have already  established that Holliday et al. is a Gish gallop, i.e. a (very) long series of weak or fallacious arguments. Now let's look at another of their  less interesting chapters that are quite superfluous, but it nevertheless illustrates the kind of rhetorical tactics that Holliday et. al are prepared to use. In this case, Section 6 concerns interpretation of the Younger Dryas (YD) black mat. It's a superfluous section because any misunderstanding of the YD black mat by YDIH proponents is irrelevant - it makes no difference whatsoever to the case for the YD impact as it's not evidence for or against the YD impact nor is it a predicted secondary effect of the impact. So this whole section is just pedantry. Before we start, let's remind ourselves of what Haynes (2008) had to say about the YD black mat. His abstract reads "Of the 97 geoarchaeological sites of this study that bridge the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (last deglaciation), approximately two t...