The Taqba Dam took the Euphrates River in northern Syria. Back in the 1970s, something quite peculiar happened. The archaeological site Abu Hureyra witness when the ancient nomadic people first reached the region adown and began cultivating crops. A massive hill marks the settlement, which now is underneath the Lake Assad.
But, before the lake appeared, archaeologists could extract and examine much material, such as food, tools, and house. The evidence was abundant and let them discovered the transition to agriculture almost 12,800 years ago.
It was one of the most crucial periods in our Earth’s environmental and cultural history. But, as significant as it can be, Abu Hureyra, still got something else, more intriguing for us.
Based on things gathered before the site was flooded, James Kennett, a professor of geology from the UC Santa Barbara, and his team made a significant statement. They declared that Abu Hureyra is the first site to document the immediate consequences of a fragmented comet on a human settlement.
Comet Impact Destroyed One of the Most Ancient Human Settlements
Those remains resemble the same comet that most probably crashed Earth and discharged in the atmosphere at the end of the Pleistocene era. The crash brought the extinction of most animals, such as American horses, mammoths, and camels. Also, it contributed to the sudden start of the end-glacial Younger Dryas cooling event.
“Our new discoveries represent much more powerful evidence for very high temperatures that could only be associated with a cosmic impact,” stated Kennett.
Abu Hureyra is part of the easternmost region of what is recognized now as the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) strewnfield, which encircles approximately 30 other areas in Europe, Americas, and some parts of the Middle East.
All those regions hold proof of extensive burning, comprising a broad carbon-abundant “black mat” cover that has millions of nanodiamonds, tiny metallic spherules created at very temperatures. The YDB impact hypothesis has gathered more traction lately due to so many findings, such as high-temperature melt glass, or a very young impact crater underneath the Hiawatha Glacier in Greenland.
