Thread by @NErbSatullo

V. interested to see the critique of #TallElHammam results from the perspective of a planetary scientist. I have analyzed lots of what I lovingly term "melted crap" from Near Eastern sites, and my first impression was that I'd seen a lot of this kind of thing elsewhere THREAD 1/

https://twitter.com/MarkBoslough/status/1440377970497966089

Here's a random selection of photos of material from one site, Mtsvane Gora, in Georgia (the country). Potsherds melted on one side, chunks of vitrified vesicular material, etc. Not shown: the obviously metallurgical slags found alongside this material. 2/

And here are some SEM images of various bits of vitrified material from my site--very similar to what is described as meltglass in the paper. 3/

These vitrified materials from my site are clearly metallurgical (hearth materials/sediment, probably fluxed by fuel ash), as they are associated with some very obviously metallurgical slags. Published in J. Arch. Sci. last year. sciencedirect.com/science/articl… 4/

Now, sometimes, it is difficult to tell what kind of fire caused the melting. Vitrified clay from a metallurgical furnace, a pottery kiln, the accidental or intentional burning of buildings can sometimes look similar, especially when looking at individual samples. 5/

But bits of melted or vitrified ash, building materials, and ceramic are NOT exceptional finds at Near Eastern sites, and I deem it... unlikely that the region has been bombarded by a steady stream of Tunguska-style events. 6/

While I do know a lot about "melted crap" from archaeological sites in the Near East, I'm not an expert in extraterrestrial impactor proxies, so interested to see others' comments about the other evidence, including @ChrisStantis on the bioarch side. 7/

https://twitter.com/ChrisStantis/status/1440404380386160646?s=20

And for those enamored by ancient encounters with things from outer space: There is a ton of peer-reviewed, increasingly widely accepted evidence showing that people forged iron from meteorites, which I think we can all agree is pretty f-ing cool. 8/ sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

This includes the earliest well-dated pieces of iron ever found. 9/ sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

As well as this incredible piece of work found in King Tut's tomb. 10/ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

For a full review of meteoritic iron and early iron innovation, see my review here: link.springer.com/article/10.100… 11/

So, to paraphase @FlintDibble's recent comment: actual archaeology is pretty awesome, let's focus on that. 12/end