Two of the many things I'm interested in other than politics are archaeology and geology, which come together in this story. First the archaeology, which involves:

...the mysterious abandonment of Atlit-Yam, a Neolithic village located along the coast of present-day Israel. When archeologists discovered the village about 20 years ago, they found evidence of a sudden evacuation, including a pile of fish that had been gutted and sorted but then left to rot.

The explanation turns out to be geological:

A volcano avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago triggered a devastating tsunami taller than a 10-story building that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea, slamming into the shores of three continents in only a few hours.

The Mt. Etna avalanche sent 6 cubic miles of rock and sediment tumbling into the water—enough material to cover the entire island of Manhattan in a layer of debris thicker than the Empire State Building is tall. ***

Their recreation suggests the tsunami's waves reached heights of up to 130 feet and maximum speeds of up to 450 mph, making it more powerful than the Indonesian tsunami that killed more than 180,000 people in 2004.

Researchers at the National Institute of Geology and Volcanology in Italy have created a computer animation that recreates the tsunami; here it is, via LiveScience.com:

For those looking for something more to worry about, the same thing could happen tomorrow.

This isn't precisely "American culture;" nevertheless, if you're interested in commenting, go to Patsy's.

Posted by John at 12:26 PM  |    |