Post by cjm on Oct 9, 2019 15:10:58 GMT
A team of scientists from South Africa has discovered evidence partially supporting a hypothesis that Earth was struck by an asteroid 12 800 years ago, leading to global consequences including climate change, and contributing to the extinction of many species of large animals at the time of an episode called the Younger Dryas.
Many mammals became extinct in North America, South America and Europe at the time of the Younger Dryas. In South Africa a few extraordinary large animal species became extinct, not necessarily at exactly 12 800 years ago, but close to that period. These megafauna include a giant African buffalo, a large zebra, and a very big wildebeest.
Human populations may also have been indirectly affected at the time in question. In North America there is a dramatic termination of the stone tool technology of Clovis people. Remarkably, archaeologists in South Africa have detected an almost simultaneous termination of the Robberg stone artefact industry associated with people in some parts of the country, including the area around Boomplaas near the Cango Caves in the southern Cape, close to the town of Oudshoorn.