The Comet Impact Destroyed The U.S. Ancient Civilization

The scattering of rare metals in the Ohio River valley reveals an aerial catastrophe that contributed to the decline of a major North American society in North America 1,600 years ago.

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University of Cincinnati researchers found evidence of a celestial explosion in the sky at 11 sites that were once inhabited by the Hopewells, an ancient North American civilization that once flourished along the river northeast and midwest in the Eastern Woodlands about 2,000 years ago.
In the new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of experts led by Kenneth Tankersley, professor of anthropology at the University of Cincinnati, detail the findings of rare metals such as iridium and platinum, as well as fragments of a rocky meteorite called pallasites, from 11 different Hopewell sites.

Source: Alamy

They also found a layer of charcoal in place, indicating that the land had experienced sudden explosions at extremely high temperatures.
"These micrometeorites have a chemical fingerprint. Cosmic events like asteroids and comet airbursts leave behind high quantities of a rare element known as platinum," Tankersley said.
"The problem is platinum also occurs in volcanic eruptions. So we also look for another rare element found in non-terrestrial events such as meteorite impact craters - iridium. And we found a spike in both, iridium and platinum."

Source: National Geographic Society

This is compelling evidence that the region has been affected by an airburst, the kind of violent explosion when a large meteorite or comet slams through Earth's atmosphere.
The results of the study revealed that the airburst was likely to start a fire in the 23,800 km wide forest between the years 252 - 383.

Source: Comet Research Group

During this same time period, Chinese astronomers recorded more than 60 comets flying close to the Earth.
The explosion coincided with the downfall of the Hopewell civilization. Initially, most of this ancient civilization’s inhabitants survived the explosion, but the following wildfires would have devastated the landscape, greatly crippling the agriculture.

Source: University of Cincinati

In addition, several tribes descended from the Hopewell, such as the Algonquin and Iroquoian also have anecdotes and legends about the strange disaster falling from the sky.
Such disasters are rare, but not unheard of. A study last year found evidence of a powerful explosion at the Tall el-Hammam site in Jordan about 3,600 years ago.
The team suspects the disaster that inspired the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities destroyed by "fire" in the Bible.

Source: National Geographic Society

In 1908, a 30 megaton explosion destroyed a vast forest area near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia. The cause of the destruction is attributed to an aerial explosion of a meteor that passed through the Earth's atmosphere.
H/T: Space