Maybe a Cosmic Impact Wiped Out Mammoths After All

Maybe a Cosmic Impact Wiped Out Mammoths After All

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A study of rocks in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Syria provides powerful support for the theory that a major impact helped wipe out mammoths and other megafauna, and destroyed a major prehistoric culture. They’ve discovered melt-glass material dating back nearly 13,000 years, and formed at temperatures of 1,700 to 2,200 degrees Celsius.

The new data backs up the controversial Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) hypothesis, which proposes that a cosmic impact took place at the onset of an unusual cold climatic period called the Younger Dryas. This was around the time of several major extinctions, including mammoths and giant ground sloths, and the disappearance of the widely distributed Clovis culture.