by Sven Mildner, May 5, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31223/X5313T

In this draft of a new interpretation of Germania Magna, the author presents his hypothesis that Germania Magna underwent a far more extensive landscape transformation in geologically recent times than previously assumed. This was presumably caused by post-glacial isostatic rebound during the Holocene, or by a possible reactivation of the Caledonian Deformation Front (CDF) during a late phase of the Alpine orogeny, along with the associated tectonic activity in the upper crust (see following section). There is also the consideration whether a cosmic impact event could have been the cause of such a reactivation of the CDF. The conditions that would be expected in order to sufficiently substantiate the process described below would probably also involve previously misattributed or incorrectly dated major fault events. These could have repeatedly triggered stronger earthquakes in Central Europe over several centuries and may even have been recorded in written sources from the later Middle Ages.[1]

The scientific study of the historical geography of Central Europe, particularly the so-called Germania Magna, has traditionally been governed by an interdisciplinary paradigm that primarily relies on archaeological findings, philological text analyses, and a gradualist, geological basic assumption. In recent times, the research work of Sven Mildner (https://www.germania-magna.de), which combines a multidisciplinary, computer-assisted distortion analysis of the medieval cartography of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus – based on Claudius Ptolemy – with neocatastrophist, geodynamic models, has triggered an unorthodox re-evaluation of these established constants.¹ The present research report synthesizes the far-reaching implications arising from this approach, situates them within the philosophy of science, and focuses particularly on the regional geological perspective of the Saxon-Bohemian area.

The central thesis of the present research discussion postulates that the transmitted Ptolemaic maps are not erroneous depictions of a static ancient world, but rather precise and accurate representations of a geography that existed prior to a massive geodynamic upheaval.¹ This assumption necessitates a radical shift in perspective: The topography of Central Europe was, in historically tangible times – specifically during the Late Antiquity and the Migration Period – subjected to drastic, cataclysmic changes triggered by cosmogenic impact events and the resulting tectonic reactivations.¹ This approach requires a fundamental re-examination of the causalities behind the loss of ancient geographical knowledge, the collapse of Late Antique power structures, the apparent discrepancy in ancient place coordinates, and the physical plausibility of impact chronologies in the Bohemian Massif.³