[meteorite-list] Crackpot theory redux

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Oct 28 22:43:32 2005
Message-ID: <ajo5m1pcs5cr7rq2huc71ppvvtc1t6eahk_at_4ax.com>

A short while back I posted what I called a crackpot theory on a comet striking the Earth at
interstellar speeds around 13,000 years ago. Well, the "theory" is in the news again, but this
time, instead of the comet being impossibly fast (I calculated the speed, based on the supposed time
ago and distance away of the supernova at close to 1 percent of c) it is now being reported as
impossilby slow-- 1,000 kilometers an hour, or about 277 meters per second. And what about these
"lunar meteorites that fell to the Earth about 10,000 years ago"?



http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1261061

Scientist: Comets blasted early Americans
Scientist says Supernova, comets may have impacted early Americans

COLUMBIA, S.C. Oct 28, 2005 ? A supernova could be the "quick and dirty" explanation for what may
have happened to an early North American culture, a nuclear scientist here said Thursday.

Richard Firestone said at the "Clovis in the Southeast" conference that he thinks "impact regions"
on mammoth tusks found in Gainey, Mich., were caused by magnetic particles rich in elements like
titanium and uranium. This composition, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist said,
resembles rocks that were discovered on the moon and have also been found in lunar meteorites that
fell to Earth about 10,000 years ago.

Firestone said that, based on his discovery of similar material at Clovis sites, he estimates that
comets struck the solar system during the Clovis period, which was roughly 13,000 years ago. These
comets would have hit the Earth at 1,000 kilometers an hour, he said, obliterating many life forms
and causing mutations in others.

"I'm not going to tell you that there's Clovis people on the moon, or that they had a space
program," Firestone said. But these particles look "very much like the material that comes from the
moon, which is the only place we've found with this same high titanium concentration."

Amateur archaeologist Richard Callaway said he was surprised by Firestone's theory.

"I've always considered myself a pretty open-minded person," Callaway said, while browsing some of
the artifacts on display at the conference. "And it's kind of shocking to hear that something from
the solar system could have done something like this."

Callaway, an Episcopal priest from Atlanta, said that he and his wife have volunteered at the Topper
site in Allendale County for the past two summers.

"To be a part of this ? and find something no human being has touched in 15,000 years that's
something," Callaway said. "That's what I like about what we do. You don't find the next answer. You
find the next question."

Earlier Thursday, University of South Carolina archaeologist Al Goodyear lectured on his discoveries
at Topper, where he says he has found evidence that man existed in North America much earlier than
previously thought. Goodyear showed slides of the many tools he has recovered from Topper, as well
as a charcoal strip he discovered in soil two meters beneath a 16,000-year-old level of the site.

"Topper's like a box of chocolates," Goodyear said. "Every time we dig a hole, something new comes
up."

As the final event of the four-day conference, partially sponsored by USC, Goodyear will lead
attendees on a visit to Topper on Saturday.
Received on Fri 28 Oct 2005 10:56:58 PM PDT