13,000 years ago, a tribe vanished, and mammoths died - When a cosmic explosion ripped Earth
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A cosmic explosion triggered reversed the climate and killed some animals. Photograph: (Freepik)
What killed the woolly mammoths and mastodons? It wasn't just the changing climate but a cosmic event that triggered a chain of events that dramatically twisted things on Earth. Not only did the large Ice Age animals go extinct, but a category of people also vanished.
The Late Pleistocene epoch, or the final part of this period, witnessed significant climatic and environmental changes. This was also the time when several large mammals also went extinct. However, this was not solely because of the changing climate, which didn't exactly happen due to natural causes. A study has determined that a comet was partly responsible for the extinction of woolly mammoths and mastodons. The cosmic rock exploded nearly 13,000 years ago, causing a dramatic climate shift. After the Last Glacial Period ended, Earth began to become slowly warm. But for some reason, things changed again, and it started returning to near–ice age conditions, which lasted for nearly 1,000 years. This cometary explosion is also believed to be the reason for the sudden disappearance of the Clovis culture from North America’s archaeological record.
Mammoths and Clovis people disappeared
A study published in PLOS One cited the discovery of shocked quartz (sand grains altered by intense heat and pressure) at three key Clovis sites in the United States to support the claim. UC Santa Barbara Emeritus Professor of Earth Science James Kennett and his team found this quartz at Murray Springs in Arizona, Blackwater Draw in New Mexico, and Arlington Canyon in California’s Channel Islands. “These three sites were classic sites in the discovery and the documentation of the megafaunal extinctions in North America and the disappearance of the Clovis culture,” Kennett said.
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The disappearance of the Clovis people and the extinction of large Ice Age animals happened right about the same time that the Younger Dryas occurred. During this period, Earth suddenly cooled. Several theories have been put forward to explain this occurrence over the years. Researchers of the latest study say this could have happened because of a fragmented comet that exploded in the atmosphere. Intense heat and shockwaves took over the planet, triggering a sudden shift in the climate. “In other words, all hell broke loose,” Kennett said. Everything started burning, causing smoke and soot, while the force also resulted in dust that eventually blocked the sun. So Earth witnessed an "impact winter", and this is what likely killed the megafauna and also led to the disappearance of the Clovis culture.
