In a massive study that included 24 researchers and published in two scientific papers, experts found that our planet suffered the impact of a space object as early as 12,800 years ago when humans were already sedentary and were beginning to form the very first complex societies around the planet.

The study titled Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Impact ~12,800 Years Ago” analyzed geochemical and isotopic markers and found that massive fires would have been responsible, in part, for the disappearance of large mammals.

Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Impact ~12,800 Years Ago” is divided into “Part I: Ice Cores and Glaciers” and “Part 2: Lake, Marine, and Terrestrial Sediments.”

“The study includes measurements made at more than 170 different sites around the world,” said Adrian Melott, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas and one of the authors of the research.

According to Melott and his colleagues, the new data indicates that the disaster was unleashed when the Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet that was approximately 100 kilometers in diameter, whose remains persist in our solar system to this day.

A chaotic time for early society

This impact would have caused fires so large that the resulting dust clogged the sky and prevented sunlight from entering.

The climate cooled rapidly, the plants died, the food sources were exhausted, and the glaciers moved forward again.

The oceanic currents moved, forming an almost glacial era that lasted a thousand years more.

“The hypothesis is that a massive comet fragmented and the pieces hit Earth, generating this disaster,” said Melott.

“A number of different chemical signatures – carbon dioxide, nitrate, ammonia, and others – seem to indicate that an astounding 10% of the earth’s surface, or about 10 million square kilometers, was consumed by fires.”

Furthermore, according to Melott, pollen analysis suggests that pine forests were probably burned to be replaced by poplars, which is a species that colonizes cleared areas.

In fact, the authors postulate that the cosmic impact could have triggered the episode of the Recent Dryas, the burning of biomass, the extinction of the late Pleistocene of larger species (of which we were blamed) and the cultural changes in humans and the decrease in population.

“The estimates imply that the impact would have depleted the ozone layer, causing increases in skin cancer and other negative health effects,” said Melott.

“The impact hypothesis remains a hypothesis, but this study provides a large amount of evidence, which we argue can only be explained by a very large cosmic impact.”

If confirmed the hypothesis of this study which seems to have been recorded by ancient cultures, would indicate that humans not only survived a cataclysmic event, but we took advantage of it and we could start to repopulate the planet.

What Graham Hancock said

Curiously, that’s exactly what world-renowned author Graham Hancock said a few times already.

According to Mr. Hancock, an extremely advanced ancient civilization—that flourished during the Ice Age—was wiped out from the surface of the planet some 13,000 years ago due to a massive comet strike, and the ancients left us a warning of future events.

As explained in the book Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth’s Lost Civilization, Mr. Hancock argues; “Near the end of the last Ice Age 12,800 years ago, a giant comet that had entered the solar system from deep space thousands of years earlier, broke into multiple fragments. Some of these struck the Earth causing a global cataclysm on a scale unseen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. At least eight of the fragments hit the North American ice cap, while further fragments hit the northern European ice cap.”

Source: New research suggests toward end of Ice Age, human beings witnessed fires larger than dinosaur killer, thanks to a cosmic impact

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