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Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by gatronicus on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @08:36AM (#28604417)
We should be able to find the impact geological records and build a probability model.
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by javajosh on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @08:47AM (#28604531)
Did even Tunguska have a geological impact? And also, since 75% of the Earth is covered in water, it stands to reason that 75% of bolides exploded over an ocean, with literally no impact we could meaningfully measure.

My point is that human cities are "bolide sensors" and unevenly distributed in time and space, so the "measurements" are necessarily fewer than what occurs in nature.

Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by staplung on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @10:31AM (#28605355)
Best definition of a city ever: “bolide sensor”. Love it
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by heavyset_go on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @06:26PM (#28610800)
Yes, there is geological evidence that the Tunguska event was a bolide explosion.
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by jacquesm on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @10:37AM (#28605432)
trees flattened in a radial pattern might show up in the geological record somehow.
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by gota on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @12:34PM (#28606794)
Unlikely after several years, let alone several thousands, right?
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by bell-cot on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @04:13PM (#28609370)
It would require coordinated excavation over how many square miles, to spot the radial pattern? (Assuming, as gota points out, that the fallen trees were somehow preserved.)

Then there's bolides over desert, savanna, tundra, ice sheets, etc.

Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by dogma1138 on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @08:51AM (#28604551)
Impacts of this size don’t leave enough evidence for you to know where to look, especially after 1000’s of years of man caused and natural erosion.

An air burst impact that’s large enough to take out a city won’t leave a major impact crater. And back in the day it might even be the case of the perceived cause contributing more to the decline of a city or even an empire than the physical damage.

If a meteor hit blows up your town when you have no ability to comprehend what just happened other than god/gods are angry you gonna move to a less cursed place.

It can also cause social impacts such as the toppling of a given religious or leadership class because they angered the gods.

Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by koheripbal on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @10:54AM (#28605634)
OP's analysis demonstrates that it's very possible to detect theses events 1000s of years later, if you examine areas near the explosion.
Re:A Tunguska size burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, Bronze Ag... by gota on Tuesday September 21, 2021 @12:36PM (#28606822)
Yes, but they are testing the area because we know a settlement there was destroyed. We'd have to test random uninhabited (or at least currently uninhabited) areas for which there are no indications of anything special to get a better picture

And not even that guarantees a complete picture - what if a tsunami event erases or conceals the record of something like this? Volcanic activity? Desertification?

My point is that we can't reason about the rarity or uniqueness of these events as a main factor for accepting or refuting the hypothesis