Prehistoric stone carving confirms that approximately 11,000 BC. e. a comet fell to Earth, which led to the death of mammoths and the emergence of civilizations, British scientists say.
Experts from the University of Edinburgh have analyzed mysterious symbols carved on stone pillars from the ancient temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey to find out if these signs could be associated with constellations, writes The Telegraph.
Scientists believe that the drawings show the fall of comet fragments to Earth around the beginning of the Late Dryas (period of glaciation), when, as the publication notes, "the whole course of human history has changed."
For decades, scientists have speculated that the comet's fall could trigger a sudden cooling on the planet. But recently, this assumption has been seriously questioned after studying meteor craters in North America (where fragments of a comet are believed to have fallen).
Now scientists who have studied the drawings on one of the columns from Göbekli Tepe have found that the figures of animals on the stone are symbols of astronomical objects - constellations and comets.
With the help of a computer program, scientists recreated the starry sky over Turkey as it was thousands of years ago, and were able to determine the time of the comet's fall - about 10,950 BC. e. This is the exact beginning of the Late Dryas era, according to Greenland ice cores.
It was during the late Dryas that agriculture appeared and the first Neolithic civilizations emerged. Previously, nomadic tribes in the Middle East could be content with wild wheat and barley, abundant in the region. But the cold snap forced people to grow their own bread. Following the development of agriculture, the first cities appeared.
Scholars believe that the carvings in the Göbekli Tepe temple complex, which date from around 9000 BC. e., was conceived as a record of the cataclysm - thus, the people living in these places kept the memory of the event. One of the figures, carved on the stones, shows a decapitated person - perhaps this speaks of the massive sacrifices caused by the comet's fall.
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The study also supports the theory that Earth is likely going through periods when comet impacts are most likely due to the planet's orbit crossing the comet's orbital rings.