DIG–IT Vol. 6, Issue 3 Journal of the Flinders University Archaeology and History Society ArcHSoc Committee 2022 President: Deven Crawford Vice President: Will Mussared Treasurer: Imogen Lymbery Undergraduate Rep: Nadine Stirling Postgraduate Rep: Gwen Ferguson Indigenous Rep: Jasmine Willika Communications Officers: Rikayah Carver Jessy Mitchell Events Coordinator: Kate Lawrence Membership Officer: Lucy Thiele Dig It Editor Thomas Bowden ArcHSoc would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which Flinders University stands, the Kaurna people. We acknowledge their connection to the lands and waters of their country, and pay our respect to their elders past, present and emerging. Cover: ArcHSoc merchandise table at Flinders Open Days, 12 & 13 August 2022. (Source: T.H. Bowden) 2 Dig It—Volume 6 South Australian Railways Locomotive Department engineering diagram, 1891. (Source: National Railway Museum archive) Dig It Editorial—Vol. 6. Editor-in-Chief: Thomas Bowden Sub-editor: Nadine Stirling Contents Sub-editor: Will Mussared Editorial . . . . . . . . 04 Sub-editor: Josh Wightman Thomas Bowden Graphic Design: Deven Crawford Irish Fieldschool 2023 winter season open! . 05 (this issue) Thomas Bowden My experience presenting at NASC 2022 . . 06 Lucy Thiele The Dig It Special Edition is not counted in the issue numbering ArcHSoc tour the Treasury Tunnels . . . 07 system for Vol. 6. Anastasia Marsden Essay: “So, you want to work in a museum?” . 09 Thomas Bowden & Cameron McVicar Dig It is an open access journal. The journal and the individual articles can be freely distributed; Melite Civitas Romana Project . . . . 18 however, individual authors and Cate Sexton, David Cardona, Robert Brown, Ben Lowe, Dig It must be cited and acknowledged correctly. Davide Tanasi and Andrew Wilkinson Articles, figures and other Geo-cosmic Archaeology: The Archaeology of content cannot be altered without the prior permission of the Cosmic Impact . . . . . . . 26 author. Marc D. Young Correspondence to the Editor-in-Chief should be emailed to: digit.archsoc@gmail.com Dig It—Issue 3 3 Message from the Editor W elcome to the third issue of Finally, I would again like to thank everybody Dig It for 2022! who was involved in Dig It this year. Especial thanks to Ms Deven Crawford, your President and my graphic designer, for her artistic ability in bringing to life my grand plans. Also, to my Editorial Board, for their work proofing and A major downside of e-publication is that file discussing ideas. Additionally, I would like to sizes can be… hefty… and thus unable to fit thank all our contributors for volume VI – we through conventional email mailing lists. This literally could not do it without you. happened with our publication of issue 2 – the trade-off for having a vast quantity of high- A shoutout as well to Chantal Wight and Susan resolution images is that the file is enormous. Arthure for approaching me about the Special Fortunately, a solution was found in form of a Edition, and also to those involved in the very tidy (and free!) PDF host online, which experimental archaeology program behind the allows everyone – not just people on the mailing scenes! And finally, I would like to thank Flinders list – to download and view our journal. It all Archaeology as a whole – students and staff – for worked out in the end – much to my enormous your interest in ArcHSoc and Dig It: we do this relief! (And I will be passing on this information for you, and we appreciate your involvement to my successors, so that they may avoid the enormously. pitfalls that my team and I have encountered It has been a privilege to be your Dig It Editor-in along the road to publication). -Chief for this year, and I thank you all very When I look back at what we have managed to much. achieve this year in spite of a myriad of I wish my successor and their team all the very setbacks, I am all the more pleased at having best for 2023! been involved in it. At the very beginning, I was a little worried about how it would all pan out, but it has gone, in my humble opinion, rather Yours etc. well. I hope that the work we have done this year sets up the next committee to hit the Thomas H. Bowden ground running and achieve even more. Editor-in-Chief, 2022 This issue will be the final ‘regular’ issue for 2022 and volume VI. It contains several examples of student work and a few ArcHSoc notices. The publication date of our Special Edition, covering two experimental archaeology sessions conducted by Chantal Wight and Susan Arthure (et al!), is not fixed but it will be released as soon as it is ready. As the year draws to a close, I must mention here what I already mentioned in my FUAD emails about the progress of Dig It: sadly, the time has run out for a physical print-run. The P.S. Control of the Dig It official email address demand has never been particularly strong for will be passed onto to the editor-elect and team the printed copies, and they do cost money to as soon as they are ready. I will retain access to it until we finish up this year’s volume. In the produce. Perhaps a future Editor might find the meantime, I will still take queries and questions money and the time to organise it for a future via digit.archsoc@gmail.com. volume. 4 Dig It—Volume 6 The Irish Archaeology Field School proudly presents “The Monastic Midlands” Winter 2023 field program (Jan 4— Feb 1, 2023) Images supplied by IAFS No prerequisites required! This field school investigates monastic life in Ireland and includes studying the geology of the landscape, surveying and recording monastic sites, processing and cataloguing artefacts in a professional fashion, and a deep- Hands-on experiential dive on osteology and the excavation of human skeletons. archaeology, including The program can be taken for university credit (accredited) or without (non- accredited). surveying, artefact (Subject to confirmation from the College of conservation, osteology, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and more! Flinders students are eligible to receive 4.5 units for this course if they complete the field -school requirements which includes a research paper (60%), field journal (15%) Homestay – live like a local and a grade for field school participation (25%). with a local family! Program details: (Breakfast, lunch and 4 weeks duration dinner provided!) Cost: 4200 Euro ($6500 AUD) Application deadline: December 2, 2022. Visit stunning Ireland and Website: https://iafs.ie immerse yourself in Email: info@irishheritageschool.ie centuries of culture and history! Dig It—Issue 3 5 My experience presenting at NASC 2022 By Lucy Thiele, Membership Officer Lucy presenting on the big screen in Canberra. (Photo: NASC Australia. Used with permission) In September of this year, I had the amazing through my mind that morning. opportunity to present online for the National I felt comforted, knowing some other ArcHSoc Archaeology Student’s Conference (NASC). The members from Flinders would be watching. The conference was facilitated by the Australian conference day started off rocky. As you would it National University in Canberra. As a second-year expect in the pandemic world of online presenting, archaeology student, this was my very first time technical difficulties arose. I was extra nervous at presenting at an academic conference. I was this point; would they be able to get them sorted definitely filled with nerves and excitement! before it was my turn to present? I decided to present within the field of Cultural Luckily, they did, and sure enough, my time slot for Anthropology, focusing on how material culture can presenting arrived. I sat at my computer and reinforce and subvert gender norms. For this, I was began. Despite the nerves, I thoroughly enjoyed able to convert an essay I had already written into presenting! It was amazing to be able to share my my presentation. In my presentation, I specifically work with other students from all over Australia. I analysed the two film texts, Little Women (1994) also loved being able to participate in the question and an episode from Parks and Recreation (2017). time afterwards, receiving very constructive I spent weeks beforehand preparing my questions and engagement. presentation, ensuring that it was engaging and I would say to any Flinders University student who informative. I carefully curated my PowerPoint, is thinking of presenting at a conference like NASC, finding just the right images and visuals. Before I go for it! Even if you can’t make it in person, the knew it, the day of presenting was upon me! I experience is just as valuable! wasn’t sure what to expect, as I hadn’t actually presented over Zoom before. It was a different sort of nerves, not as scary as in-person presenting, but still daunting. How many people would be watching in Canberra? How many people would be online? [NASC is held every year by universities around How would my presentation compare to other Australia which teach archaeology. Flinders last hosted NASC in 2019.—Ed.] presenters? These were all the thoughts racing 6 Dig It—Volume 6 ArcHSoc presents A tour of the Treasury Tunnels By Anastasia Marsden Photo: D. Crawford On Thursday 10th November, I was one of a At one point the building was large enough to group who took part in a guided walk through accommodate the State Governor, Chief what used to be the Treasury Building at 2 Secretary/Premier, the Treasury, Survey and Flinders Street, Adelaide. The tour was Crown Lands, Public Works and the Attorney- organised by ArchSoc in conjunction with the General. The last government staff to work SA National Trust and took just over an hour. there were relocated in the 1990s, and the It was a great chance to see what was left of building was left without a purpose. It was an important colonial building, but to be purchased by a hotel chain and between 2001 honest, I was mostly there for the tunnels. and 2002 the building was renovated, keeping some of the original features, and opened to The first Treasury was a single-story building the public. designed by George Strickland Kingston, and built in 1839. Over subsequent decades, there There were a number of tour highlights. One were a number of additions and expansions. was to be able to sit in the Cabinet Room at Dig It—Issue 3 7 Photos, clockwise: The tunnels, A. Marsden. Students in Council Chamber, D. Crawford. Furnaces of unknown purpose, A. Marsden the same table used by countless politicians stories he told were peopled with names to discuss SA policy. Best of all was to be able immediately recognizable from local streets, to walk through the basement tunnel and parks and suburbs. The only real cellars, and to hear about how they were disappointment was that there was no used. There was speculation about the acknowledgement of the Indigenous existence of other tunnels under Adelaide Australians upon whose stolen land the (Jubilee Exhibition Line tunnel anyone?), the Treasury building was constructed. early minting of coinage, as well as the casting of gold bullion thanks to the miners who returned from the Victorian goldfields Thanks to ArchSoc, the SA National Trust and with their pockets weighed down. the Adina Treasury Hotel for making the tour possible. It was a really interesting way to absorb a little of Adelaide’s early history, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. In fact, the 8 Dig It—Volume 6 “So, you want to work in a The following essays outline the views of two “artistic” side – arranging exhibitions, displaying Flinders University postgraduate students, both items to fulfil a certain vision or tell a certain of whom have roles – one voluntary, one paid – story – to be the main work of a curator. But this in two different types of museums. It is hoped is only the public-facing aspect. The true main their differing perspectives may be of value to role, as these roles often are, is all the work that students wishing to work in the museum or must take place behind the scenes. gallery field. First, there is the entirely practical aspect: Part I: A View from a Private Museum collections must be catalogued, described, and By Thomas H. Bowden stored in the appropriate manner. Putting National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide artefacts or papers on an open shelf or in a Archaeology, to many people, conjures ideas of drawer loose will not do. I am talking about acid- digging in the field, lecturing at a university, or free boxes, special plastic and pencils, layers of working in a museum. However, it is a mistake tissue between sheets, pinning out, light-proof to assume that a mere archaeology degree is cabinets, insect control, white cotton gloves and enough – at least in Australia – to work in a more. Humidity must be given consideration, museum. As much as there is an expectation to which means air-conditioning must be managed, hoist the flag of one’s own university, I have to which then means that fail-safes must be put say that if you wish to work in a museum as a into practice: what happens if there is a fire, or a curator or archivist, Flinders’ archaeology degree flood, or a different kind of emergency? How to alone will not equip you for the job. protect collections; how to save collections; how Museology is a science and an art unto itself. In to store collections so they last for inconceivable the broadest sense, you can consider the amounts of time? Some of these considerations Dig It—Issue 3 9 Accessioned and unprocessed historical maps and are things you will need to learn about, whether plans, National Railway Museum archive. Photo: T.H. Bowden through proper training or through volunteer experience (or, if you are lucky enough, paid employee to conduct research if it did not pay for professional development). itself somehow. Then we have the research – without research, Moreover, a curator or museum officer must be study and investigation, a museum’s collection is multi-talented. It is no use pretending that in as useless as the treasures buried with Beowulf. today’s economy museum staff will be Depending on the kind of museum, research undertaking only one job. Rather, you may – might produce an exhibition or book, as a kind of again, depending on the size of the museum and value-adding exercise to attract visitors – an its funding arrangement – be expected to play activity vital to a museum’s survival if it is a the roles of cleaner, tour-guide, exhibition private or independent one which relies on visitor planner, researcher, public-engagement entrance fees for funding. A smaller museum strategist, ticket salesperson, collections might not be able to spare the cost of paying an manager – all at once. Only the largest museums 10 Dig It—Volume 6 can really afford to have a multitude of people to begin volunteering at a museum. Now, the fill these and many other responsibilities. obvious choice is unfortunately a lot more difficult to get into than it appears, least of all if Returning, then, to the original point: you will you are searching for experience beyond being a not find all of this taught at our university. The tour-guide or visitor’s information desk assistant. art of museum curation – much like archaeological theory – may well be taught here My advice, borne of my own experience, would in the future (and I have heard there is a class in be to seek out one of the smaller museums – progress which touches on some of these arts), private or independent. These typically rely more but it is not the full story. Working in a library, on volunteers and are usually more archive or museum is not as straightforward as it accommodating of students. Indeed, many would would appear and as with everything these days, be delighted to have your interest and there is a course, degree or qualification required archaeological training at their disposal in as the bare minimum in most professional exchange for museum experience. contexts. There are quite a few small and local museums in Adelaide, and you can usually find one that will allow you to volunteer a certain number of hours or days a week to fit in with your schedule. In short, smaller museums are more likely to be open to volunteering opportunities and while some public museums do have volunteer programs, not all of them do. If you by chance or by choice end up volunteering at a museum which does offer paid roles, this can be a really good way to get your name out there with the Illuminated address (Farewell Card) for Commissioner McGuire of the South Australian Railways, c.1922, museum management, should you wish to apply National Railway Museum archive. Photo: T.H. Bowden. for a job there. A good in-road for those of you who are If you are from Adelaide and a student of considering staying at Flinders University for archaeology hoping to work in the museums and postgrad are the placements topics available in galleries space, it would do you extremely well to both Honours and Masters. You are quite Dig It—Issue 3 11 welcome to request a placement at a museum, While it may not be easy to land your dream and in most instances, it will be at one of these museum job, it is not necessarily impossible. It smaller museums as your chances of placement just requires you to be switched on to what skills at the SA Museum are slim. Nevertheless, these and official certifications you need to be the most placement topics are a fantastic way to get in on employable. the museum scene via an easy in-road, if you A criticism I level at Flinders is how it neglects to have not done so independent of the university. inform prospective students of certain practical If you wish to study archival science – real-world requirements and considerations early preservation, conservation and even restoration enough in their degrees. For example, if you wish of artefacts, documents, etc. or true museology to work in the commercial or consulting – you will need to look for universities or archaeology field, having a degree in GIS to organisations which actually offer these courses supplement your degree archaeology is outright. Some of them include Deakin immensely useful. GIS is a specialization which University, ANU, the University of Queensland, has practical use, and many archaeologists need the University of Sydney, and as of recently, the to use those skills and techniques in their University of Adelaide. everyday jobs – and yet, does the university point this out very well? As I said before, being an archaeologist alone is not enough to be of value to a museum, and you Not every student has the advantage or ability to are unlikely to land a paid role at any museum study at any university they wish, and career with that qualification solely and no experience. wise, some may have chosen a different course Paid museum roles, particularly here in South had they known what they need to learn versus Australia, are few and far between, so unless you what they actually learn diverge too much. can entertain moving interstate or overseas, you This is particularly the case with museums – need to have: a. the right academic and while the knowledge you will have acquired practical training and b. the right volunteer during your archaeology degree is a good experience. foundation, further training of some kind is It can often be discouraging to get a certain needed, in addition to experience gained via a distance into a degree only to discover you do method such as volunteering. not have the right training or knowledge to suit For those who seriously wish to join a museum the field you wish to go into, but all is not lost. career, or simply wish to check out what it might 12 Dig It—Volume 6 involve, below is a list of some of the museums If you can spare the cost of a personal available in Adelaide to volunteer at which membership, the Australian Museums and include, but are not limited to: Galleries Association (AMaGA) is potentially of value as well. They organise meetups for Public (Government-owned) Museums: members, tours of libraries, galleries and • SA Museum (tour guides, front of house museums behind the scenes to better understand visitor experience, limited collections roles) processes and policies in place at these • Migration Museum (History Trust) institutions, and lecture presentations for • Maritime Museum (History Trust) members on a variety of topics relating to • Motor Museum (History Trust) museums and gallery work in Australia. If you • Museum of Economic Botany (Botanic are considering a career in the museum or Gardens, Adelaide) gallery field, this organisation might be of use to • Old Adelaide Gaol you. • Carrick Hill House Museum • Old Government House (National Park, And if you already work or volunteer at a Belair) museum or gallery that are institutional Private or Independent Museums and Archives: members of AMaGA, you might be eligible to be • National Railway Museum sent as their delegate to attend various tours, • Adelaide Holocaust Museum professional development, etc. depending again • David Roche Foundation Museum on where you work, and whether they would • Ayers House Museum (National Trust) support your professional interest in attending • Aviation Museum certain events. • Army Museum (Department of Defence) On our various journeys in life, there are often • St Kilda Tramway Museum regrets for paths not taken or opportunities • Lutheran Archives (archives of early missed. It is my hope that, at the very least, German settlement in SA) what I have said above may be of value to • Unley Museum someone who also has an interest in the • Willunga Courthouse Museum (National museum or gallery career path, and who needs Trust) something of a guidance for the road ahead. • City of Adelaide Clipper-Ship Trust Dig It—Issue 3 13 Refreshment Rooms display, National Railway Museum, Photo: T.H. Bowden. Part II: A View from a Public Museum through assistance from key personnel, training, By Cameron McVicar and funding. History Trust Museums, SA Government The Trust has plenty of volunteer and placement/ I have several things I think are valuable to internship opportunities in many departments. If share on this topic, however I should point out you are looking to work in museums then you my knowledge on this topic is limited by my role should be seeking out and applying for these and the institution I work for. For context I shall opportunities, both with the Trust and other explain my role in museums and how I came to heritage institutions. I have more to say on this work in museums, so please bear with me while later. I talk about myself. I currently work for the History Trust of South My role, which I have held for nearly 2 years, is Australia, a branch of the state government’s ‘Visitor Engagement Officer’ (previously known Department for Education. The History Trust is as: ‘Museum Officer’) and is a casual, paid role responsible for three public museums: the with various duties. I am responsible for National Motor Museum, the South Australian everything from front-of-house fundraising, Maritime Museum, and the Migration Museum. ticket and merchandise sales to tours (both They are also responsible for the Centre of within the museums and at various locations Democracy; however, I have no experience with external to the museums). I run education this particular institution. Another responsibility programs for school children of all ages, I work of the History Trust is to assist local private with curators to manage the exhibitions and museums with their operations, doing this displays, I help run events from massive events 14 Dig It—Volume 6 and a willingness to get in and do whatever needs doing. The skills particular to me and something I think are genuinely valuable for working in museums is: experience in archaeology (alternatively history or museology), experience in education, experience working within a team of various skillsets, and sales experience. This is particular to my role but are genuinely good skills for working in a museum to have regardless. It is always best to have diverse skillsets when looking for entry level jobs. To be clear, I had no experience with museums in the workplace prior to attaining this role. This is not 1880s maps ready to be accessioned, National Railway to say you should not seek out museum Museum archive. Photo: T.H. Bowden. experience; however, simply to show that it is possible to get these jobs without it. Having said like the Bay to Birdwood, to book launches, and I that, I encourage anyone who is wanting to work am required to even do simple jobs like dusting, in this industry to immediately seek out replacing a light bulb or cleaning the toilets on volunteer opportunities. This will help you occasion. To be clear, I work across all 3 immensely in getting these kinds of jobs, and museums, and must know and continually many of the people who work at the History update my knowledge of the content, Trust have previously held volunteer positions in procedures, maintenance and operation of each museums. museum. Before I say anything else, I will say this as I This role is considered an entry level position believe it needs to be said: You will not get a with the History Trust and is essentially a position as a curator with much of anything customer service role at its core. Now, this may shorter than a PhD in a relevant field sound like a lot of duties for an entry level (museology, history, archaeology) and museum position, but it is attainable with key skills. I experience. If you are wanting to work towards attained this position because of 4 main skillsets this role you will need both study and experience Dig It—Issue 3 15 seek out archaeological volunteer experience. If to back you up. Be prepared for the long road if you are studying history, seek out historical you want one of these positions. volunteer opportunities. These will teach you key Starting out as a volunteer or in an entry level areas that you will be expected to have paid role is a great way to learn the operations experience in when you apply for a role in a and management of a museum and be willing to museum. start in any role whether that be front of house, Another aspect, as Tom has suggested, is that tours, collections, maintenance, education, museums are often getting funding from visitors administration, research, marketing, or events. whether through ticket prices, merchandise or These are all essential aspects of a museum and fundraising. For example, although the History will be great entry points. If you are looking for a Trust is a government institution it only gets a paid role, look for a department in a museum small portion of its annual funding from that you already have skills that are applicable to government coffers. Most of its funding comes and apply for that position regardless of if that’s from sales of ticket and merchandise, so you can a job you want or not. The experience of that imagine private institutions are even more role will be worth it, not to mention you get paid. inclined in this aspect. Hence, retail or sales Having said that, don’t just limit yourself to one experience is another key area I would role. recommend you have experience in. You will Even if you win a paid role look for volunteer need to be skilled in parting people from their opportunities to broaden your skills. For money often multiple times in a visit, in a way example, while working at the History Trust I that doesn’t upset them: a task that is not easy. volunteered with the National Trust (another This brings me to customer service. Many roles great heritage organisation) to broaden my skills in museums are customer service based. If you and experience. Other key public institutions do not have customer service experience when with both volunteer and paid opportunities are starting out in museums, you are going to the state museum, library and art gallery. struggle. My suggestion to prepare yourself is to I refer back to the skill set I mentioned above put yourself in socially challenging situations that I used to gain my current role. Do not only more often and get used to talking to people seek out experience in heritage institutions, they from all walks of life on various topics. I can tell cannot teach you all the skills you need to work you from many hours of conversing with visitors in museums. If you are studying archaeology, I don’t just talk about history. You want people 16 Dig It—Volume 6 to feel respected and appreciated while they are visiting and that means being able to converse on various topics – anything from local sport to high fashion and (yes) politics. Be genuinely interested in people and ask them questions about their life and experiences. It will make you better at your job in many ways. My key message is, diversify your skills and interests. This is not only useful in life generally but has specific applications for your career. Take any opportunity you can to learn something new even if it means sacrificing your comfort. Quality opportunities to diversify your skillset come along very rarely and you need to be prepared to take them, because the reality is that the heritage industry is competitive and if you don’t take that opportunity someone else will and they will take that job you’ve always wanted away from you. Don’t let what other people say is the correct path be the only path; find your own way by taking weird opportunities while they are there. You’ll be amazed at where they can take you. Dig It—Issue 3 17 MCRP excavation team outside the Domus Romana museum. (Photo: Cate Sexton) Melite Civitas Romana Project Domus Romana, Malta, 12 July–2 June 2022 *** By Cate Sexton, David Cardona, Robert Brown, Ben Lowe, Davide Tanasi and Andrew Wilkinson 18 Dig It—Volume 6 Aerial map of Domus Romana site, Malta, with excavation areas for the Melite Civitas Romana Project overlaid. (Photo: Melite Civitas Romana Project 2022) Introduction This year’s team of over 60 participants was The Melite Civitas Romana Project (MCRP) is an headed by an enthusiastic and professional ongoing archaeological investigation of the quintet of directors: David Cardona (Heritage Domus Romana in Rabat, Malta, and began in Malta), Rob Brown (Macquarie University), Ben earnest in 2019. The Domus comprises the ruins Lowe (University of North Alabama), Davide of a first century BCE Roman townhouse once Tanasi (University of South Florida) and Andrew part of the town, Melite (George Azzopardi, pers. Wilkinson (Flinders University). The group also comm. 2022), and a three-week excavation included three Flinders students (Tess Devlin, season was conducted in June 2022 with plans to Mitchell Lunnay and Cate Sexton) who would continue well into the decade. For research of each fervently encourage anyone with a sense of this scale the level of inquiry is colossal; in fact, adventure and curiosity to join up next year. the project boasts 11 research questions. Real field experience is unmatchable, and being Dig It—Issue 3 19 able to excavate, diagnose artefacts, work in big Geography and the first Maltese and small teams, monitor a site, and take Although the 316km2 Maltese archipelago may initiative are crucial skills for all archaeologists. be humbled by the 2.5 million km2 Plus, the project takes you to one of the finest Mediterranean Sea, its role in the seascape is spots in the Mediterranean, and you can have pivotal. Malta’s geographic centrality in the gelato for lunch! Mediterranean has landed it a seat at the table Malta is a cultural and historical melting since antiquity, having been parked along major pot, visited and influenced by peoples from all trade routes and between strategic hubs. around the Mediterranean and beyond – from The first people to live on Malta likely Bronze Age colonisers, Phoenicians and Romans arrived from Sicily in about 5300BCE (Atauz to Arabs, Normans and the Knights of Saint John. 2008:5), and established an agricultural society But simultaneously, the island nation has with unique cultural trademarks. Distinct among maintained a distinct character and heritage of these are its megalithic monuments with its own, showcased by its prehistoric Temple enormous stone blocks and gargantuan statues, period (c. 4100 BCE) (Atauz 2008:6; Bonanno which are unlike anything that came before or 2017; Cardona 2021:231). Among the complex after, in Malta or elsewhere (Atauz 2008:6). list of Malta’s historical phases, the Roman one is Later, between 700 and 1000BCE, the neither the most famous nor the most well- Phoenicians set up camp in Malta, establishing researched (Brown et al. 2021a:1619–1620). townships where Mdina and Gozo’s Citadel are However, this deficiency in study likely today, ending the islands’ water-driven isolation, does not reflect the archaeological potential of and exaggerating class differentiations as trade the island’s Roman sites; instead, the current boomed (Atauz 2008:9–10, 18). Under the understanding of the Empire’s extent, influence Phoenicians and to a lesser extent the and urbanism in Malta (and other places) may be Carthaginians (who were in control until the significantly enhanced with new, targeted Romans took over), Malta became a powerful investigations on the islands. There are dozens of base in the Mediterranean and may have even places across the country from which Roman controlled the sea passage south of Sicily (Atauz pottery has turned up; so, quantity of evidence is 2008:18). not lacking and, as should be demonstrated by this project, neither is quality. 20 Dig It—Volume 6 Roman Malta The Roman presence in Malta lasted for approximately 800 years from the late 3rd century BCE (Cardona 2021:232). Over this period of occupation, beginning in 218 BCE (Bonanno 2004:49; Cardona 2021:232), the status of Malta in the Roman world fluctuated, and Rome’s influence on Maltese society, culture and religion varied too. Initially, the Punic language and culture prevailed despite the change of hands (Bonanno 2004:47), and local customs, religion and art were permitted by the conquering Romans (Bonanno 2004:50). Looking outward, Malta’s trade connections increased dramatically under Rome, and its main export moved from textiles Photograph of the cistern uncovered by excavations in Area 2, with Alex at the bottom. to food. Among the prime villas erected across (Photo: Cate Sexton) the island, the impressive townhouse in Rabat – the Domus Romana, subject of the project in Archaeology question – was built in approximately 100 BCE Tragically, although the remains of Melite are and was home to wealthy, influential individuals among – if not the most – archaeologically useful for about 150 years (Bonanno 2004:51). Roman sites on the island (and represent the only urban settlement from the period of Later occupations occupation), they have not received their due After the Romans, Malta was also occupied by glory among the wonderland of prehistoric the Byzantine Empire from 535 CE and the Maltese megaliths. Arabs* from 870 CE (Bonnano 2004:51). After its initial uncovering in the 19th Additionally, along with Cyprus, the Maltese century by Biblioteca director A.A. Caruana, Sir islands were colonised by the British Empire and Themistocles Zammit excavated the surrounding granted independence in 1964 (Schembri areas in the early 1920s, but from this very little 2019:11). was published (Brown et al. 2021a:1619). *Although the occupiers of this period are generally referred to as Arab, many of these Muslims were not Arabic. However, a handful of photographs from this Dig It—Issue 3 21 Photograph of Zammit’s 1920s excavations in Area 4B. (Photo: Brown et al. 2021a) campaign have allowed researchers to compare photogrammetry (Brown et al. 2021b; Tanasi et areas of the site between then and now, and al. 2021). The current study is the first some of this project’s aims look to identify the opportunity to break ground at the Domus true location and extent of Zammit’s trenches. Romana, and Melite, since the early 1920s. As well, adding one troublesome cherry to the top of the cake of tribulation, the site also had a 2022 excavation season large portion of the remains destroyed when a The three-week season consisted of a repetitive road was dug through the adjacent hillside in procedure of excavation and artefact cleaning, 1889 with no record of the removed material but each team adapted their techniques to suit (Cardona 2021:236). the needs of the area they were working in (of So, at last, the Domus site is once again which there were six in total). For instance, the under investigated by archaeologists in the MCRP aim of Trench 4B was to locate the remains of team. Surveys have included ground-penetrating Roman columns next to a rock wall photographed radar (GPR) and both cross-sectional and aerial by Zammit. The systematic excavation approach 22 Dig It—Volume 6 This first excavation season, although was abandoned in the second week and targeted limited by time, heat, and the Coronavirus digging was taken up in the zone more likely to pandemic, was able to crack into the project’s hold the columns. research questions. In years to come, issues of Other areas of the site required less hard pre-Roman use, trade and import of goods, as labour, and each returned intriguing and exciting well as robust dating are sure to be resolved; results. Without giving away any spoilers that however, the 2022 results have contributed will soon be published by the project directors, mainly to the questions of the nature and extent evidence was uncovered for a Roman road with a of the remains. complex resurfacing history; layered, culturally What might be hidden underground was significant Arab graves; a monumental stone easier to decipher in some areas (e.g., 4A), structure; an area of unadulterated stratigraphy; compared to others (e.g., 2, 4B-C). The former and hordes of pottery sherds from almost every trench had the support of 2021 GPR data that period in Maltese history (and prehistory). Photograph of monumental structure uncovered by excavation in Area 4A. (Photo: Cate Sexton) Dig It—Issue 3 23 L—Trench 4B at the beginning of the excavation after vegetation had been cleared; R—Work beginning in the uppermost corner. (Photo: Cate Sexton) showed a roughly semicircular, thick-walled, comm. 2022). So, despite the ambiguity of some subterranean structure in the zone where large of the present results, a sound understanding of stone blocks were uncovered this June (Brown et the Domus’ remains may not be too far away. al. 2021b:617, 622). These pieces of evidence make an exciting case for the possible nature of Conclusion and future directions the remains…could it be Malta’s first Roman The results of this first excavation season at the Odeon? On the flip side, the nature of most other Domus Romana have revealed new insights into areas have been marred by the lack of clear the Roman occupation of Malta, the stratigraphy, and the significant mixing and archaeological potential for this site, and the transport of sediment and artefacts over the past amount of work still to be conducted. The nature two centuries. However, the promise of virgin and extent of the remains can be partially stratigraphy in Area 3 may be able to shed light concluded, but it is fair to say that this was but on the use of the site as a whole. an introduction to what can be discovered at this Additionally, although the artefacts site. collected in Trenches 4B and 4C appear The study has also highlighted where contextually deficient, the fact that they are archaeologists have failed the discipline in the consistently fragmented may imply the presence past, and the limits of studying and conserving of a workshop from antiquity (Ben Lowe pers. heritage. The consequences of historical work 24 Dig It—Volume 6 and ongoing disregard for the remains, including curator, George Azzopardi; to the Superintendent the huge portion removed by roadworks, the of Cultural Heritage Malta, Kurt Farrugia; and to mixing and dumping of sediment, the unsolicited the Domus Romana, who all generously removal of material, and using the site as a facilitated the excavation. rubbish tip are significant when trying to conduct a robust investigation of the past settlement and References inhabitants. Atauz, A.D. 2008 Eight Thousand Years of Maltese The 2023 excavation season is already in Maritime History: Trade, Piracy and Naval Warfare in the Central Mediterranean. Gainesville: The University the planning stage, with priorities set for Areas Press of Florida. 1, 2 and 3, since these remains had the greatest Bonanno, A. 2004 Malta during Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine times: outside influence and original traits. potential for answering the project’s research In K. Gambin (ed.), Malta: Roots of a Nation: The Development of Malta from an Island People to an questions (Area 4A may also be included, but Island Nation, pp.45–54. Sta Venera: Midsea Books. awaits the securement of a large, open Brown, R., D. Cardona, B. Lowe, D. Tanasi and Andrew Wilkinson 2021a The Melite Civitas Romana Project: excavation). the case for a modern exploration of the Roman Domus, Malta. Open Archaeology 7:1618–1635. Overall, the 2022 summer season at the Brown, R., D. Cardona, L. De Giorgi, G. Leucci, B.J. Domus Romana was hailed a success in both Lowe, R. Persico, D. Tanasi and A. Wilkinson 2021b Ground-penetrating radar prospections at the Roman research and team building, with friendships set Domus of Mdina (Malta). Exploration Geophysics 52 (6):612–623. to live on like the history we are uncovering. Cardona, D. 2021 Past, present, future: an overview of Roman Malta. Open Archaeology 7:231–255. Acknowledgements Schembri, J.A. 2019 The geographical context of the Maltese islands. In R. Gauci and J.A. Schembri (eds), Those who led and contributed to the present Landscapes and Landforms of the Maltese Islands, pp.9–17. Switzerland: Springer Nature. study should be duly acknowledged for their Tanasi, D., S. Hassam, K. Kingsland, P. Trapani, M. facilitation, sharing of knowledge and guidance. King and D. Calì 2021 Melite Civitas Romana in 3D: virtualization project of the archaeological park and Firstly, the efforts of Intercontinantal museum of the Domus Romana of Rabat, Malta. Open Archaeology 7:51–83. Archaeology and the lead researchers/directors of the Melite Civitas Romana Project, David Cardona, Dr Davide Tanasi, Robert Brown, Andrew Wilkinson, and Dr Ben Lowe, whose enthusiasm for preserving the past and for enhancing the future did not go unnoticed. As well, thanks are owed to Heritage Malta and its Dig It—Issue 3 25 Geo-cosmic Archaeology: The Archaeology of Cosmic Impact By Marc D. Young Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, “The November Meteors”, 1881. (Source: New York Public Library) 26 Dig It—Volume 6 Geo-cosmic Archaeology: angle and relative velocity of the object; some objects are slowed to near freefall speeds before they detonate and rain chunks of meteoritic The Archaeology of Cosmic Impact material down, while others enter at supersonic By Marc D. Young* speeds, detonating at low altitudes and projecting their kinetic energy to the surface, *College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University, South Australia; Comet Research Group, Arizona, causing widespread devastation. There are U.S.A. several historical examples of many types of these events, but due to their relatively uncommon occurrence, the repercussions of Introduction these events have been of limited concern to archaeologists. Furthermore, these events are When we think of cosmic impacts, what often somewhat ephemeral, as they do not form comes to mind is an image of a gigantic space traditional impact craters; instead, they produce rock bearing down on a primordial world as evidence in the form of geochemical signatures tyrannosaurs look on, but this image of and microscopic impact proxies that require instantaneous global destruction is the exception, sensitive instruments to investigate. However, not the rule. Exceedingly large impact events like the marks they leave on humanity in terms of the dinosaur-killing Chicxulub impact are often our behaviour, culture, and spirituality in the correlated with chronostratigraphic boundaries short term, and our evolution in the longer term, (Firestone 2021) and mark extreme extinction are at worst implied to be fraudulent and/or events in the fossil record, but they are by far conflated with pseudoscience, or at best labelled the rarest class of impact event. Every day, as eccentric fringe theories (Pinter and Ishman upwards of 100 tons of interplanetary cosmic 2008; Pinter et al. 2011; Boslough 2022). dust, mostly in the range of 0.1 mm to 1 cm, Similarly, the impact frequency of objects impact the atmosphere (Rojas et al. 2021), between 1 and 100 m in diameter is largely increasing substantially as Earth passes through unknown, and statistical threat assessments are the meteor streams of the zodiacal cloud (Napier based on the few events and/or craters we have 1998). These meteor streams are formed by directly observed and/or dated (Chapman 2013). disintegrating comets on near-Earth or Earth- Often these models are overly conservative and crossing orbits (Ferrín and Orofino 2021), and exclude many of the more poorly documented early in their disintegration process they pose a events due to high evidentiary standards. significant impact hazard for Earth that can be Because airbursts do not leave craters, they are cyclical; more densely packed regions of the significantly under-represented in the statistical stream housing larger fragments are analyses; only a handful of airburst events have encountered more frequently during the early been reliably identified based on their physical phase of disintegration (Asher et al. 1994; evidence rather than direct witnesses. Napier 2010; Napier 2019; Wolbach et al. 2018a). Objects ranging from 1 cm to 1 m On February 15th, 2013, a ~20 m diameter frequently impact the upper atmosphere, asteroid detonated approximately 30 km above resulting in meteor showers and fireballs, but Chelyabinsk, Russia, projecting its ~500 kt of occasionally objects in the range of 10 m to 50 m kinetic energy to the ground and causing are encountered, and can result in catastrophic widespread injuries and damage (Kartashova et events (McMullan & Collins 2019). Currently, al. 2018). For comparison, the Hiroshima nuclear these events are not considered archaeologically bomb in 1945 had a yield of ~15 kt (Malik relevant, but recent events and discoveries 1985), meaning the Chelyabinsk airburst suggest that our discipline needs to take these released more than 30 times its energy between events more seriously (Kartashova et al. 2018; its thermal pulse and shockwave. The shockwave Moore et al. 2020; Bunch et al. 2021; Tankersley broke more than 10,000 windows, ~1000 et al. 2022a; Powell et al. 2022). This essay buildings suffered structural damage, and more details historic and prehistoric impact events that than 1,500 people went to hospital seeking affected humans, and how a cosmic impact treatment for injuries from the event might be detectible in the archaeological record. (Kartashova et al. 2018). Due to the prevalence of CCTV, smart phones and dash cameras, and advanced atmospheric monitoring systems in Russia at the time, the event was well Historical Airburst Events documented, and has been extensively studied in the decade since (Popova et al. 2013; Berngardt Airburst events occur when a meteor detonates et al. 2013; Galimov et al. 2013; Taskaev et al. in the atmosphere, rather than impacting the 2022; Walton et al. 2022). The reader is surface. There is a wide variety of different encouraged to visit YouTube and search for scenarios that can occur based on the size, “Chelyabinsk meteor footage” to get an idea of composition, density, gross velocity, approach what it is like to experience a cosmic impact on Dig It—Issue 3 27 on June 29th (Kresák 1977; Asher and Steel 1998; Gladysheva 2020a, 2020b). If the Tunguska object had impacted just four hours later at the same latitude and become the St. Petersburg object, this may have changed the course of the 20th and 21st centuries (Longo 2007); perhaps instead of fighting world wars and committing genocides, global superpowers may have united against the ever-present threat of city-killers in the 10-100 m class which to this day evade us. While the Chelyabinsk and Tunguska events are well-studied and widely publicised, there have been several other events in the 20th century, and significantly more scattered throughout the history books, particularly in China. On August 13th, 1930, a series of 3 airbursts of approximately 1 Mt, likely fragmented from a single parent body, occurred within ~30 seconds over the Brazilian Amazon, burning and clearing hundreds of miles of rainforest (Bailey et al. 1995). A second airburst event over British Guyana around 9pm on December 11th, 1935, flattened many square miles of forest; after just Figure 1: The treefall radius of the impact in two years of jungle regrowth the extent of the Siberia from June 30 1908 as projected over destruction radius was difficult to discern (Steel a plan of Adelaide to demonstrate the size. 1995). From 551 B.C. to 2000 A.D. more than (Source: Marc Young) 300 records of meteorite falls resulting in human casualties or fatalities were recorded in Chinese historical records (Yau et al. 1994); Between the lowest end of the scale; there are hundreds 1321 and 1361, several meteoritic rains fell over of dash cam videos, security camera videos, and Yunnan province killing many people and animals on-the-ground live recordings of the moment the and were witnessed over an area of ~25,000 shockwave hits, and the damage in the km2. In February and March of 1490, a rain of aftermath. This is the most recent historical iron meteorites ranging from 1-1.5 kg fell over airburst event, but there have been several more the Ch’ing-yang district, striking dead more than over the last few centuries. 10,000 people (Yau et al. 1994). In 1976 over Kirin City in China, a detonating meteorite On June 30th, 1908, a ~50 m diameter comet showered the Manchurian farmlands with more fragment detonated approximately 10 km above than 100 small fragments along with the ~1,700 the Siberian taiga, releasing ~15 Mt of kinetic kg parent body, which made a crater ~3 m deep energy (Gladysheva 2020a). It was associated (Melcher 1979). These are just a handful of the with abnormal meteorological phenomena over total number of historical airburst events that more than 10 million km2 such as overly bright have occurred in the last 1,000 years, as nights, noctilucent clouds, unusually colourful presumably many more were not witnessed by sunsets, and solar haloes (Gladysheva 2020a). people, and many records may not have The kinetic energy projected a shockwave to the survived. ground resulting in a butterfly-shaped area of approximately 80 million flattened trees over ~2,000 km2 of taiga forest in just a few seconds (Florenskiy 1965). The tree-fall radius is Tall el-Hammam projected over Adelaide in Figure 1 to demonstrate the magnitude of the destruction in A comprehensive 2021 study used 17 lines of a more relatable way. Ethnographic interviews evidence to show that a Middle Bronze Age city with the local Indigenous revealed that a feud roughly the size of Jericho in the modern-day between clans caused one clan to resort to Jordan Valley was destroyed by a Tunguska-class calling on a powerful shaman named Magankan, airburst ~3600 years ago (Bunch et al. 2021). who sent the god of thunder, Agdy to intimidate The publication was the result of 15 years of their enemies (Hamacher 2015). Based on the excavation at Tall el-Hammam (TeH), wherein a timing of the impact, its cometary origin, and its ~1.5 m thick destruction layer oriented roughly approach angle, it is likely the Tunguska object SE-NW was found containing melt products originated from the Taurid Complex, which peaks formed at over 2000°C and elevated salt 28 Dig It—Volume 6 concentration, ~4% wt. (Silvia 2015; Bunch et Earthquakes can produce 5 of the 17 lines of al. 2021). After extensive investigation, the evidence, but no major earthquakes are known Comet Research Group (CRG) were invited to to have occurred in the region at the time in visit and work on the site, where they found question. Volcanism can explain 12 of the 17 abundant evidence consistent with an extreme lines of evidence, but again, no high-temperature event (Bunch et al. 2021). contemporaneous eruptions capable of Evidence suggests the thermal pulse of the destroying the city are known to have occurred airburst flash-boiled the outside surface of in the region (Bunch et al. 2021). pottery, leaving the inside surface untouched. Similarly, the surfaces of mudbricks and other After this exhaustive review of the possible building materials were scorched and boiled as causes of the destruction, the only remaining they were exposed to conditions hotter and event capable of explaining the entirety of the brighter than the surface of the sun (>5500°C) evidence is a crater-forming impact, or a low- for several seconds. As the shockwave expanded, altitude airburst (Bunch et al. 2021). As there it sheared off walls and buildings near their bases has been no crater found in the area (though it including the 4-5 storey palace. Furthermore, the could be as small as a few meters in diameter), a airburst is thought to have occurred over the low-altitude airburst is the most likely nearby Dead Sea, blowing a plume of hypersaline explanation for the destruction. Even if any of water over much of the surrounding area. This these other processes could form the evidentiary explains the high levels of salt in the destruction suite found at TeH, none of them can explain the layer, which effectively sterilized the land, high concentrations of platinum group elements, preventing agriculture in the vicinity of the or the shocked quartz found at the site. Quartz affected area long term. As a result of the event, and other mineral grains that have undergone whatever it was, the city was abandoned for a metamorphism by shock are considered among period of ~700 years, like many other cities in the gold standard for identifying whether an the region (Silvia 2015; Bunch et al. 2021). impact occurred (French and Koeberl 2010). While some of the shocked quartz grains from In the Middle Bronze Age, sometimes pots that TeH differ slightly from traditional shock were placed on roofs to collect rainwater were metamorphism from cratering events (Jaret and struck by lightning; to rule out lightning as a Harris 2022), analogous grains have been cause of the flash melting, remanent magnetism recovered from both the Tunguska airburst site was tested (Bunch et al. 2021); when rocks or (Bunch et al. 2021) and from other sites pending sediments are struck by lightning, they can be publication (Pers. comm. Allen West 2022). imbued with remanent magnetism (Verrier and Rochette 2002). On the contrary, impacts and It is worth noting that the lead author on the TeH airbursts do not cause this, and have even been paper has more than 55 years as an expert on shown to do the opposite, removing or reducing shocked quartz and helped developed the criteria the paleomagnetic intensity of minerals for its identification (Bunch 1966). Work is (Kletetschka et al. 2021). ongoing to determine whether these quartz grains recovered from known airburst sites are There was no remanent magnetism found to be indeed formed by airbursts, or by mysterious, as associated with any TeH melt products, and thus -yet unidentified non-impact processes as lightning was ruled out as a cause. Many other claimed by critics (Jaret and Harris 2022). potential causes of the destruction were tested against all 17 lines of evidence as follows: Anthropogenic activity accounted for 12 of 17 lines of evidence, with copper smelting reaching Abu Hureyra & The Younger Dryas temperatures up to ~1100°C, which is too low to melt the grains of chromite, quartz or zircon Impact Event found at the site (>1500°C). Normal city fires and/or wildfires can explain up to 8 of 17 lines of In 2007, Firestone et al. published evidence from evidence, though other charcoal-rich layers 25 locations spanning the YD onset. In the 15 indicative of city fires were found at TeH, and years since, a significant volume of none were associated with the other lines of complementary evidence has supported their evidence. Midden fires match 9 of 17 lines of claims for an impact event (Sweatman 2021) evidence, though biomass glass and slag found that deposited more than 10 million tons of in other African sites were examined as part of impact material over at least four continents the study and found to not be analogous, (Wittke et al. 2013). One of the multitude of forming at a maximum of ~1300°C. Warfare airbursts that occurred at the YD onset has been matches 7 of 17 lines of evidence, but only a uncovered at the site of Abu Hureyra, Syria. Abu single arrowhead and no swords or spear points Hureyra was a highly influential site that were found, and no other evidence of warfare revolutionised how archaeologists understand has been found in the destruction layer. modern human history. As construction began on Dig It—Issue 3 29 the Syrian Tabqa Dam in 1968, an archaeological impact event. Unlike TeH however, hunter- strike force was assembled to recover as much gatherers in the region at this time were material from this site as possible before it was technologically incapable of producing the inundated by Lake Assad. Andrew Moore began temperatures required to form these materials. his professional career as Kathleen Kenyon’s site Another strong indicator that these melt products director at the Jericho Project (Lillios 2016) and were not formed by anthropogenic activity or was invited to study the human economy at the other natural processes like volcanism is that site alongside others in his cohort (Moore et al. they are found in most of the world in the same 1975). Moore chose to focus on the transition layer dating to the same time; if these products from hunter-gatherer villages to sedentary were formed by humans, the implication must be agricultural settlements in the Levant (Moore and that a technologically advanced, archaeologically Hillman 1992), and Abu Hureyra played a key invisible global civilization was producing these role in the region. Early occupants were hunter- melt products throughout the world at the gatherers who established the village on a game terminal Pleistocene. trail along the Euphrates River (Moore 1979), and around 13,000 years ago they began Short of that, the only other non-impact intentionally cultivating of multiple types of explanation is a global scientific conspiracy to cereal grains (Moore 1982) and tending manufacture and plant evidence in samples, domesticated animals (Smith et al. 2022). which are then analysed by dozens of independent scientists, many of which are giants Early on in Moore’s work on the material from in their respective fields. That seems to be the Abu Hureyra, he and colleagues noticed that the allegation of a few critics of the YD impact period associated with the Younger Dryas was hypothesis since its maiden 2007 publication highly significant at the site (Moore and Hillman (Boslough 2022), but it is literally impossible. 1992). Moore and colleagues sought the The vast majority of samples analysed in studies assistance of Ted Bunch and the CRG to of the YD impact hypothesis have not passed investigate some interesting evidence they had through the hands of Allen West, the alleged found, which turned out to be melt glass and perpetrator of this conspiracy, requiring other cosmic impact proxies. Bunch et al. (2012) independent fraud from dozens of respected found that at the YD onset, the village was scientists (Boslough 2022). No – the much more destroyed by a cosmic impact or airburst likely and parsimonious explanation is that somewhere in the size range of the Tunguska ~12,850 years ago Earth encountered a impact (Bunch et al. 2012; Kennett et al. 2015; particularly dense section of cometary debris, Moore et al. 2020). High-temperature melt resulting in a short-term widespread products were recovered alongside multiple other bombardment episode of small-scale impacts and impact products including nanodiamonds, carbon airbursts. As Earth passes twice a year through spherules, and magnetic microspherules, the Taurid Complex, a miniature version of this contained in a discreet layer throughout the site. event plays out in the night skies, as it has like Following the impact, the site was abandoned for clockwork since progenitor comet Encke first a short time before people began to return, began disintegrating (Ferrín and Orofino 2021). whereafter the site was consistently occupied for While there is no evidence directly linking the several thousand years (Smith et al. 2022). Taurid Complex to the YD impact event, it is analogous to the most likely impact scenario After the evidence from Abu Hureyra was first (Wolbach et al. 2018b), and most importantly, it published, alongside 2 other YD airburst sites is there; we know it exists, we know it has (Bunch et al. 2012), one group claimed without existed for tens of thousands of years, and it is evidence that the glass must have formed during self-evident that it has caused impact events in normal house fires (Thy et al. 2015). In response the past (Asher et al. 1994; Napier 2010). Figure to this criticism, the CRG ran extensive 2 is an artistic impression of an analogous event corroboratory analyses and melting experiments produced by artificial intelligence. to determine how this melt glass could have formed, and most importantly, how it could not As the dust was settling at Abu Hureyra, have. In their follow-up 2020 paper, they found temperatures in central Greenland plummeted by that some of the melt glass formed at higher up to 9°C within a year, returning to glacial temperatures than any house fire could achieve temperatures for a period of ~1,200 years called (>2200°C), and remanent magnetism the Younger Dryas (Powell 2022). experiments showed it was not formed by Incomprehensibly large megafloods of meltwater lightning strikes (Moore et al. 2020). As erupted from along the margins of the northern discussed above regarding Tall el-Hammam, ice sheets, discharging into the oceans and lightning is the only other natural process that forming a freshwater barrier that prevented the can produce the melt glass we see there, thermohaline circulation from warming the meaning the only feasible explanation is a cosmic northern atmosphere (Broecker et al. 2010). The 30 Dig It—Volume 6 Figure 2: Depiction of a Tunguska-like airburst event during the Neolithic created by Artificial Intelligence. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Image by Dream Studio Beta (beta.dreamstudio.ai). discharge out of Lake Agassiz into the northern distinctive Clovis lithic technology vanished from oceans peaked at between 1.8 million and the archaeological record, and many other 2.5 million cubic meters of water per second cultures around the world also underwent (Norris et al. 2021), while similar floods also declines, transitions, changes, or reorganization occurred all along the ice margin (Baker et al. around the YD onset (Firestone et al. 2007; 1993; Russell et al. 2003; Powell 2022). This Anderson et al. 2011; Karmin et al. 2015; de suppression of ocean-atmospheric processes is Pablo et al. 2019; Sepulveda et al. 2022). the traditional explanation for the YD cooling, and other cooling events (Clarke et al. 2003; Blanketing the final remains of the Broecker et al. 2010; Young et al. 2021), but the Rancholabrean megafauna and the Clovis trigger for the floods has yet to be resolved. technocomplex in direct contact at more than 50 Firestone et al. (2007) propose one or more sites across North and South America is a thin impacts into the ice sheets at the YD onset is “Black Mat” layer. The Black Mat is an organic- responsible for the simultaneous rapid discharge rich dark stratigraphic unit that essentially marks of meltwater along their margins. the termination of the old world; remains of the megafauna and Clovis are never found above it, Several other significant ecological events only below it or sometimes within it (Haynes occurred, apparently simultaneously, around the 2008), and the YD impact evidence is found in onset of the YD; Almost three quarters of North direct contact with the bottom of the mat. This and South American megafauna species abruptly thin black line represents the geological instant went extinct (Haynes 2008; Pino et al. 2019; in which humans became the dominant species Meltzer 2020), and major continental-scale on the planet, and it extends throughout multiple wildfires rapidly consumed ~9% of plant life on European sites in addition to the North and South Earth, choking the atmosphere (Wolbach et al. American ones (Haynes 2008; van Hoesel et al. 2018a, 2018b) and shifting vegetation dynamics 2012; Pino et al. 2019; Sweatman 2021). A significantly (Shuman et al. 2002; Chen et al. mammoth named Big Eloise was one of four 2021; Engels et al. 2022). A major cultural discovered at Murray Springs, but unlike the change happened across much of the world; the other three, her skeleton was fully articulated Dig It—Issue 3 31 except for her two back legs, exactly as she fell by various studies over the years, but recent in- (Haynes 1993). The Clovis hunters who had depth reviews have determined that many of killed and began to butcher her had dragged her these critical studies had significant issues, hind leg to a nearby hearth, but were interrupted including sampling errors (Powell 2022). Most of before they could enjoy the spoils of their hunt. the criticism occurred within the first few years, The fully articulated nature of her skeleton and as of 2022, almost all the YD impact suggests that whatever interrupted the hunters, evidence has been widely reproduced. A common it also prevented scavengers from stealing the argument against the notion of a simultaneous kill. Interestingly, Eloise was found draped in the global impact event at the YD onset is that Black Mat, which had stained her bones black, significant uncertainties inherent to radiocarbon and may offer some clue as to her pristine dating provide enough ambiguity that the condition; certainly, a major cosmic impact event synchroneity of the event is questionable. unfolding in the skies above might have provided a sufficient distraction. Eloise may represent the However, the impact layer itself provides a day that this event took place, in much the same discreet geochemical datum that dispels all way that recent finds at Tanis in North Dakota uncertainty; if the same layer of impact proxies may represent the day the Chicxulub asteroid exists all over the world in close proximity to the changed the course of life on this planet radiocarbon date of ~12,850, this allows precise (DePalma et al. 2019). correlation of sedimentary profiles over vast distances (Simonson and Glass 2004; Glass and The reader can be forgiven for thinking this all Simonson 2012; Moore et al. 2017). The global sounds a little sensationalist, but the events Pt anomaly at the YD onset is the perfect discussed above occurred in a geological signature for this task and has been reproduced millisecond, and directly precede what many on all continents other than Australia and East consider to be the dawn of civilization. At this Asia (Petaev et al. 2013; Moore et al. 2017, time, sedentary agricultural societies (Moore and 2019; Pino et al. 2019; Thackeray et al. 2019; Hillman 1992) and megalithic architecture Moore et al. 2020). This geochemical impact (Banning 2011; Henley 2018) were developed layer datum marks the onset of the YD, while the almost simultaneously, directly following a end of the YD marks both the Pleistocene- significant loss of human lineages and Y Holocene transition, and the Palaeolithic-Neolithic chromosome bottleneck in South America, and transition, making the YD unique among all possibly worldwide (Karmin et al. 2015; de Pablo previous glacial/interglacial cycles throughout the et al. 2019; Sepulveda et al. 2022). The notion Pleistocene. The author strongly recommends of a widespread cataclysm on humanity’s back anyone interested in the YD impact hypothesis to doorstep is on its face absurd; the archaeologists read both Sweatman 2021 and Powell 2022; would surely know such a thing occurred – such together they provide an excellent overview of an event would show up clearly in the record! the evidence and criticisms of the hypothesis, of However, scientists in their respective fields have which there are many of varying credibility. long recognised many of the above events as having occurred; many of the well-established mysteries described above have long been explained away by other theories, each with their Other Holocene Impacts unresolved issues (Shaw et al. 1999; Erlandson 2013; Meltzer 2020). Previously, humans were For the last few decades, an active yet mostly blamed for exterminating the megafauna, independent community has been operating on hunting down all of these mammals, burning the outskirts of science waiting for their work to down their habitat, and driving vegetation be taken seriously. Often these scientists are change (Meltzer 2020). forced to embrace alternative communities to seek funding opportunities to continue their The YD impact hypothesis wraps all these events work. Some, like the Holocene Impact Working up in a nice little parsimonious package, and an Group (HIWG), comprised of serious multi- extensive suite of geochemical and mineralogical disciplinary academics, have fallen afoul of the evidence from all over the world shows that an verboten “A-word” (Atlantis), leading to further impact event really did happen at the YD onset alienation of their work (Pinter and Ishman (Sweatman 2021; Powell 2022). Among the 2008). The fact that the human effects of these geochemical evidence is the high-temperature impact events have been studied extensively by melt glass discussed earlier, magnetic & non- local and international teams of well-respected magnetic impact microspherules, nanodiamonds, scientists, yet are ignored or dismissed, carbonaceous spherules, glass-like carbon and particularly by western archaeologists on a aciniform soot, a global platinum spike crusade against ‘pseudoarchaeology’ (Young accompanied by other rare earth elements, and 2020), is problematic. Entire edited books have many more (Firestone et al. 2007; Sweatman been published concerning how cosmic impacts 2021). Much of the evidence has been disputed have affected human society (Bobrowsky and 32 Dig It—Volume 6 Rickman 2007; Piccardi and Masse 2007) and the Two large ancient impact events were recently field of Geomythology is slowly gaining discovered to have occurred between 3-6 k BP in widespread acknowledgement. central and northeastern Argentina at Rio Cuarto and Campo del Cielo. Studies have modelled the There are dozens of proposed Holocene impact effects on the contemporaneous local populations sites, and in many cases, investigations into the using several lines of evidence (Barrientos and cultural effects of the impacts have been Masse 2014). They estimate that anywhere from undertaken but are often seen, particularly by ~2,000 to ~10,000 impact events may have archaeologists (Young 2020) as fringe. This is occurred on Earth in the past 3 million years, due to the fact these events have not been writing extensively on how planetary defense and incorporated into the dominant archaeological archaeological paradigms are dangerously paradigm, which does not favour catastrophist underestimating the threat posed by impact explanations or interpretations (Stanford 2022). events. Some examples are briefly described and referenced below. Sometime between 73-63 BC, a small, silvery meteor impacted a Roman battlefield during the Impact events are proposed to have occurred in Third Mithridatic War. Following this perceived AD 539, 1014, 1348 and 1491 based on otherworldly intervention, Mithridates VI of dendrochronology (Baillie 2007); tree ring Pontus, who was defending from the Romans, analysis shows that growth was significantly was seen as having the favour of the gods stunted, and accompanied by anomalous (Ussher 2003). The author could include a dozen atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations; comet more pages of examples of potential Holocene impact events, and interactions with cometary impact events, but hopefully the reader gets the dust trails have long been thought to essentially picture. block out the sun for extended periods (Clube and Napier 1984), and contribute radiocarbon to the atmosphere (Liu et al. 2014). Impacts in the Archaeological The Kaali meteorite crater field is one of four Estonian impact events known to have occurred Record in the last 10,000 years, estimated to have formed approximately ~3,700 BP (Veski et al. How can a prehistoric impact or airburst be 2007). Nearby geometric megalithic structures diagnosed in the archaeological record? This are thought to have been inspired by the event, question has recently been receiving quite a bit as the archaeological record shows people lived of attention as debate over several recent in the area when the impact occurred. publications by the CRG has intensified (Moore et al. 2020; Bunch et al. 2021; Tankersley et al. The Hopewell airburst event is dated between 2022a). In their response to Neuhäuser and 1,699-1,567 BP and is occurred over the Ohio Neuhäuser’s (2022) comment on their Hopewell River area, affecting multiple habitation sites airburst paper, Tankersley et al. (2022b) make (Tankersley et al. 2022a). The local Hopewell an important point: “…What proxies are needed built an earth mound that strikingly resembles a to trace the origin of ancient impactors on the cometary fireball, and meteoritic debris and high- Earth?”. The short answer is this: Currently, temperature impact proxies are found in the there is no evidentiary standard for conclusively same layer across multiple sites. The only peer- identifying a Tunguska-like airburst in the reviewed response thus far has questioned the geological or archaeological record, and no such claim of a comet as the impactor versus other events are universally accepted. Of course, for types of impactors, and generally ridiculed the there to be an evidentiary standard, it must first idea (Neuhäuser and Neuhäuser 2022). be widely acknowledged and accepted that these events are archaeologically relevant, which An impact is proposed to have struck the Indian currently it is not. Ocean ~4,800 BP. The Burckle Crater, though not formally accepted as being of impact origin, Forthcoming studies on low-pressure shock was discovered by back-triangulating metamorphism may provide a good standard of hypothesised mega tsunami chevrons on evidence, as shocked quartz is the gold standard Madagascar and Australia, presumably formed by for diagnosing an impact event (French and the tsunami resulting from the impact (Bryant et Koeberl 2010). When shocked quartz is found in al. 2007; Gusiakov et al. 2009). The Holocene elevated concentrations alongside other proxies Impact Working Group, make an important of impacts such as non-magnetic high- observation; because most of the Earth’s surface temperature melt glass, impact microspherules, is covered by ocean, most of the impacts that and elevated platinum group elements, according have occurred on Earth therefore left no trace on to the totality of impact literature, this should be the land (Gusiakov et al. 2009). enough to diagnose an ancient airburst. In the Dig It—Issue 3 33 absence of shocked quartz, however, the totality blanket rejection of, catastrophist explanations of the impact evidence supporting the YD impact or interpretations. For anyone interested in a hypothesis certainly represents a foot in the door more in-depth explanation of the archaeology of for establishing an evidentiary standard; if the cosmic impact, the paper by Barrientos and YD evidence was found in a layer millions of Masse (2014), and the edited volume by years old it would not even be questionable that Bobrowsky and Rickman cited in this essay are an impact occurred. excellent resources. Corroborating these events by working closely and ethically with extant Indigenous cultures, the material remains of those cultures lost to time, Postscript or even historical records and paintings if applicable, is likewise important. The burgeoning On October 18 as I was wrapping up this essay, I discipline of geomythology essentially centres was notified, as I am for every Near-Earth Object around this, but often focuses on other, discovery, that a potential city-killer object (2022 terrestrial catastrophes like tsunamis, UQ1) had just been discovered as it passed earthquakes, and other geohazards, rather than within ~9 km of Earth at 38,000 km/h. This is an impacts. This type of study is important in two incredibly near-miss in astronomical terms, a ways. Most importantly, this type of study allows mere 0.02 lunar distances! If this had impacted Indigenous people to make their mark on the wrong place as the world is on the verge of western scientific paradigms, should that be their nuclear war and was mistaken for a preliminary wish. Affirmation of Indigenous oral histories that strike, the world as we know it may have ended. traditionally have, at best, not been incorporated This is one of the closest near-misses in the last into western scientific paradigms. Secondarily, few years, but these close shaves are not these studies are important if humanity’s uncommon. It appears to be a coincidence that relationship with the cosmos is to be better the 2022 Northern Taurids just peaked on understood; this relationship fundamentally ties October 10th and are winding down for the year, all cultures of the world together; we are all as the orbital calculations for 2022 UQ1 are subject to the motions of the cosmos, which inconsistent with a Taurid origin. While some could erupt forth and sterilise all life on this cosmic interactions are predictable, others are planet at any moment. If humanity could see completely random. What will it take for the ourselves for what we are; not somehow archaeological discipline at large to finally accept separate and superior to all other life, but at the that these events must be adopted into our mercy of nature just as any other animal on this paradigms? I just hope we don’t have to learn planet, perhaps we may be more wary of the the hard way. threat from above. Conclusion This essay has demonstrated that cosmic impact events on the lower end of the cosmic scale References occur on Earth far more frequently than is Anderson, D.G., A.C. Goodyear, J. Kennett and A. typically acknowledged, and these events often West 2011 Multiple lines of evidence for possible leave very little physical evidence that they Human population decline/settlement reorganization occurred. These impact events have no doubt during the early Younger Dryas. Quaternary had profound effects on cultures around the International 242:570–583. world who have witnessed them, been affected Asher, D.J., S.V.M. Clube, W.M. Napier and D.I. Steel by them, and survived them. A lot more work 1994 Coherent Catastrophism. Vistas in Astronomy 38 needs to be done to understand how these (1):1–27. events manifest in the cultural record; in what ways have they influenced art, culture, Asher, D.J. and D.I. Steel 1998 On the possible technology, philosophy, religion, oral histories, relation between the Tunguska bolide and comet and more, throughout time? While these Encke. Planetary and Space Science 46(2–3)205–211. questions have been explored to some degree, Bailey, M.E., D.J. Markham, S. Massai and J.E. 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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 Silvia, P.J. 2015 The Middle Bronze Age Civilization- (20):7648–7653. Ending Destruction of the Middle Ghor. Unpublished Verrier, V. and P. Rochette 2002 Estimating peak PhD Thesis, College of Archaeology & Biblical History, currents at ground lightning impacts using remanent Trinity Southwest University, New Mexico. magnetism. Geophysical Research Letters 29 Simonson, B.M. and B.P. Glass 2004 Spherule layers – (18):1867. records of ancient impacts. Annual Review of Earth Walton, C.R., O. Shorttle, S. Hu, A.S.P. Rae, J. and Planetary Sciences 32:329–361. Jianglong, A. Cernok, H. Williams, Y. Liu, G. Tang, Q. Smith, A., A. Oechsner, P. Rowley-Conwy and A.M.T. Li and M. Anand 2022 Ancient and recent collisions Moore 2022 Epipaleolithic animal tending to Neolithic revealed by phosphate minerals in the Chelyabinsk herding at Abu Hureyra, Syria (12,800–7,800): meteorite. Communications Earth & Environment Deciphering dung spherulites. PLoS One 17 3:40. (9):e0272947. Wittke, J.H. et al. 2013 Evidence for deposition of 10 Stanford, P.K. 2022 Catastrophism, uniformitarianism, million tonnes of impact spherules across four and a scientific realism debate that makes a continents 12,800 y ago. Proceedings of the National difference. Philosophy of Science 82(5):867–878. Academy of Sciences 110(23):E2088–E2097. Steel, D.I. 1995 Two “Tunguskas” in South America in Wolbach, W.S., J.P. Ballard, P.A. Mayewski, V. Adedeji, the 1930’s? WGN: Journal of the International Meteor T.E. Bunch, R.B. Firestone, T.A. French, G.A. Howard, Organization 23:207–209. I. Israde-Alcantara, J.R. Johnson, D. Kimbel, C.R. Kinzie, A. Kurbatov, G. Kletetschka, M.A. LeCompte, Sweatman, M.B. 2021 The Younger Dryas impact W.C. Mahaney, A.L. Melott, A. Maiorana-Boutilier, S. hypothesis: Review of the impact evidence. Earth- Mitra, C.R. Moore, W.M. Napier, J. Parlier, K.B. Science Reviews 218:103677. Tankersley, B.C. Thomas, J.H. Wittke, A. West and J.P. Tankersley, K.B., S.D. Meyers, S.A. Meyers, J.A. Kennett 2018a Extraordinary biomass-burning episode Jordan, L. Herzner, D.L. Lentz and D. Zedaker 2022a and impact winter triggered by the Younger Dryas The Hopewell airburst event, 1699-1567 years ago cosmic impact ~12,800 years ago. 1. Ice cores and (252-383 CE). Scientific Reports 12:1706. glaciers. The Journal of Geology 126(2):165–184. Tankersley, K.B., S.D. Meyers, S.A. Meyers and D.L. Wolbach, W.S., J.P. Ballard, P.A. Mayewski, A.C. Lentz 2022b Reply to: Arguments for a comet as Parnell, N. Cahill, V. Adedeji, T.E. Bunch, G. cause of the Hopewell airburst are unsubstantiated. Dominguez-Vazquez, J.M. Erlandson, R.B. Firestone, Scientific Reports 12:12113. T.A. French, G.A. Howard, I. Israde-Alcantara, J.R. Taskaev, S., K. Skokov, V. Khovaylo, W. Donner, T. Johnson, D. Kimbel, C.R. Kinzie, A. Kurbatov, G. Faske, A. Dudorov, N. Gorkavyi, D.S. Muratov, G. Kletetschka, M.A. LeCompte, W.C. Mahaney, A.L. Savosteenko, A. Dyakonov, W. Baek, A. Kuklin, P. Melott, A. Mitra, A. Maiorana-Boutilier, C.R. Moore, Avramov and O. Gutfleisch 2022 Exotic carbon W.M. Napier, J. Parlier, K.B. Tankersley, B.C. Thomas, microcrystals in meteoritic dust of the Chelyabinsk J.H. Wittke, A. West and K.P. Kennett 2018b superbolide: Experimental investigations and Extraordinary biomass-burning episode and impact theoretical scenarios of their formation. The European winter triggered by the Younger Dryas cosmic impact Physical Journal Plus 137:562. ~12,800 years ago. 2. Lake, marine, and terrestrial sediments. The Journal of Geology 126(2):185–205. Thackeray, J.F., L. Scott and P. Pieterse 2019 The Younger Dryas interval at Wonderkrater (South Africa) Yau, K., P. Weissman and D. Yeomans 1994 Meteorite in the context of a platinum anomaly. Palaeontologia falls in China and some related human casualty Africana 54:30–35. events. Meteoritics 29:864–871. Thy, P., G. Willcox, G.H. Barfod and D.Q. Fuller 2015 Young, M.D. 2020 Spiritual & intellectual colonialism: The crusade against pseudoarchaeology. Retrieved 10 Anthropogenic origin of siliceous scoria droplets from Oct 2022 from < https://grahamhancock.com/ Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological sites in youngm1/ >. northern Syria. Journal of Archaeological Science 54:193–209. Young, J.M., A.V. Reyes and D.G. Froese 2021 Assessing the ages of the Moorhead and Emerson Ussher, J. 2003 The Annals of the World. USA: New phases of glacial Lake Agassiz and their temporal Leaf Publishing Group. connection to the Younger Dryas cold reversal. Quaternary Science Reviews 251:106714. Veski, S., A. Heinsalu, A. Poska, L. Saarse and J. Vassiljev 2007 The physical and social effects of the Kaali meteorite impact – a review. In P.T. Bobrowsky and H. Rickman (eds) Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Berlin: Springer. 38 Dig It—Volume 6
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