Thy, and three co-authors reported in 2015 that siliceous scoria droplets, measuring from 1 to 10 mm, from one late Pleistocene and four early Holocene archaeological sites in northern Syria are compared to similar droplets previously suggested to be the result of a cosmic impact at the onset of the Younger Dryas global cooling event. The findings demonstrate that the presence of siliceous scoria droplets are independent of age and thus are not specific to the beginning of the Younger Dryas. Occurrences have not been reported from natural deposits, but are instead associated with buildings destroyed by fire and thus appear to be restricted to archaeological sites.
The authors concluded that Siliceous scoria droplets are found in association with several early agricultural settlements along the Euphrates River in northern Syria. The radiocarbon dates of the sites and excavation levels range from 13,200 to 10,200 years ago, thus are unrelated to the onset of the global Younger Dryas cooling event at around 12,900 years ago. The majority of the locations include mudbrick building structures, which in some cases show sign of intense fire and surface melting. The appearance of scoria is rare and localized without being widespread as would have been implied by the nearly worldwide impact strewn field theory.
The main source of the scoria droplets is the local soils identified by high calcium content. It is concluded that building earth made from a mixture of the local soil and cereal straw partially melted during firestorms through dwellings. The peak temperature (<1200°C) was short-lived resulting in strong disequilibrium partial melting. Strong air draft through the structure together with dehydration and decomposition processes of organics and carbonate aided the melting and resulted in aerodynamically shaped partial melted particles sprawled from the melting site. There is in the present study no support for scoria fall-out from a distant meteor impact source at the Syrian archaeological sites. The authors' results, however, do not necessarily discredit the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis, although they caution about relying uncritically on findings from similar particles from other sites and locations.
The authors therefore concluded that melting of building earth in ancient settlements can occur during fires reaching modest temperatures. There is no evidence to suggest that siliceous scoria droplets result from very high temperature melting of soil and are the result of a cosmic event [or extraterrestrial war, although the latter cannot be ruled out entirely].
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
