Ciklus svemirskih katastrofa: Potopi, požari i skapavanja u povijesti civilizacije

The book represents the most detailed scientific defense of the so-called Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis - the thesis that 12,900 years ago (10,900 BC) the Earth was hit by a series of comets or fragments of a disintegrated larger celestial body, which caused the sudden return of the ice age (Younger Dryas, 1200 years) and the mass extinction of megafauna and the disappearance of the Clovis culture in America.

The authors (nuclear physicist Firestone, geophysicist West and geologist Warwick-Smith) present multi-layered evidence:

• nanodiamonds, iridium, iron-rich micro-spheres, carbon "black mats" and shocked quartz at 50+ sites across North America, Europe and the Middle East - all in the same thin layer exactly 12,900 years old;
• traces of huge fires that covered 10-15% of the planet's land surface;
• a sudden drop in temperature of 8–15 °C in just a few years;
• the extinction of 35 genera of large mammals (mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed tigers) and the overnight disappearance of the Clovis culture;
• geological evidence of mega-tsunamis and floods on both sides of the Atlantic.

The book connects the catastrophe with global myths of a flood and a rain of fire and suggests that the survivors passed on the memory in the form of legends (e.g. Plato's Atlantis, Indian myths of the "end of the yuga"). The chapter on the "black mat" - a layer rich in soot and nanodiamonds that lies beneath younger layers around the world is particularly convincing.

Although the hypothesis was marginalized in 2006–2007, from 2018–2025 it has become widely accepted in the scientific community (over 100 peer-reviewed papers published). A must-read for anyone seriously interested in prehistory and catastrophism.