Archaeologists refute claims that a comet destroyed the Hopewell culture

In February 2022, The Journal Scientific reports He published a paper claiming that a comet exploded over what is now Cincinnati about 1,500 years ago, raining down fire on the area and destroying villages and farm fields, supposedly leading to the rapid decline of the ancient Hopewell Aboriginal culture.

The research, led by University of Cincinnati archaeologist Dr. Kenneth Tankersley, claimed “evidence of a cosmic atmospheric explosion at 11 Hopewell archaeological sites in three states spanning the Ohio River Valley.” His evidence included meteorites, iron- and silica-rich microspheres allegedly from meteorites, and spikes in iridium and platinum—all supposedly associated with the burnt coal-rich Hopewell habitat.

Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, director and chief archaeologist of the Applied Anthropology Laboratories at Ball State University, along with eleven other researchers with diverse expertise — including several specialists in the Hopewell culture and the curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian Institution — reviewed that evidence and found it woefully insufficient to support such an extraordinary claim.

The results of their review have been published as a response in Issue 13 of Scientific reports, which was published August 9. Dr. Nolan had worked with very few other researchers before, but they were all brought together by this effort to set the record straight about Dr. Tankersley’s questionable research.

“There is no evidence of catastrophic home burning at any of the eleven Hopewell sites studied by Tankersley’s team,” said Dr. Nolan. The burnt surfaces identified by the University of Cincinnati researchers are either topical episodes of burning for ceremonial purposes, such as cremation of the dead, or they are not even burnt surfaces at all.

He continued, “Whatever meteorites were found at these sites, they were collected by ancient Aboriginal people – perhaps from various sites – and brought to these Hopewell sites to be fashioned into ceremonial regalia.” “The iron- and silica-rich microspheres do not have the typical chemical composition of meteorites, as well as the natural products of local soil chemistry.”

Further evidence discovered by Dr. Nolan and his team indicates that available radiocarbon dates for all Hopewell sites allegedly destroyed by the effects of the comet’s atmospheric blast are nowhere near the same age.

Dr. Nolan concluded, “There is no evidence of a catastrophic atmospheric explosion of the comet.” There is no evidence of any supposed decline in Hopewell culture that supposedly followed the devastation caused by the alleged air blast.

Many features of the Hopewell culture, including the construction of massive earthworks and the accumulation of unusual raw materials sourced from as far away as the Gulf Coast and the Rocky Mountains, had died out by about AD 400. But there was no decline in the number of local populations, so These cultural shifts simply reflect the changes in the social and religious fabric of these Indigenous communities that have bound them together for some time.”

Dr. Nolan said the many cases of potential data manipulation to support a comet effect are more troubling than the myriad misinterpretations of the evidence, and the research response makes that clear.