PLEASE NOTE:
*
Date sent: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 14:05:21 -0500
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
From: dwp0@Lehigh.EDU (David Pankenier)
Subject: "Fire from the Sky"
Subject: "Fire from the Sky"
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 09:37:30 -0600 (CST)
From: pib@nwu.edu
>The current issue of Newsweek here in the States contains an
article
>discussing the history of comets and that of Hale-Bopp in
particular.
>While history is not my specialty, there seem to be many
incorrect dates
>and dubious statements (the Egyptian New Kingdom started
around 2000 BC?
>The Harappan civilization failed around 1600 BC? And many
more). I would
>be interested in hearing comments about this article from
those here with
>expertise in historical matters.
As one of those quoted in the Newsweek article Phil refers to, I
can only
say that I was not consulted on the chronology, nor did I have an
opportunity to review the text before publication. I was asked to
comment on
how the ancient Chinese would have reacted to the spectacle. The
chronological data provided for China was also largely based on
traditional
sources which have long been superceded, in part by my own work
verifying
accounts of singularly impressive planetary massings in the 2nd
millennium
BCE. One of these places the founding of the earliest dynasty,
the Xia
(Hsia) in the vicinity of 1953 BCE.
David Pankenier
--
David W. Pankenier
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, Dept. MFL
Maginnes Hall, 9 W. Packer Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18015 USA
Tel: 610-758-3090
Fax: 610-758-6556
e-mail: dwp0@lehigh.edu
*
Subject: "Fire from the Sky"
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Date sent: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 09:37:30 -0600 (CST)
From: pib@nwu.edu
This coming Sunday evening (March 23) in the United States, the
Turner
Broadcasting System (TBS) channel will air a special on
asteroids, comets,
and meteors entitled "Fire from the Sky." I do not know
anything about the
contents.
The current issue of Newsweek here in the States contains an
article
discussing the history of comets and that of Hale-Bopp in
particular.
While history is not my specialty, there seem to be many
incorrect dates and
dubious statements (the Egyptian New Kingdom started around 2000
BC? The
Harappan civilization failed around 1600 BC? And many more). I
would be
interested in hearing comments about this article from those here
with
expertise in historical matters.
-- Phil "Pib" Burns
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
pib@nwu.edu
http://pibweb.it.nwu.edu/~pib/