And you thought you were having a crap Friday: 13,000 years ago, a comet may have collided with earth in the Great Lakes region, creating a 1,000-year-long cold spell that wiped out the Clovis culture of humans in North America.
For years, the disappearance of North America's Clovis culture was attributed either to rapid climate change or a sudden uptick in Clovis hunting practices that wiped out the 35 genera of animals they subsisted on. But similar climate changes of the time hadn't resulted in mass extinctions, and the ethnographic record doesn't support such a rapid change in hunting habits among Clovis humans.
Instead, Douglas Kennett and 25 other researchers from the University of Oregon think that a major comet collision triggered the change. The new hypothesis is based on a thin black layer of soil retrieved at over 50 North American sites. This black soil possesses magnetic grains of iridium, thought to have extraterrestrial origins, along with metallic and carbon spherules, as well as melted charcoal, which remained after catastrophic, continent-wide fires swept the land in the comet's wake.
No impact crater has been found, but soil sample concentrations are highest around the Great Lakes, suggesting that the comet hit somewhere in that vicinity and later got absorbed by the Laurentide ice sheet, which stretched from there to the Arctic Ocean. Kennett also thinks the Comet might have exploded just before it hit earth, prompting him to launch into a particularly sunshine-filled description:
“Think about it—people would have seen it coming,” says Kennett. “This was a bad day.”
I am thinking about it, Doc — now. Thanks a lot. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hit up Safeway for their special on canned pea soup. Should be great for my comet bunker.
Were the First Americans Wiped Out By an Asteroid? (Discover)
Comments
Ann Richey says:
I follow closely all archaeological finds in the Americas and Canada. From all the material I have read about the comet and the continent wide layer charcoal it is quite possible for this to be true. Something caused the disappearance of the majority of the Clovis people and most of the large animals in North America. Of course there were isolated pockets where the distructive fire did not reach thus allowing some of the people and smaller animals to escape this sudden extinction.
January 23, 2008 12:23 PM
James says:
I lived in Clovis, N.M. when I was in the Air Force. How do you scientists KNOW the Clovis people just didn't commit suicide?
I'm just sayin'.
February 10, 2008 9:05 PM
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