Guardians of Empty Treasure Troves

You all must have heard of the great civilization of Atlantis, a fabled city which
got sunk in the sea. Our journey begins in an island, where, modern
archaeologists believe that the Legend of Atlantis had begun. Its the island of
Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. I am going to take you back in time, 4000
years in the past to Bronze Age, to meet the habitants of that island, the most
advanced of all ancient European civilizations, The Minoans. They mark a
pivotal moment in the history of development of modern human societies,
because, besides surviving, they lived a sophisticated life much like the modern
life of ours. They were the first Europeans to have a written language and the
first to have paved roads. Besides being highly skilled artisans, civil engineers
and excellent ship builders, they devoted significant time for leisure activities
much like us, and they built the first sport stadium to entertain themselves
with boxing, wrestling and their notable sport of bull leaping. Their wealth
poured in due to their ability in making Bronze from copper and tin, lucky for
Minoans, they got their copper resources from a neighboring island of Cyprus,
and for the Tin, being a rarer resource; they reached to far ends of the sea to
Britain, Spain, regions of Central Europe and Iran to their East. As the island of
Crete being at the heart of the trading routes, Minoans took advantage of their
location and emerged as the first maritime superpower. But what the Minoans
didnt know was that their prosperity wasnt meant to last forever. Their
geological advantage which was the reason for their prosperity also became
the reason for their doom. Unknown to Minoans, the archipelago 70miles to
the north of Crete, the island of Santorini, the backbone of Minoan society
which was the home to the wealthy Minoan seaport, had a deadly secret. Like
most of the archipelagoes it sat on a volcano. 3500 years ago the volcano blew
up blasting away 10 million tons of ashes and debris high into the atmosphere,
the biggest eruption of the last 10,000 years, and after blasting away all it had
in its belly, the volcano collapsed into the sea creating a gigantic tsunami which
spread to Crete and brought an end to this great civilization.
Minoans were one of the many great ancient civilizations that disappeared
from the pages of history in a very short time and in the light of recent
geological discoveries; all these ancient cities had a common denominator. To
have a much deeper understanding, lets go back to before the beginning of
the Bronze Age, the history of metal tools which became the foundation for
human civilizations. Ever since the dawn of human beings, we are using

everything earth has to offer us. For their survival, early humans developed
tools from everything they found around them from rocks, stones, wood and
even bones. Then at about 6000 years ago, in Timna valley located in the
Negev desert of Israel, a giant leap was made. Humans started to make their
own resources from what they found on earth. Negev people found bands of
green minerals on rock surfaces called malachite, when they heated the rock,
they got copper, the first metal extracted by man. It was heavy, hard and it
made an ideal material for making tools. And the first large scale mining on the
planet begun and its legacy remains in the form of large network of hand
carved tunnels. About 5000 years ago, tin was added to copper and a much
durable bronze was made, marking the discovery of the first metal alloy. And
the rest is history.
Now where do all these minerals which we humans so fond of, comes from.
Answer to this is the recent geological discovery of plate tectonics made in
1960s. The theory of plate tectonics which describes the phenomenon of
continental drifting (movement of continents) states that our earth surface is
made up of 7 plates on which our continents and oceans sit. And these plates
are constantly in motion, moving at the rate of 2cm every year. The heat from
the earths core and the molten rocks beneath the surface drive these plates.
And this movement of plates has influenced the growth of human civilization
to a degree that surpasses the wildest of our imagination. Its these which
shaped our human history and still are. We got access to all the minerals and
everything we humans were ever after, we owe to the movement of plates. If
you want a detailed explanation of plate tectonics, I have to tell you the whole
history of Earth and that might need a book, so let me just give you the basic
idea of plate tectonics and other aspects of our planet that have a tremendous
influence on us and our existence.
Our earth is like an egg, the core of the earth compared with yellow yolk is
about the size of Mars and is made of molten iron, followed by the mantle
made of rocks that can be compared with the white yolk of the egg and the
outermost surface of the earth called crest is like the shell of an egg. Now if
you have studied thermo dynamics, you would know that when liquids are
heated, the liquid molecules rise to the surface and as they cool down, they
sink back, and they also form plumes (narrow columns of rising liquid). This

phenomenon is called convection. The mantle of our earth can be compared to

the liquid and the inner core can be compared with the heat source and the
convection cells formed by the rising and sinking of the molten rocks in the
mantle bring about the movements of plates, and the plumes forms the
volcanic island chains, as the plates move across the vent of the plume. Refer
the following figures to get a better understanding of convection and plate
tectonics.

Its simple. So far we have imagined that our earth is rock solid, but its an
illusion, our earth is more like a spherical blob in the geological timescale;
imagine a drop of honey or syrup, if a tiny dust lands on it, for the dust it would
seem like a solid. Similarly we are like tiny dusts on earth surface and we
perceive it as solid, but the laws of fluid dynamics apply to our earth like a drop
of honey and we cant experience the dynamics of our earth because the
geological time scale is different from our experiencing of time. I hope you got
some idea now.
About 225 million years ago, our earth had a single land mass called Pangaea
surrounded by a big ocean, and then slowly it split forming the Atlantic Ocean.
And the continents have been drifting and colliding; closing and opening seas
as the plates move. Geologists say that the continents would all merge once
again and form a supercontinent and the cycle will continue. These plate
movements, makes our earths surface as we see now. When the plates
collide, they form mountains, and when they drift apart, they form oceans.
When the plates lock up and suddenly break free, the jolt causes massive earth
quakes and tsunamis that reshape the earths surface. And the boundary of
these plates are called fault lines and these boundaries form the melting zones
of minerals and other resources which then are carried by heat and
underground water along the crevices of rocks and are brought to the surface

for human exploitation. You can refer the following diagram to get a better
picture of these plates and their fault lines.

Now you may be wondering why I had to put you through this geology
classroom, its because this is where our story of guardians of empty treasure
troves begins. Its these fault lines that brings those treasures. These
fault
lines mark the place where humans had found all their treasures which had led
to the development of all known civilizations.
And since the dawn of humanity, we are attracted towards these fault lines
and in fact 11 of 13 most important civilizations were across the fault lines.
Timna valley where first copper was mined lies at the Dead Sea fault separating
Africa and Arabia. But these fault lines bring those treasures for a big price.
Being the most geologically active parts, the fault lines marks the most volcanic
and earthquake prone zones on the planet. The island of Crete inhabited by
the Minoans lies at the fault line separating African and Eurasian plates was
destroyed by the volcano and the resulting tsunami. More than 2000 years
ago, Petra in Jordan built along the Dead Sea fault, was the most important
trade hub in the Middle East. It was bestowed with natural springs of
underground water brought to the surface by the fault line and supplied its

irrigation systems. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 360 AD as the earth

quake collapsed its irrigation system. The nearby city of Jericho, the oldest city
of the world, with its fertile pastures created by underground water, was hit by
earth quake more than 15 times and never recovered. And the ancient Roman
city of Hierapolis, a healing center for the Romans with its mineral rich water
was destroyed by a giant earth quake in 60 AD.
And even today, 10 out of 20 largest cities of the world are located along the
plate boundaries, with thriving population exploiting the resources brought by
the fault lines and yet remaining oblivious to the risk. For example, the city of
California owes its prosperity to the San Andreas Fault that separates North
American and pacific plates. Beginning from the Californian gold rush, nuggets
of gold that are brought to the surface by the fault line are found in the
streams. The mountains along the coast of California formed by the collision of
the plates created the scenic beauty which attracts tourists who bring the
revenue of 2 billion dollars every year on sight-seeing alone. And the
agricultural productivity of California with its wine yards and farms is also due
to these mountains. As the moist air from the ocean raises above the
mountains, they cool down and condense to form clouds that rain down the
otherwise arid desert bringing fertility. Most of all, Californias oil seeps which
brings oil to the surface like water springs, are brought by the fault line and
made California, one of the largest producers of oil. With its 200,000 wells
California is drawing 700,000 barrels of crude oil every day. And the city earns
a staggering 100 billion dollars every year because of the fault. But California is
struck by massive earth quakes every 100 -150 years, which was estimated to
cause a damage worth 250 billion dollars and by purely economic terms, that is
a huge gain but at the price of immense human loss and suffering. And it is just
the part of the big picture.
If you think about it, in the global scale the future implications are much bigger
than that. We human beings had thought of our earth as a stable planet and
whatever we have and claim to be our own would remain ours forever. Based
on this belief we have evolved into more self-centric and power mongering
societies that exploited other societies for selfish motives and economic
supremacy. But in the light of recent geological discoveries the very belief
upon which we built our societies, is no longer valid. This necessitates a change

of attitude if we are to survive as a species on this dynamic planet. We should

no longer be the citizens of our individual nations but of the earth itself, the
whole of humanity has to become one single unit throwing off all the
differences, understanding the fact that the land masses, we call as our
countries and the resources they offer us are not going to be there forever. If
we remain oblivious to this desperate need to unite, we might not pay the
price in full, but our posterity would and if their life is jeopardized, we, the
present day humanity would be the one, who would be solely responsible for
that.
It has been estimated that the annual global expenditure for defense stands at
over 1.7 trillion US dollars, with US at the top with the annual spending of 711
billion USD followed by China with 143 billion USD. And all these spending goes
waste in the long run, as these countries are just being the guardians of their
wealth and prosperity which will never going to remain as theirs. And only if
the countries of the world would open up to the reality that they are guarding
just the empty treasure troves, the future humanity would have a hope.
Because wed never be able to control the geological forces that operates
around us and wed never know which continent or country would remain on
the face of the continuously changing earth. So its time, that we open up to
the reality of our fragile life on this dynamic planet, God had given us the
warning by making us aware of the dynamic nature of the earth to do the
necessary. To be and stay united, loving and supporting each other, ensuring
welfare for all of humanity rather than a few, we call our own.
Imagine a world where the whole of humanity stands as one unit, bonded by
mutual love, devoid of all the manmade differences of religion, race, culture,
language and everything that separates one human from another. That would
be the promising world that would ensure the survival of humanity. And that
can become a reality only if the attitude change comes from the individual
level and then spread to the global level. May the ultimate bless us to make it
happen.
For Discussion: shiva.rubhan@yahoo.com