A group of
Russian mathematicians led by
Moscow State University professor
Anatoly Fomenko believes that the chronology of the world is incorrect.
The theory originated with
Nikolai Morozov (who died in 1946) and counts chess player
Garry Kasparov as an adherent. The proponents maintain that historians have erred and counted singular events as separate ones, based on a statistical comparison of disparate ruler-succession chronologies. According to the calculations of Gleb Nosovskii,
Jesus Christ was born in 1064 AD, and that the stretch of time between 1600 BC and 1600 AD is a single sequence, repeated four times. Similarly, the current year is not year 2000, it is really 936 AD. Not a problem; time just ran backwards for a while. Proponents maintain that carbon dating techniques are grossly miscalibrated as a result.
These mathematicians are not without opposition, however. The historical community considers the theory a stunningly nutty
pseudo-science that reorders events in impossible ways simply to make the numbers look nice. Archaeologists point out the the historical record is not the only way to calibrate Carbon 14 dating techniques (for example,
tree rings provide an easily dated carbon trail).