Posted on 02/03/2022 6:16:15 AM PST by Red Badger
More than 1500 years ago, a vast culture known as the Hopewell tradition (or Hopewell culture) stretched across what is today the eastern United States.
The cause of the culture's decline has long been debated, with war and climate change two of the possibilities, but now a new avenue of inquiry has opened up: debris from a near-Earth comet.
Researchers working across 11 different Hopewell archaeological sites covering three states have found unusual concentrations of iridium and platinum in their digging – telltale signs of meteorite fragments. Meanwhile, a charcoal layer in the sediment suggests an intense period of high heat.
The hypothesis is that debris from a passing comet may have struck close to the Ohio Hopewell communities, causing an airburst that would have profound and potentially devastating effects on the local environment.
Signs that the people collected meteorite fragments and incorporated them into their jewelry and instruments, along with hints of a calamity in local folklore, suggest there was certainly some significant event – one that the researchers suggest may have contributed to a significant upheaval in the social sphere.
A magnet holding tiny micrometeorites collected from the sediment samples. (Michael Miller)
There are other clues too: the Hopewell built a comet-shaped mound near the epicenter of the meteorite rain region, which is today called the Milford Earthworks. What's more, a calamitous event way back in history is still spoken about today amongst descendant tribes.
"The Miami tell of a horned serpent that flew across the sky and dropped rocks onto the land before plummeting into the river," says anthropologist Kenneth Tankersley from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. "When you see a comet going through the air, it would look like a large snake."
"The Shawnee refer to a 'sky panther' that had the power to tear down forests. The Ottawa talk of a day when the Sun fell from the sky. And when a comet hits the thermosphere, it would have exploded like a nuclear bomb."
The micrometeorites left behind in such events can reveal a chemical fingerprint, the researchers say.
"Cosmic events like asteroids and comet airbursts leave behind high quantities of a rare element known as platinum," Tankersley says.
"The problem is platinum also occurs in volcanic eruptions. So we also look for another rare element found in non-terrestrial events such as meteorite impact craters: iridium. And we found a spike in both iridium and platinum."
The team used techniques including scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry to identify the elements in the sediment they collected. The meteorite fragments were unusually highly concentrated compared with other locations and times.
At the same time, the material was also dated using radiocarbon and typological dating. The researchers estimate that the event took place between 252 CE and 383 CE. Historical records show that 69 near-Earth comets were documented across the same time period.
The research team on site. (Larry Sandman)
The explosion from space would have set off fires covering some 9,200 square miles (some 23,828 square kilometers), this latest study suggests.
Further studies are now planned to get a better idea of how the shower of meteorites might have impacted such a widespread area. The botanical landscape of the time can be analyzed through careful observation of the pollen trapped in sediment, for example.
However, the scientists admit that there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered – peering back through 1,500 years of history isn't particularly easy. There's plenty still to explore in these particular locations across this particular time period.
"It's hard to know exactly what happened," says paleoecologist David Lentz from the University of Cincinnati. "We only have a few points of light in the darkness. But we have this area of high heat that would have been catastrophic for people in that area and beyond."
The research has been published in Scientific Reports:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-05758-y
Not the first time:
Flood, Fire, and Famine
in the History of Civilization
by Richard Firestone,
Allen West, and
Simon Warwick-Smith
Thanks Red Badger, nice twofer.
Thanks Red Badger, nice twofer.
Uh, no.
The big old Mo lived from 583 to 609, Odoacer ended the western Roman empire in 476.
Dig a pit in the ground, three guys put the only girl there in it.
The internet has corrupted me for all time I think...
There is a phenom of asteroids/comet bits coming into the atmosphere on a regular basis (~1/yr) and exploding before contact. This has been witnessed by plane passengers — must have created a run for the toidy.
Anyhoo, they detonate with the force of a small nuke. But, large enough to be recorded on seismic instruments. I think the name is bolides.
If one blew overhead and dropped hot bits all over the area of YOUR main settlement, I think everyone would disperse before GAWD dropped another one.
The disappearance of the "Mound Builder" Culture, named Adena here in Ohio, may have been misdated to the first century AD. Perhaps this later event was the actual cause. The Snake Mound near Chillicothe is particularly unique.
At first I was going to say if it exploded over the US it would not affect Europe and Asia. Then I remembered Cassiodorus 536 ad.
reativehistorystories.blogspot.com/2022/01/darkness-that-was-felt-nuclear-winter.html
This article explains how Cassiodorus and other Mediterranean writers and hostorians wrote of the terrible loss of sun, and famine that occorred at 536 and 537. Initially it was thought to be a volcano in Iceland or perhaps the far east. Then in 2004 scientists reported that tree rings in Ireland indicated a possible air burst as the cause. So perhaps the scientists in this articles have found the cause of a major disaster in human history worldwide. More interesting argicles that I have not yet read at: https://www.google.com/search?q=cassiodorus%2C+approximately+536+report+on+strange+weather&rlz=1CAJCUZ_enUS847&sxsrf=APq-WBsf_jzk9XdecCfTO_P5H2v0jfvDWA%3A1643907407640&ei=Twn8YZTFJtjNytMPzLIK&ved=0ahUKEwjUqM2ogOT1AhXYpnIEHUyZAgAQ4dUDCA4&oq=cassiodorus%2C+approximately+536+report+on+strange+weather&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAw6BwgAEEcQsANKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQwQZY5hBggjpoAXACeACAAeEJiAHyEpIBAzctMpgBAKABAcgBCMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz
These things may be fairly common on a geologic scale.
I’m reading a book called “Is Atheism Dead” by Eric Metaxas.
One story that he tells is that scientist have found the old city of Sodom in northern Jordan above the Sea of Galilee. Its a big tell now. When scientists dug down into the tell, they found a black mat layer that dates to about 1800 BC. That black mat layer looks like every other black layer that’s indicative of some kind of cometary/asteroid strike. The next layer above the black mat layer shows that human habitation stops dead for about 700 years. Meaning, people avoided that area for a long time subsequently. Why? Well, read the bible. The area was thought to be cursed.
Wouldn’t other cultures have recorded a really big comet that disappeared suddenly?
Could this have been a smacking big meteor instead, like Tunguska?
Some people would have seen a brief blaze of light, but not a nightly comet.
Comet vs. meteor composition? Less ice and volatiles for the meteor?
Fascinating!
~500 AD. The Romans would have seen it and recorded right?
What a find!
Thank you for sharing it. I figured the Romans would have seen something.
Well, maybe not Romans proper but Byzantines (Constantinople) sure would have recorded it.
Did the Acadians massacre the Accordians?
Seems that the airburst wasn’t enough to prevent the resurfacing of their wonderful instruments.
No, the Acadians actually resurrected the Accordions and made them their own................
Why can’t the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) civilizations just collapse like white European and Middle Eastern ones did?
Why does it always have to be some cosmic event or far out proposal and not just the typical accumulation of human greed, callousness and corruption that is the hall mark of human governance?
“...maybe not Romans proper but Byzantines (Constantinople) sure would have recorded it.” [jjoto, post 34]
Not necessarily.
Airbursts don’t always occur at the same altitude.
The burst in question may have happened at such a low altitude that its occurrence, and the aftermath, may have been below the horizon for observers in the Eastern Roman Empire.
In any event, it’s unlikely that even the best-informed civilized intellects of the Sixth Century AD could have reasoned their way to a correct interpretation of what they were seeing.
Very good points.
bwaaa... my thought exactly. What gentlemen!
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