Prehistoric humans not wiped out by comet, say researchers

Prehistoric humans not wiped out by comet, say researchers
Clovis.

(Phys.org)—Comet explosions did not end the prehistoric human culture, known as Clovis, in North America 13,000 years ago, according to research published in the journal Geophysical Monograph Series.

Researchers from Royal Holloway university, together with Sandia National Laboratories and 13 other universities across the United States and Europe, have found evidence which rebuts the belief that a large impact or airburst caused a significant and to the Earth's climate and terminated the . They argue that other explanations must be found for the apparent disappearance.

Clovis is the name archaeologists have given to the earliest well-established human culture in the North American continent. It is named after the town in New Mexico, where distinct stone tools were found in the 1920s and 1930s.

Researchers argue that no appropriately sized from that time period have been discovered, and no shocked material or any other features of impact have been found in sediments. They also found that samples presented in support of the were contaminated with modern material and that no can support the theory.

"The theory has reached zombie status," said Professor Andrew Scott from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway. "Whenever we are able to show flaws and think it is dead, it reappears with new, equally unsatisfactory, arguments.

"Hopefully new versions of the theory will be more carefully examined before they are published."

More information: Boslough, M., et al.(editors) Climates Landscapes and Civilizations. Geophysical Monograph Series, VOL. 198, PP. 13-26, 2012 (first available in January 2013).

Journal information: Geophysical Monograph Series

Citation: Prehistoric humans not wiped out by comet, say researchers (2013, January 30) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2013-01-prehistoric-humans-comet.html
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No evidence for ancient comet or Clovis catastrophe, archaeologists say

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