Re: Vs: [meteorite-list] Re:Kaali meteorite - Estonia, 400BC?

2002-06-04 Thread Tõnu Pani 

Hi all,

The most correct name is Kaali craters, as Kaali järv is a small lake
inside the biggest of Kaali craters /diam of crater 110m, deph 16m, lake
itself 40-60m and depth 6m/. The 8 smaller craters have diam 12-40m and
depths 1-4 m.

The most prominent proponent for the interregional knowledge about the
craters in antique times is Estonian former president (1992-2001)
Lennart Meri. Among his books and films there are
Hõbevalge (Silverwhite /or silvery white/) in 1976 and Hõbevalgem /More
silvery white/ in 1984. In the last one he built the theory about the
Pytheas jorney to Kaali. This theory was met by very severe criticism by
other hiostorians /Meri graduated in 1953 as historian here, in Tartu/.

But however, such a big event had to impress the people living nearby.
And in old estonian myths the was a god Tharapita, who flew over Estonia
in the same direction and way, as the Kaali meteorite

with best regards
Tõnu Pani

large crater in Estonia, and several (as many as
   8?) smaller craters

  400-370 B.C. at  ± 1o / The nine Kaalijärv craters
   on the Estonian
   island of Saaremaa (Ösel)
   VESKI S. et al. (2001) Ecological catastrophe in
   connection with the
   impact of the Kaali Meteorite about 800-400 BC on
   the island of
   Saaremaa, Estonia
   About 800-400 B.C. a meteoroid hit a then relatively
   densely populated
   island, forming the Kaali meteorite impact craters.

  Indirect written
   historical records interpreted as describing the
   Kaali meteorite blast
   event come from Tacitus (1942) and Pytheas from
   Massalia.



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Re: Vs: [meteorite-list] Re:Kaali meteorite - Estonia, 400BC?

2002-06-04 Thread rochette 

Hello list

a short comment on Pytheas, who was a greek citizen of Phocea, now
Marseille in SE France. He may have been the first geophysicist as he is
renown for his proposal that tide is linked to the movement of Moon and Sun
relative to Earth. He formed this idea probably by being the first Greek to
sail in North Sea (finding a way to circonvene Carthage blocus on
Gibraltar), so to experience much bigger tides than the few tens of cm
available in his home mediteranean sea. His legendary travel to collect
amber (in Baltica) and tin (in Cornwall and possibly Scotland)  and find
trade routes independent of Carthage rule is said to have ended in an
extraordinary way: feared of affronting Carthage troops again (he escape
miraculously the first time thanks to huge fog and to the outgoing surface
current in Gibraltar strait), he is reported to have sailed from
practically Kaali to the Black sea, partly using lakes and rivers (from
Ladoga to the Dniepr?) and partly sliding his boot on land!! He succeeded
to get back home safe after a few years of travelling. More impressive than
Ulysse's pleasant cruise, isn't it?
Unfortunately his original writing are not preserved and his book has been
rebuilt using fragments quoted by other authors, so one must be cautious.
But his visit to Kaali freshly formed crater area is among the most likely
part of the story.





Pierre



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