An archaeological site is known as the Abu Hureyra, located in modern-day Syria, is famous for being one of the world's first human settlement, where early nomadic people started building homes and cultivating crops. Now, scientists have found how it fell--a cosmic impact.
The site is now under Lake Assad. Still, fortunately, archaeologists were able to gather enough evidence from the site before it went underwater and were able to discover melt glass along with proofs of grains and animal bones.
Evidence of Cosmic Impact
According to Phys.org, melt glass can only be achieved through extreme heat, something that our early ancestors are unable to achieve during the time.
"To help with perspective, such high temperatures would completely melt an automobile in less than a minute," said James Kennett, emeritus professor of geology in UC Santa Barbara, who was among the experts that studied the Abu Hureyra site.
Kennett continued, saying that the material was a piece of compelling evidence that could only be associated with extreme temperatures from a cosmic impact.
The material was analyzed, and results showed it was formed in temperatures that exceed 2200 Celsius, with minerals like iron, titanium, chromium, sulfides, and iridium- and platinum-rich melted iron--all of which can only be formed from extremely high temperatures that are common during cosmic events as per Science Daily.
Kennett also said that the entire village would have been abruptly destroyed as molten glass and extreme heat poured over the whole settlement.
The YDB Impact Hypothesis
The professor and his colleagues also believe that the fragment taken from the Abu Hureyra site is from the same comet that hit the earth more than 10,000 years ago, as it was found on several other locations throughout the Americas, Europe, and some parts of the Middle East.
With that, experts concluded that the
This is known as the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, which is supported by many scientists around the world.
The hypothesis also claims that such an impact has caused dramatic and rapid changes in the climate, cultural shifts, sudden human population decrease, biomass burning, and megafaunal extinctions.
Besides the destruction of one of the world's first human settlements, the cosmic impact that took place thousands of years ago was also said to be the reason behind the extinction of several large mammals such as the mammoth, American camels, and horses--all of which supports the theory.
The professor concluded, "The largest cometary debris clusters are proposed to be capable of causing thousands of airbursts within a span of minutes across one entire hemisphere of Earth."
Recent NEO Warning
Meanwhile, a recent report by The Daily Express, NASA warned of an asteroid that is fast approaching the earth at the speed of 18,449 mph and with the size of approximately four London double-decker buses.
At it closest, the asteroid was at a distance of 0.04610 astronomical units or 4.28 million miles away from us--far away to avoid directly hitting us and causing damage, but close enough on a cosmic scale.
There have been several warnings of Near-Earth Objects or NEOs before, but fortunately, they slipped past our home safely.
