(ORDO NEWS) — Studies show that about one and a half thousand years ago, a powerful air explosion occurred over the modern United States. Scientists have come to the conclusion that this is the reason for the decline of the Hopewell culture.
The Hopewell culture (or Hopewell tradition) existed in northeastern and central-eastern North America between approximately 200 BC and 500 AD. The decline of culture was extremely rapid and scientists could not understand what could be the reason for this.
Different versions were called: climate change, war, the disappearance of animals that people ate. But recent studies show that the cause of the decline was the fall of the debris of a comet one and a half thousand years ago.
The spread of Hopewell culture / Wikipedia photo
What is known about the ancient catastrophe
Archaeologists conducted research in the Ohio River Valley. Evidence of an ancient catastrophe has been found in 11 archaeological sites in three states.
By conducting radiocarbon dating, it was possible to find out the time of the event that caused the decline of the Hopewell culture: 283 – 383 AD. At this time, powerful forest fires devastated the territory of the current United States in an area of almost 15 thousand square kilometers.
Spherules of iron and silicon testify to a long-standing powerful air explosion / Photo by Scientific Reports
Careful studies have made it possible to detect microspheres in the soil, which are markers of the fall and explosion of cosmic bodies. In particular, these are spherules of iron, silicon, particles of iridium and platinum, as well as micrometeorites.
Given the lack of a crater, scientists concluded that the space body exploded in the air, causing a powerful explosion. It caused terrible forest fires – evidence of this was found by scientists at the archaeological site.
An earthen rampart in the form of a comet / Photo by Scientific Reports
Historical science also testifies to the explosion of a comet or asteroid in the air: in the likely epicenter of the explosion, people built a shaft in the shape of a comet or asteroid during the fall.
Also, the people of the Hopewell culture after the crash collected the iron fragments of the cosmic body and used it for their own purposes. And in the “post-Hopewell” cultures, legends about the fall and explosion of a celestial body are found everywhere:
Miami residents tell of a horned snake that flew through the sky and threw rocks to the ground before falling into a river.When you see a comet flying through the air, it looks like a big snake,
says anthropology professor Kenneth Tankersley.
- The Shawnee tribe called it the “heavenly panther” that “could tear down the forest.” Also, the legends of the tribe testify to the “days when the Sun fell from the sky.”
- The Huron people have their own legends: they talk about a dark evil cloud that flew across the sky and was destroyed by a fiery spear.
Scientists believe that, probably, not the entire cosmic body exploded in the atmosphere, but a fragment that broke off from the parent asteroid or comet.
This did not lead to the rapid death of the Hopewell culture, but led to its rather rapid decline due to possible climatic changes, the possible death of part of the population, the destruction of trade routes, the death of crops and a chain of other disasters.
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