Cosmic Nuclear Event During the Pleistocene

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Other ArchaeologyCountry: United States

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According to Richard B. Firestone & William Topping in their article: "Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times" in the "Mammoth's Trumpet" (a journal associated with Texas A&M University through the Center for the Study of the First Americans), there was a radioactive bombardment (possibly from a supernova) which saturated the Northeastern portion of North America. Unusually high counts of Pu239, and altered U235/U238 ratios were found in artifacts and the exposed geology of the Great Lakes area. "Sharp increases in C14 are apparent in the marine data at 40,000-43,000, 32,000-34,000 and c. 12,000 yr B.P.

These increases are coincident with geomagnetic excursionsB that occurred at about 12,000 (Gothenburg), 32,000 (Mono Lake), and 43,000 yr B.P. (Laschamp), when the reduced magnetic field would have made Earth especially vulnerable to cosmic ray bombardment."

The main purpose of the study was to give further evidence for the need to recalculate the age of prehistoric sites in North America given the increased count of isotopes in the samples dated by the radiocarbon method. Paleoindian sites in North America are predated by sites in South America by at least 20,000 years using the old dates.

To further illustrate this, (Firestone & Topping '01) state that there is "...similarity of the Paleoindian toolkit to Mousterian traditions that disappeared about 30,000 years ago." Mousterian being the Middle Paleolithic period in Europe. The half life of the bombardment that the study (supported by the Nat'l Science Foundation) discovered agreed with the difference between the old radiocarbon study dates of site samples and the dates given for geomagnetic excursions.

Although Firestone & Topping agreed to subsequent rebuttals regarding their overly dramatic elaborations from the data, their primary interpretations regarding the age of the sites and the need for more study remain undaunted.

For the full article, go to http://www.centerfirstamericans.com

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