[A] Dr Daniel Stanley, an oceanographer, has found volcanic
shards in Egypt that he believes are linked to the explosion. Computer
simulations by Mike Rampino, a climate modeler from New York University, show
that the resulting ash cloud could have plunged the area into darkness, as well
as generating lightning and hail, two of the 10 plagues.
[B] The
cloud could have also reduced the rainfall, causing a drought. If the Nile had
then been poisoned by the effects of the eruption, pollution could have turned
it red, as happened in a recent environmental disaster in America. The same
pollution, could have driven millions of frogs on to the land, the second
plague. On land the frogs would die, removing the only obstacle to an explosion
of flies and lice-the third and fourth plagues. The flies could have transmitted
fatal diseases to cattle (the fifth plague) and boils and blisters to humans
(the sixth plague).
[C] Moses, which will be broadcast in
December 2002, will suggest that much of the Bible story can be explained by a
single natural disaster, a huge volcanic eruption on the Greek island of
Santorini in the 16th century BC.
[D] The hour-long documentary
argues that even the story of the parting of the Red Sea, which allowed Moses to
lead the Hebrews to safety while the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned, may
have its origins in the eruption. It repeats the theory that "Red Sea" is a
mistranslation of the Sea of Reeds, a much shallower swamp.
[E]
The programme tells the story of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt after a
series of plagues had devastated the country. But it also uses new scientific
research to argue that many of the events surrounding the exodus could have been
triggered by the eruption, which would have been a thousand times more powerful
than a nuclear bomb.
[F] Computer simulations show that the
Santorini eruption could have triggered a 600ft-high tidal wave, traveling at
about 400 miles an hour, which would have been 6ft high and a hundred miles long
when it reached the Egyptian delta. Such an event would have been remembered for
generations, and may have provided the inspiration for the story.
[G] Fresh evidence that the Biblical plagues and the parting of the Red
Sea were natural events rather than myths or miracles is to be presented in a
new BBC documentary.
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