You know, the one with “I don’t wanna miss a thing” and Bruce Willis.
Anyway, there’s a good chance that a giant comet hit North America about 13,000 years ago, causing widespread death and destruction. Aside from the obvious (Diamonds in the dirt? Also, we should be looking out for meteors, you guys), the most interesting part of the story is bured about a quarter of the way down:
Battered by fire and ice, as many as 35 species of mammals, including American camels, the short-faced bear, the giant beaver, the dire wolf and the American lion, either immediately vanished or were so depleted in number that humans hunted them to extinction.
I wish I lived in a world with American camels and lions. I think I’m okay without giant beavers.
Scotty Poo Poo
/ January 8, 2009One of my fellow graduate students is working on this topic right now. She was examining mud logs that recorded the transition to the Younger Dryas, and the evidence presented by November 2008 was insufficient to call it a meteor strike. But this is really interesting.
Also interesting is that the meteor/comet probably impacted or blew up over Lake Michigan. That would make Lake Michigan a fucking meteorite lightning rod, considering the hypothesis that the Great Chicago Fire might have been started by meteorite impacts. This is because part of Wisconsin and half of Michigan also burned down on the same day.
lindseyy
/ January 8, 2009armegeddon!
that is spllled incorrently but i have flu and it makes my brain not work.
it was what we watched on the bus on the 8th grade field trip to boston.
martin
/ January 8, 2009YES. That should not have been nearly that hard for me. And by “me” I mean “you.” Also, kudos on misspelling “spelled” while correcting yrself. Finally, thank you for poopin’ on my asteroid parade, Scott.
ed
/ January 9, 2009armageddon.
god, how do you beat me in scrabble?