For decades, scientists had puzzled over the cause of this rapid climatic reversal, which they marked by, among other things, the reappearance in southerly fossil deposits of tundra plants.
These included the wildflower Dryas integrifolia, which gives the 1,200-year time span its name: the Younger Dryas.
Here was an explanation: The impact caused the sudden cooling, the Firestone team argued, and contributed to the demise of the mammoths, steppe bison and other large Pleistocene mammals, along with the people who pursued them.
Researchers later claimed that the Younger Dryas impact prompted a turn toward agriculture in Eurasia and eventually, civilization.
“So the whole setup of human culture would have been very different,” he says.
Persons:
James Kennett, ”
Organizations:
Firestone
Locations:
Eurasia, Americas