Waruno Mahdi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 14:49:45 +0100
From: Waruno Mahdi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [AP] Scientists claim to find lost civilization
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.syracuse.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?
/base/national-5/1141094372287660.xml&storylist=national
Scientists claim to find lost civilization
2/28/2006, 6:44 a.m. ET
By RAY HENRY
The Associated Press
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) - Scientists have found what they believe
are traces of the lost Indonesian civilization of Tambora, which
was wiped out in 1815 by the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded
history.
Mount Tambora's cataclysmic eruption on April 10, 1815, buried the
inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock and
is blamed for an estimated! 88,000 deaths. The eruption was at least
four times more powerful than Mount Krakatoa's in 1883.
Guided by ground-penetrating radar, U.S. and Indonesian researchers
recently dug in a gully where locals had found ceramics and bones.
They unearthed the remains of a thatch house, pottery, bronze and
the carbonized bones of two people, all in a layer of sediment dating
to the eruption.
University of Rhode Island volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson, the
leader of the expedition, estimated that 10,000 people lived in the
town when the volcano erupted in a blast that dwarfed the one that
buried the Roman town of Pompeii.
The eruption shot 400 million tons of sulfuric gases into the atmosphere,
causing global cooling and creating what historians call "The Year Without
a Summer." Farms in Maine suffered crop-killing frosts in June, July and
August. In France and Germany, grape and corn crops died, or the harvests
were delayed.
T! he civilization on Sumbawa Island has intrigued researchers ever since
Dutch and British explorers visited in the early 1800s and were surprised
to hear a language that did not sound like any other spoken in Indonesia,
Sigurdsson said. Some scholars believe the language more closely resembled
those spoken in Indochina. But not long after Westerners first encountered
Tambora, the society was destroyed.
"The explosion wiped out the language. That's how big it was," Sigurdsson
said. "But we're trying to get these people to speak again, by digging."
Some of what the researchers found may suggest Tambora's inhabitants came
from Indochina or had commercial ties with the region, Sigurdsson said.
For example, ceramic pottery uncovered during the dig resembles that common
to Vietnam.
John Miksic, an archaeologist at the National University of Singapore, has
seen video of the dig and said he believes Sigurdsson's team did find a
dwel! ling destroyed by the eruption.
But he doubts the Tamborans were from Indochina or spoke a language from
that area. If Vietnamese-style ceramics reached the island, it was probably
through trade with intermediaries, Miksic said.
During the dig, Sigurdsson's team found the charred skeleton of a woman who
was most likely in her kitchen. A metal machete and a melted glass bottle
lay nearby. The remains of another person were found just outside what was
probably the front door.
The team included researchers from the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington and the Indonesian Directorate of Volcanology.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
N.B.: Satu akibat lagi daripada letusan Tambora tahun 1815 itu, khusus
gara-gara cuaca musim panas 1816 di kawasan utara yang "bagaikan
musim dingin" itu: dua penyair Inggeris, Lord Byron dan Percy
Shelley, yang terakhir ini disertai isteri, Mary Sh! elly, tengah
berkumpul di dekat danau Jeniwa, Suiss, tapi sial, karena cuaca jelek
terus, terpaksa mendekam di dalam rumah. Untuk mengisi waktu, mereka
memutuskan masing-masing menulis cerita horor. Cerita yang dikarang
oleh Mary Shelley kemudian dilengkapkan sebagai roman yang diterbitkan
dengan nama: FRANKENSTEIN. Entah berapa di antara Anda pernah membacanya,
yang pasti, semua pernah nonton filemnya lebih dari sekali.
Yah begitulah akibat cetusan Tambora yang berkali-kali lebih dahsyat
daripada letusan Krakatau: selain puluhan ribu orang korban mati,
masih pula mengakibatkan sebuah cerita horor yang mengelilingi dunia.
Salam to you all, Waruno
<<>>
This msg has been sent through FiOS (super speed fiber !
optic
infrastructure) via 2.4GHz WiFi Xtreme G 54mbps. An Internet flash!
<<>>
