

Canadian natural disaster sparked 'Big Freeze' in Europe 12,800 years ago - ojbyrne
http://www.canada.com/technology/Canadian+disaster+sparked+Freeze+Europe/2225992/story.html

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jaddison
I, as a citizen of Canada, hereby apologize for the devastation caused by my
geographical area of the world.

Seriously though, it's incredible to think that something happening in Canada
could cause Sumerian and Mesopotamian legends - or possibly even the biblical
flood. I suppose that speaks volumes (no pun intended) to the vast amount of
water expunged from Agassiz.

Imagine if there were people around at the time, watching events unfold - I'll
bet it would have been a jaw-dropping experience!

Still, you have to wonder how accurate such findings could be... if you're
13,000 years separated from the actual event - how much room for errors
exists?

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garyrichardson
STOP BLAMING THE CANADIANS!

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trafficlight
Too late.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame_Canada>

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confuzatron
"Teller has suggested that rising seas caused by the last Agassiz flood 8,000
years ago may have sent water rushing into the Persian Gulf basin, giving rise
to Sumerian and Mesopotamian flood legends and ultimately the biblical story
of Noah's Ark."

Riiiight...

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confuzatron
Sheesh. Apparently being sceptical of a _geologist's_ theory that water (even
a lot of water) spilling into the north atlantic 'sent water rushing into the
Persian Gulf' is worthy of downvotes.

Anyone care to explain how that speculation could possibly not be laughable?

Meanwhile the "gee golly jeepers" response above gets upvoted 6?

Ah who cares (me a little, apparently).

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Semiapies
While there have been mega-floods in prehistory, there's a very strange
tendency to try to pin particular events for the genesis (so to speak) of
flood mythology, especially when cultures all over the world have flood myths.

Somehow it's inconceivable that ancient people could experience _normal_
disastrous flooding, with inundation as far as the eye can see, and then
imagine what it would be like if a flood engulfed _everything_ , even trees
and hills, and remained for a long time.

~~~
run4yourlives
To be fair to the ancients, floods were as common an occurrence as they are
today. Every living person would have probably experienced at least one.

There exists however, a story about a particularity bad flood in many
cultures.

Instead of assuming that the ancients were stupid and thought of every flood
as "teh worst evar!!!", it's far more likely that there was in fact an
instance of a flood that stood out from the rest enough to write down.

