Researchers Reveal Celestial Phenomenon That Catalyzed Agricultural Onset in Ancient Syria

Approximately 12,800 years ago, a comet collision induced a significant shift towards farming in the area of Syria’s Abu Hureyra, with correlating global evidence that ties space-related events to substantial environmental alterations and pivotal changes in human societies.

The inception of agriculture in Syria was marked by a dramatic event 12,800 years past, when a fragment of a comet impacted Earth’s atmosphere, leading to a chain of environmental changes. This forced the inhabitants of Abu Hureyra, who were then hunter-gatherers, to transition to farming as a means of subsistence.

This is the conclusion reached by a global assembly of researchers in a series of four interconnected studies published in the journal Science Open: Airbursts and Cratering Impacts. These studies contribute to the ongoing research of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, which postulates that a sudden period of global cooling nearly 13,000 years ago was triggered by an extraterrestrial collision.

Shift from Gathering to Cultivation

“There was a shift from wet, forested conditions offering a variety of food for foragers, to a more arid and cooler climate that no longer supported a purely hunter-gatherer existence,” explained James Kennett, a professor emeritus at UC Santa Barbara and an Earth scientist. Abu Hureyra has become an archaeological landmark for its proof of the earliest known move from gathering to farming. “Villagers began growing crops like barley, wheat, and legumes,” he highlighted. “This is substantiated by the archaeological findings.”

Archaeological Record Now Submerged

Today, the rich archaeological site of Abu Hureyra is submerged beneath Lake Assad, the result of the Taqba Dam’s erection on the Euphrates River during the 1970s. Prior to this inundation, significant quantities of materials were excavated by archaeologists for examination. “The inhabitants of the village left behind a copious and continuous deposit of seeds, legumes, and other plant remains,” the researchers note in their study.

The examination of these deposits allowed the researchers to distinguish the variety of plants gathered in the warm, humid period before the climate shift and the cooler, drier period following the advent of the Younger Dryas cool epoch.

Altered Diet and Expansion of Agriculture

Prior to the celestial event, the diet of the local people included wild legumes, grains, and “modest yet notable amounts of wild fruits and berries,” according to the findings of the research team. Post-cooling, the dietary focus shifted towards more domesticated grains and lentils as the community began experimenting with primitive farming methods. Roughly a millennium later, the cultivation of the Neolithic “founder crops”—including emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, rye, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax—was established in the region now recognized as the Fertile Crescent. The archaeological record also shows an increased presence of drought-resistant flora, mirroring a drier climate post-impact.

Evidence of a Transformative Event

The layers dating back 12,800 years display signs of extensive burning, evidenced by a carbon-dense “black mat” layer enriched with platinum, nanodiamonds, and minuscule metal spherules that could only form under exceptionally high temperatures, surpassing those achievable by human technology of that era.

This cosmic airburst flattened vegetation and dwellings, scattering meltglass across the village’s food supplies and early architectural structures, along with tools and animal remains found within the settlement.

Global Indicators and Research Methods

The event at Abu Hureyra is not isolated, with the authors having reported a similar, though smaller, event that razed the biblical city at Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan Valley around 1600 BCE.

The presence of the black mat layer, nanodiamonds, and melted minerals at approximately 50 sites across North and South America and Europe suggests a widespread and simultaneous cataclysmic occurrence, in line with the theory of a fragmented comet’s atmospheric entry. The subsequent fires and “impact winter” are theorized to have resulted in the extinction of numerous large species and the disintegration of the Clovis culture in North America.

The absence of craters at these sites does not undermine the hypothesis, according to Kennett, who points out that many confirmed impacts do not have associated craters. The scientists have assembled evidence of lower-pressure cosmic explosions—the type that happens when a shockwave originates in the atmosphere rather than on the ground.

“Shocked quartz is a well-recognized and robust indicator of cosmic impacts,” Kennett further elucidates. The unique deformation found within quartz grains at the time of these impacts has been identified abundantly in minerals extracted from known impact craters.

The discovery at Abu Hureyra and other Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) locations of shock-fractured quartz similar to that found in meteorite impact structures thus bolsters the impact hypothesis.

The Impact on Humanity

This research provides further insight into the often contentious discussion surrounding the impact of extraterrestrial events on Earth’s natural and human history. The finding points to a clear instance where human adaptation and the development of agriculture could be directly correlated with a celestial catastrophe, a paradigm-shifting event that underscores the complex and volatile nature of our planet’s ecological and historical trajectory.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Younger Dryas Impact

More about Younger Dryas Impact

• Abu Hureyra and Agricultural Origins
• Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis
• Climatic Changes and Early Farming
• Cosmic Impact Evidence
• Transition to Agriculture in Prehistoric Syria