After enjoying centuries of stability, the prosperous Native American Hopewell culture suddenly went into rapid and irreversible decline around the year 500 AD. The reasons why this happened have long been a topic for speculation, and a team of researchers from the Departments of Anthropology and Geology at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio) have now joined the debate to offer a brand-new theory.
Analyzing rock samples collected from 11 archaeological sites in the Ohio River Valley, these researchers have found physical evidence that suggests an exploding comet may have played a significant role in the Hopewell peoples’ demise. The samples included the stony remnants of this disintegrating space object, which was destroyed in an airburst that distributed its debris far and wide in all directions.
