Ancient Earthquakes
THEORIES ABOUND ON WHAT BROUGHT DOWN THE CIVILIZATIONS OF
THE BRONZE AGE.  SOME SAY THAT NATIONS WITH IRON SWORDS BESTED
THE NATIONS WITH BRONZE SHIELDS.  SOME SAY THAT A GREAT
CIVILIZATION CAME FROM THE SEA TO CONQUER THEM.  THE BIBLE EVEN
HAS A THEORY--JOSHUA BLEW A HORN AND THE WALLS OF JERICHO
CAME TUMBLING DOWN.  THE FACT IS THAT AROUND 1200 BC, NUMEROUS
CITIES AROUND THE MEDITTERANEAN COLLAPSED OVER THE PERIOD OF
50 YEARS AND NO ONE IS QUITE SURE WHY.  NOW AMOS NUR IS A
THROWING A NEW THEORY INTO THE RING.

(Sfx: earthquake)

Nur: "Earthquakes"

NOT JUST ONE EARTHQUAKE, BUT A STORM OF THEM OVER 50 YEARS,
SWEEPING FROM SOUTHERN ITALY TO CENTRAL TURKEY.  NUR IS A
PHYSICIST AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND HE SAYS THAT MORE AND
MORE, GEOLOGISTS BELIEVE THAT EARTHQUAKES SOMETIMES COME IN
BURSTS.  TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE, NUR COLLECTED DATA FROM THE LAST
100 YEARS AROUND THE MEDITTERANEAN.

Nur: "What we know today from plate tectonics and modern
measurements of earthquakes form the last 50 years or so is that
earthquakes. . happen in these swarms or these storms , so we may have a
period of 50 years or so in which many large earthquakes happen along
many of the plate boundaries and then everything quiets down."

NUR SAYS THAT THE BURSTS THIS CENTURY CAME IN THE SAME SITES
WHERE WE SEE RUINS OF BRONZE AGE CITIES TODAY, SO IT'S EASY TO
BELIEVE THAT A BURST OF EARTHQUAKES ZIPPED THROUGH THE AREA
3000 YEARS AGO.  OF COURSE, NUR DOESN'T THINK THAT ONLY THE
EARTHQUAKES WERE RESPONSIBLE.  THEY WERE JUST THE STARTING
POINT.  

Nur: "The earthquakes provided the vulnerability of these economic and military centers
to attack.  That's probably how it happened."