University of Cincinnati scientists take sediment samples at a Hopewell website at the confluence of the Ohio and Great Miami rivers. University of Cincinnati sociology teacher Kenneth Tankersley utilizes a magnet to show how micrometeorites gathered at 11 Hopewell sites include metals such as iron. UC archaeologists discovered an abnormally high concentration and diversity of meteorites at Hopewell websites compared to other time periods. Cosmic occasions like asteroids and comet airbursts leave behind high quantities of an uncommon aspect understood as platinum,” Tankersley stated. A magnet holds small micrometeorites collected from sediment samples taken from an ancient Hopewell site.
Researchers with the University of Cincinnati found proof of a cosmic airburst at 11 Hopewell archaeological sites in 3 states extending throughout the Ohio River Valley. This was house to the Ohio Hopewell, part of a notable Native American culture found across much of the American East.
The comets glancing pass drizzled debris down into the Earths environment, developing an intense explosion. UC archaeologists utilized radiocarbon and typological dating to identify the age of the occasion.
University of Cincinnati researchers take sediment samples at a Hopewell website at the confluence of the Ohio and Great Miami rivers. From left they are anthropology student Louis Herzner, biology trainee Stephanie Meyers, sociology professor Kenneth Tankersley and UC geology alumnus Stephen Meyers. Credit: Larry Sandman
The airburst affected an area larger than New Jersey, setting fires across 9,200 square miles between the years A.D. 252 and 383. This coincides with a period when 69 near-Earth comets were observed and recorded by Chinese astronomers and experienced by Native Americans as told through their narrative histories.
The research study was published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
University of Cincinnati sociology teacher Kenneth Tankersley uses a magnet to demonstrate how micrometeorites collected at 11 Hopewell websites include metals such as iron. UCs analysis found they likewise contain high levels of platinum and iridium. Credit: Michael Miller
UC archaeologists discovered an abnormally high concentration and variety of meteorites at Hopewell sites compared to other period. The meteorite pieces were identified from the telltale concentrations of iridium and platinum they contained. They likewise found a charcoal layer that suggests the location was exposed to fire and extreme heat.
In his lab, lead author Kenneth Tankersley, a professor of anthropology in UCs College of Arts and Sciences, held up a container of small micrometeorites collected at the sites. A range of meteorites, including stony meteorites called pallasites, were discovered at Hopewell websites.
University of Cincinnati sociology trainee Louis Herzner, bottom, and anthropology teacher Kenneth Tankersley utilize a scanning electron microscopic lense to study iron and silicon-rich microspherules gathered at ancient Hopewell websites. Credit: Larry Sandman
Cosmic occasions like asteroids and comet airbursts leave behind high amounts of a rare component known as platinum,” Tankersley stated. We also look for another rare aspect found in nonterrestrial occasions such as meteorite impact craters– iridium.
The Hopewell individuals gathered the meteorites and forged flexible metal from them into flat sheets utilized in precious jewelry and musical instruments called pan flutes.
A magnet holds small micrometeorites gathered from sediment samples taken from an ancient Hopewell site. Researchers say this proof indicates a comet airburst that ravaged parts of the Ohio River Valley more than 1,500 years back. Credit: Michael Miller
Beyond the physical evidence are cultural clues left behind in the masterworks and narrative histories of the Hopewell. A comet-shaped mound was built near the center of the airburst at a Hopewell site called the Milford Earthworks.
Different Algonquin and Iroquoian people, descendants of the Hopewell, spoke of a catastrophe that befell the Earth, said Tankersley, who is Native American.
” Whats remarkable is that many various people have similar stories of the occasion,” he stated.
” The Miami inform of a horned serpent that flew across the sky and dropped rocks onto the land prior to dropping into the river. When you see a comet going through the air, it would look like a large snake,” he stated.
” The Shawnee refer to a sky panther that had the power to take down forest. When the sun fell from the sky, the Ottawa talk of a day. And when a comet strikes the thermosphere, it would have taken off like a nuclear bomb.”
University of Cincinnati professor Kenneth Tankersley discusses his research study in his sociology lab. Credit: Michael Miller
And the Wyandot recount a dark cloud that rolled throughout the sky and was destroyed by an intense dart, Tankersley stated.
” Thats a lot like the description the Russians gave for Tunguska,” he said of a comet airburst documented over Siberia in 1908 that leveled 830 square miles of forest and shattered windows numerous miles away.
” Witnesses reported seeing a fireball, a bluish light almost as brilliant as the sun, crossing the sky. A flash and sound comparable to artillery fire was stated to follow it. A powerful shockwave broke windows numerous miles away and knocked people off their feet,” according to a story in EarthSky.
UC biology teacher and co-author David Lentz stated people who endured the airburst and its fires would have gazed upon a devastated landscape.
” It looks like this occasion was extremely harmful to agriculture. Individuals didnt have excellent ways to keep corn for an extended period of time. Losing a crop or 2 would have triggered widespread suffering,” Lentz said.
University of Cincinnati anthropology professor Kenneth Tankersley postures in front of a table of ancient stone tools in his office. Tankersley has studied ancient cultures throughout North America. Credit: Michael Miller
And if the airburst leveled forests like the one in Russia, native individuals would have lost nut trees such as walnut and hickory that provided an excellent winter source of food.
” When your corn crop fails, you can normally depend on a tree crop. But if theyre all ruined, it would have been extremely disruptive,” Lentz stated.
UCs Advanced Materials Characterization Center conducted scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry of the sediment samples. Inductively paired plasma mass spectrometry was used at the University of Georgias Center for Applied Isotope Studies. The U.S. Geological Survey supplied stable carbon isotope analysis.
Regardless of what scientists understand, there is still much they do not, Lentz stated.
” Its hard to know precisely what happened. We only have a few points of light in the darkness,” he said. “But we have this area of high heat that would have been disastrous for people because area and beyond.”
Now scientists are studying pollen caught in layers of sediment to see how the comet airburst may have changed the botanical landscape of the Ohio River Valley.
Co-author Steven Meyers, a UC geology alumnus, said their discovery may cause more interest in how cosmic events affected ancient individuals around the globe.
” Science is just a development report,” Meyers said. As time goes on, more things will be discovered.”
Recommendation: “The Hopewell airburst event, 1699– 1567 years earlier (252– 383 CE)” by Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, Stephen D. Meyers, Stephanie A. Meyers, James A. Jordan, Louis Herzner, David L. Lentz and Dylan Zedaker, 1 February 2022, Scientific Reports.DOI: 10.1038/ s41598-022-05758-y.
Did comets fiery damage cause failure of ancient Hopewell?
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati find evidence of cosmic calamity 1,500 years back at 11 ancient sites.
The rapid decrease of the Hopewell culture about 1,500 years ago might be discussed by falling debris from a near-Earth comet that created a destructive surge over North America, laying waste to forests and Native American towns alike.
