News / Science News

    Comet Strike 13,000 Years Ago Might Have Changed Human Civilization

    Scientists think that a cluster of comet shards may have smashed into Earth's surface 13,000 years ago, in the most catastrophic impact since the Chicxulub event killed off Earth's large dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.



    Comet strike 13,000 years ago might have changed human civilization. Image credit: tasnimnews.com


    In a new study, a team led by Martin Sweatman, a scientist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, investigated the impact and how it could have shaped the origins of human societies on Earth.

    While the first Homo sapiens emerged between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, much farther in the past than this impact, the researchers found that this comet crash actually coincided with significant changes in how human societies self-organized.

    The researchers investigated the theory that a comet struck Earth 13,000 years ago, analyzing geological data from the areas where they think it may have hit, namely North America and Greenland.

    They found high levels of platinum, evidence of extremely high temperatures that could have melted materials at the site and nanodiamonds, which scientists know can be created from explosions and can exist inside comets.

    This work builds on previous research that has suggested that a significant impact may have preceded the beginning of the Neolithic period, the first part of the Stone Age in which a number of major developments in human civilization took place, including notable steps forward in agriculture, architecture and stone tools.

    At this time in history, humans in the "Fertile Crescent," which encompassed countries we know today as Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, were moving away from nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyles to more permanent settlements.

    "This major cosmic catastrophe seems to have been memorialized on the giant stone pillars of Göbekli Tepe (in Turkey), possibly the 'World's first temple,' which is linked with the origin of civilization in the Fertile Crescent of southwest Asia. Did civilization, therefore, begin with a bang?" Sweatman said in a statement.

    While the new study work is exciting and suggestive, the team acknowledges that more evidence and more research is necessary to better understand how this impact could have affected global climate and, ultimately, human civilizations, according to the statement. (Tasnim News Agency)

    JUNE 30, 2021



    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Study first to quantify optimal mangrove root hydrodynamics.
    Analysis of Big Data traces where water goes when it leaves the Atlantic Ocean basin.
    Implications for functions ranging from tissue repair to antimicrobial responses.
    About 25 million years ago, giant rhinos more than 16 feet tall roamed the Earth. They are considered the largest land mammal that ever lived — but their evolutionary history and dispersal across Asia have left scientists puzzled.
    Scientists provide insight into a critical step in how some viruses reproduce.
    According to a new study, Earth tilted by 12 degrees about 84 million years ago.

    © 1991-2023 The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin | Titi Tudorancea® is a Registered Trademark | Terms of use and privacy policy
    Contact