Black Death was 'triggered by asteroid impact and could reoccur today', scientist claims

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The Black Death may have been triggered by asteroid impact

The shocking revelation threatens to debunk one of the biggest chunks of British history and turn the world of science and academia on its head.

And experts warn another collision with Earth could happen "at any moment" sparking an outbreak of disease capable of wiping out entire populations.

History has for centuries claimed the Black Death which led to the gruesome deaths of up to 200 million people in Europe was carried by rats and fleas.

Its victims were covered in huge weeping boils, swollen lymph glands, gangrene and rotting limbs and eventually succumbed to a slow an painful death.

It struck again every 30 or so years until the famous medieval bubonic plague in 1664 which finally came to an end after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

It is widely accepted that the 14th century epidemic, the most catastrophic ever recorded in Europe's history, was a caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis which spread from China.

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People pray for a relief from the Black Death which killed thousands

However experts now claim something "much bigger" happened at the time to kill off 60 per cent of the population.

Author and dendochronologist Professor Mike Baillie said studies of tree rings reveal a major event just before 1350, just at the time the disease was sweeping across Europe.

Something catastrophic occurred to change the composition of the atmosphere and provide ideal conditions for a lethal infection to spread, he claims.

He said: "We have discovered that around this time there was some sort of major event and I am proposing this could have been an extra-terrestrial impact.

"This would have caused a corruption of the atmosphere, something major like that, which made the population highly susceptible to disease.

"The 1348 plague really was in a league of its own, killing a third to half of the population."

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Skulls are the only remains from the Black Death

He said it is falsely believed the plague, which still exists in parts of Africa and Asia, is highly infectious and so spread like wild fire during the dark ages.

Instead, he said, it is easy to contain and a colossal impact similar to the Tunguska Asteroid which hit Siberia in 1908 changed the environment to its advantage.

He said: "People believe that the bubonic plague is extremely infectious and it spread through Europe like a scythe at amazing speed.

"In fact studies show it is not very infectious, where there are modern day outbreaks it remains very localised, something else was going on at the time.

"Looking at the structure of tree rings we can tell that around 1348, 1349 there was a major environmental change which led to a downturn in tree growth.

"This was so major that we are proposing it could have been an extra-terrestrial impact, the theory of rats and fleas has little trace in this whole story.

"Anything that happened in the past can happen again, it could happen tonight."

The claim backs up long-held beliefs that disease and infections including HIV and Ebola could have originated outside Earth.

The theory of panspermia states that virus particles and fragments of DNA capable of causing infection are constantly raining down from outer space.

It has been widely upheld by scientists including Chandra Wickramasinghe director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham in England.

Professor Wickramasinghe has long-claimed life on Earth is under a constant threat of disease and pestilence from outer space.

He said existing bacteria and viruses can be 'supercharged' by DNA fragments carried on comets with epidemics like Ebola and HIV possibly being extra-terrestrial in origin.

He said another major impact is due which could "collapse civilisation" and return Earth "to the dark ages".

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An artist's impression of an asteroid impact

The Apophis asteroid will pass the planet on in April 2029 and possibly again ten years later when a collision could occur.

Professor Wickramasinghe said: "If as it passed the earth it happens to pass through a certain narrow window in space then in 2036 it will return and hit the Earth.

"This narrow window is a point where the earth's gravity would deflect the orbit of Apophis just enough to ensure an impact in 2036.

"If Apophis hits the Earth the impact will be in the 3000-megaton class, it is entirely reasonable to state that such an impact would collapse our current civilisation and return the survivors, metaphorically speaking, to the Dark Ages.

"Baillie has the scientific evidence to support his theory and his evidence supports what the people of the time were saying: earthquakes, comets, rains of death and fire, corrupted atmosphere, and death on a scale that is almost unimaginable."

Professor Baille, author of the book '' added: "Something happened to change the atmosphere and the environment and killed a lot of people.

"That could happen again."