David Keys (author)

David Keys is archaeology correspondent for the London daily paper, The Independent and has contributed to more than 20 archaeological documentaries and other TV programmes in the US and the UK. He has visited over a thousand archaeological and historical sites in sixty countries. He was featured as one of the main interview subjects in the 2000 pilot to the PBS series, Secrets of the Dead discussing the ancient climatic catastrophe which is the subject of his book.

Keys has been Archaeology Correspondent for The Independent since the paper launched in 1986. Major TV documentaries he initiated and acted as consultant on include The Immortal Emperor (1996), Flight Paths to the Gods (1997), Catastrophe: The Day the Sun went out (1999), The Mummies of Cladh Hallan (2004), The Killer Wave of 1607 (2005), Gladiators: Back from the Dead (2010), Nelson’s Navy (2011) and Spying on Hitler’s Army (2013).

Keys has worked in historical and archaeological journalism since the mid-1980s. Before that, he worked in international trade and aviation journalism for ten years (1976-1986) as aviation editor of the London-based trade newspaper, International Freighting Weekly and also often contributed to Middle East Economic Digest, Africa Confidential and British Airways’ in flight magazine, High Life.

Keys' book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World was published in 2000 by Random House. The book's thesis is that a global climatic catastrophe in AD 535 to 536 –– a massive volcanic eruption sundering Java from Sumatra –– was the decisive factor that transformed the Ancient World into the Medieval Era (and beyond). Ancient chroniclers recorded a disaster in that year that blotted out the Sun for months (possibly years) causing famine, droughts, floods, storms and an epidemic of bubonic plague. Keys uses tree-ring samples, analysis of lake deposits and ice cores, as well as contemporaneous documents to bolster his speculative thesis. In his scenario, the ensuing disasters precipitated the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire, beset by Avar, Slav, Mongol, and Persian invaders propelled from their disrupted homelands. The 6th-century collapse of Arabian civilization under pressure from floods and crop failure created a religiously apocalyptic atmosphere which set the stage for the emergence of Islam. In Mexico, the cataclysm supposedly triggered the collapse of Teotihuacán, while in China the ensuing half-century of political and social chaos led to a reunified nation. The book concludes with a roundup of trouble spots that could conceivably wreak planetary havoc.

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