Rocks and bones reveal China’s great flood
Legends have long claimed that China’s first dynasty, the Xia, arose after Emperor Yu tamed a large-scale flood that threatened the country’s civilization. Researchers never found any evidence to corroborate the tale – until now.
By analyzing sediments and the bones of three young children, Dr. Wu Qinglong, a professor of geography at Nanjing Normal University, and his colleagues have discovered evidence that such a flood probably happened sometime around 1900 BC.
According to BBC News and the Washington Post, Dr. Wu was conducting research around the Yellow River in 2007 when he found rock deposits resembling “outburst flood sediments” in the form of green schist and mudstone. The sediment layers were far thicker than was normal for the area, suggesting that they were originally deposited there by a tremendous flood.
He recruited a team of archaeologists, geologists, and historians to further investigate the site, and they concluded a nearby earthquake triggered an avalanche which formed a natural dam in the river. That dam lasted for six to nine months before bursting, and once it did, as much as 16 cubic km worth of water flooded the lowlands downstream.
As Wu told reporters during a teleconference, the investigation “showed that the sediments from this outburst flood are up to 20m thick, and up to 50m higher than the Yellow River – indicating an unprecedented, devastating flood.” His team published their findings in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
The team successfully carbon dated three skeletons to date the flood (Credit: Cai Linhai)
Findings provide possible link between Xia dynasty, Erlitou culture
During the course of their investigation, Wu’s team carbon-dated organic matter found along with the flood deposits, as well as bones belonging to three young children believed to be victims of the cataclysmic event. The results indicated that the flood occurred sometime around 1922 BC – “plus or minus about 28 years,” study co-author Dr. Darryl Granger told BBC News.
Granger, a geologist at Purdue University, noted that the flood waters would have extended as far as 2,000 km (more than 1,200 miles) downstream while traveling 300-500,000 cubic meters per second. That’s “roughly equivalent to the largest flood ever measured on the Amazon river” and “among the largest known floods to have happened on Earth during the past 10,000 years.”
It’s also 500 times the size of a typical flood on the Yellow River caused by rainfall, the study authors explained. While the dating of the event is earlier than some earlier estimates, it would coincide with a transition from Stone Age culture to Bronze Age culture – specifically, the rise of the Erlitou culture, an early Chinese Bronze Age society previously identified by researchers. The study suggests that the Xia dynasty and the Erlitou culture could be linked.
“This is the first time a flood of this scale – large enough to account for it – has been found,” co-author David Cohen, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at National Taiwan University, told the AFP. The discovery “provides us with a tantalizing hint that the Xia dynasty might really have existed,” he noted. “If the Great Flood really happened, perhaps it is also likely that the Xia dynasty really existed, too. The two are directly tied to each other.”
—–
Image credit: Qu Qinglon
The post Rocks and bones reveal China’s great flood appeared first on Redorbit.
redOrbit.com
offers Science, Space, Technology, Health news, videos, images and reference information. For the latest science news, space news, technology news, health news visit redOrbit.com frequently. Learn something new every day.”
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113415335/china-great-flood-080516/
Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.
"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.
Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!
Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!
HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.
Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.
MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)
Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser! Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!
Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.
Smart Meter Cover - Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).
Gota love when they find cool old bits of history like that.
What to make of this historical flood evidence especially considering the “official” date has remained uncertain and controversial.
And cue the creatards…