- WhitestarAnpu
- |
- Exalted Member
Two Million Year Theory
I wish to start out by stating that the near 1:1 local years to Terran years that we see when calculating the time since the first firing of the Halo Rings has always bothered me a bit. While 100,000 years ago, humanity was still in Africa, I wish to show the possibility that the firing of the rings dates back much further.
Soell System
We know that the Soell System consists of, at least, the Soell star itself, the gas giant Threshold that is roughly twice the size of Jupiter, the moon Basis that is roughly twice the size of Earth, and Installation 04. It is from this system, specifically Installation 04’s Monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, that we find out the actual firing of the Halo network was 101,217 local year ago. Using the assumption that Soell falls somewhere in the spectral classification ranges for a type G (yellow) star, given the fact that such information was never disclosed to use previously, we are able to make parallels with our own star system. Our own star, Sol, is a type G2V star.
Using the size of Jupiter and Saturn, and their relative distances from Sol, we find that the most plausible position for a planet twice the size of Jupiter to lie would be somewhere between these two orbits. This would, in turn, allow us to find a more fitting conversion between “Threshold” years and Terran years. For simplicity, the term “years” will refer to Terran years. Jupiter, the lower limit for this conversion, makes its orbit about once every 11.86 years. Saturn, the upper limit, makes its orbit about once every 29.5 years. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that 1 Threshold year would lie somewhere between 11.86 and 29.5 years. Using these to calculate the firing of the Halo’s, we find that 101,217 Threshold years ago would be somewhere between 1,200,433 and 2,985,901 years ago (or between 1,197,881 B.C. and 2,983,399 B.C.).
Geological Time (3 – 1.2 M.Y.A.)
One interesting fact that appears when we use this new time frame to estimate the time of the firing of the Halo’s comes from the fact that this geological “cover” encompasses the Pliocene – Pleistocene Boundary roughly 1.8 M.Y.A. Like many other epoch boundaries, this one saw a major extinction, although this extinction was specific to marine animals. I am sure at this point many of you are questioning my logic for pointing this out. After all, Halo was meant to destroy “any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood” (343 Guilty Spark, Halo). However, theories have been surfacing recently that Earth was suppose to be special, that was part of the reason why humans are seen my the Monitors as “Reclaimers” and why the massive Forerunner artifact was build under the plains of Kenya in the area of Mombasa and Voi.
With that pointed out, I turn to a current theory for this extinction to bolster my claim that this time frame saw the activation of the Halo Rings, and not the time around 100,000 B.C. that has frequently been claimed. An article presented in 2002 suggested that a Supernova near Earth may have been the cause of this extinction (Source). The article continues to suggest that a massive bombardment of Gamma Ray Radiation from the Supernova would have caused ozone layer to become compromised. As such, Sol’s radiation would make it to Earth’s surface, causing the oceans to heat up. This would have killed off the simple algae and plankton that are so often the basis of marine food chains, sending a ripple effect up the food chain and killing off those that could not adapt quick enough. Had this Gamma Ray bombardment been powerful enough, the ozone layer of any planet would have been stripped clear and the planet’s star would completely irradiate the plant leaving a mostly barren rock with only bacteria and small, adaptive creatures alive to reproduce and start the evolutionary cycle all over.
Human Ancestors
I admit I previously assumed the first firing of the Halos to have been roughly 65 million years ago, to explain the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, if this were the case, then it would have been impossible for the Forerunners to know what humans look like, as they would not evolve to something remotely looking like a human for over another 60 million years. With the aforementioned calculations, we find a few human ancestors that lived in the vicinity of the Kenya artifact. Specifically, these being H. habilis and H. erectus. Of the two, H. erectus appears to be the more likely candidate for the earliest “Reclaimers”, since they were apparently very similar in appearance to the modern human even if their brain was not as large as our own (with their brain cavity being roughly 75% the size of the brain cavity on a modern human). However, it is possible that all higher-level, humanoid ancestors were classified as “Reclaimers” to allow for the millennia of evolution that still lay before the human race.
!!SPOILER WARNING!!
If you have not read the information provided in the terminals found in Halo 3, it is suggested that you skip this portion of the theory as it draws from information provided from these terminals rather than theories that this community came up with prior to Halo 3 arrived on the market or other scientific deduction. The next bold-faced tab will mark the beginning of the continued, spoiler-free theory.
This reference finds its way into the “Human Ancestors” section, but is actually more of a reference to the Forerunners themselves. In the sixth terminal, we find references to a Forerunner, referred to as the “[Librarian]”, who was indexing the inhabitants of Earth. It was this Forerunner who apparently saw to the construction of the facility on Earth as well as, most likely, the construction of the Key Ship used by the Prophet of Truth to gain access to Installation 00 seeing as how previous message fragments (Fragment 4) make mention to the destruction of all older Key Ships by this Librarian. This Forerunner makes mention to Mt. Kilimanjaro, albeit cryptically, as being his or her final resting place. The reason I bring this up here is because of a small note in Geological Time known as H. rudolfensis. This was a ‘human skeleton’ that was found in Kenya recently that was dated to sometime between 2.4 and 1.6 M.Y.A., placing it within the time-frame set above for the firing of the Halo Rings. Only partial fragments of a single skull have been found to date, which brings up the possibility of this being a species ‘alien’ to Earth, rather than a true human ancestor. I feel obliged to point out that this skull was located on the other side of Kenya at Lake Rudolf, rather than along the Kenya/Tanzania border where Mt. Kilimanjaro can be found. This could be explained away, however, due to the fact that the H. erectus species which was common in the area was a nomadic group of Hunter/Gatherers. As such, N’chala (Tribal Elder in the Cradle of Life) and his tribe clearly viewed the Forerunners as gods and may have taken the Librarian with them as they traveled across Africa, either integrating him/her into their tribe as their leader or simply taken his/her bones with them as a sign that they were “Favored by the gods” to all those they came across and fought. It is worth pointing out that the grave site this skull was found at does include H. erectus and H. habilis skeletons.
Conclusion
A 1-to-1 Threshold to Terran year conversion is certainly possible. This theory, after all, begins with the key assumption that the Soell system operates very similarly to the Sol system that we call home. Astrophysics has clearly shown examples of this assumption’s fallacies, an example being the Class M3.5V Star Gliese 876. Gliese 876 b is a gas giant 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter that orbits this star with closer than the orbit of Mercury. Its local year would be more along the lines of 60 Terran Days. However, it is my personal belief that placing a nearly 2 million Terran year time-frame between the firing of the Halo Rings rather than the previously suggested roughly 100,000 Terran year time-frame provides a much more feasible timescale for the Covenant races to re-evolved from small life forms to the superior space-faring races that we see them as in 2525.
However, I present this theory for the review of my Halo peers. I look forward to hearing what others may have to say.
I thank you for the time you spent reading this,
WhitestarAnpu
[Edited on 10.01.2007 7:13 PM PDT]