Don't you find some big leaps in David Keys' theory?
"... it is necessary to recognise and discount the common tendency among archaeologists and historians to assume a causal link between the distant and widely separated events of which they may have knowledge. An eruption here, a destruction there, a plague somewhere else - all are to easily linked in hasty surmise"
Renfrew, Colin. 1979. The eruption of Thera and Minoan Crete. Volcanic activity and human ecology. Academic press. p. 582
The Krakatoa was ninety for first united Ireland
By MICHAEL LAVERY
A VOLCANIC eruption 7,000 miles away triggered a plague epidemic which helped give birth to the Irish nation, a leading historian claimed yesterday.
British author David Keys believes that the ultimate trigger for evolution of the Irish people was a giant early eruption of the Indonesian volcano, Krakatoa.
He has spent the past four years analysing the relationship between ancient volcanically-induced climatic problems and worldwide political change.
He outlines his findings in a new book, Catastrophe, an investigation into the Origins of the Modern World, which is the basis of a two-part Channel Four documentary to be shown tomorrow night and on August 3.
``Some of the key evidence for dating the worldwide catastrophe emanates from Ireland, from Lough Catherine in Co Tyrone,'' Mr Keys said last night.
The Krakatoa eruption set off a series of plagues in the 6th century which destabilised Ireland and ultimately created the first united Ireland in the 9th-11th centuries.
He used evidence from ancient tree rings and modern plague research, archaeology and the Irish Annals to assess the volcano's climatic and epidemiological impact on Ireland.
``The worldwide climatic chaos of the mid-530s AD led in Ireland to crop failure and famine,'' Mr Keys said.
In the mid-540s a terrible epidemic, possibly smallpox, broke out.
Some Irish population centres, like Lough Shinney in Dublin and the royal fortress of Garranes, near Cork, ceased to function in, or immediately after, the mid-6th century.
In 550AD a second epidemic, almost certainly plague, engulfed Ireland.
``The disease must have wiped out a substantial proportion of the population.''
Three years later, a third plague epidemic broke out. The plagues destabilised Ireland.
``Before the plague, things had been relatively peaceful only 11 battles in 45 years.
``But immediately afterwards, all hell broke loose, with 27 battles in 45 years.''
The long-term effects of the plagues and wars could be seen also in religion (Christianising the mass of the population), lifestyle (70,000 ring forts built by farmers to protect themselves) and even language (Irish words became shorter and a new accent evolved).
``Proto-modern Ireland had been conceived, along with its language, popular religion and even aspects of its literature,'' Mr Keys said.
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