The purpose of this website is to explore the ramifications of this
emerging paradigm shift; to raise a challenge to prevailing
orthodoxies and dogmas; to document a part of this radical new
understanding of Earth history and the great natural forces which
have played the dominant role in creating and shaping the world we
inhabit today; to investigate the relationship between ancient
civilizations and global environmental change; and, finally, to
promote a better understanding of the implications of this
knowledge for the future of life and civilization on this planet.
An Alternative
View of World History
A revolutionary new understanding of the Earth history began to
emerge in the closing decades of the Twentieth Century. This new
vision entails the realization that Earth is an intrinsic part of a
cosmic environment and that events and conditions beyond the limits
of the terrestrial domain have played a decisive role in
determining the progression of life on Earth. But it also carries
far-reaching implications for the future of Man and civilization on
this planet, in that it is now realized that at least some of the
interactions between the Earth and the cosmos are profoundly
catastrophic. There is no exaggeration whatsoever in employing the
term ‘catastrophic’ to describe the extreme alterations of Earth’s
ecological and environmental balance that have repeatedly taken
place over the lifespan of our planet. The reality of extreme
environmental catastrophes has now been scientifically documented
beyond equivocation. However, the implications of this new insight
into the workings of Nature has so far managed to escape the
attention of the vast majority of humanity, including those
scientists, professionals and policy makers who should be heeding
the portentous warnings clearly conveyed by the ever growing mass
of new data and evidence. In conjunction with this emergent
understanding of Earth’s catastrophic history is the realization
that Mans’ history on Earth, his culture and civilization, is far
older and richer, and far more profound than recognized by
mainstream scholars and scientists only a generation ago. Ancient
Man, it now appears, was far more culturally and scientifically
sophisticated than the stereotypical Paleolithic primitive even
recently envisioned by anthropological orthodoxy. Allied with this
recognition of ancient achievement is the growing appreciation of
the extreme antiquity of modern homo sapiens on Earth. While the
prevailing view of the past holds that history began in the Middle
East around 5,000 years ago, it should be bourn in mind that modern
humans appear to have occupied this planet for at least 150,000
years. It is becoming increasingly likely that the true history of
man on Earth is far deeper and more complex than recognized up to
now by established interpretations of prehistory. It is the mission
of Cosmographic Research to investigate and document the
catastro-phic history of the world and the evidence for advanced
knowledge in earlier cultures; through educational programs to
advance a deeper understanding of the implications of this
knowledge for both past and the future of planet Earth and Human
civilization upon it; and to promote strategies for successfully
coping with the inevitable change that is to come
