Mystery AtlasA Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam (2021, retracted)
A September 2021 paper in Scientific Reports, authored by 21 researchers including several affiliated with the Comet Research Group, proposing shocked quartz, melted pottery, and other high-temperature markers at Tall el-Hammam as evidence of a Tunguska-scale cosmic airburst; retracted by the journal on 24 April 2025 after peer critique found its data and Tunguska comparison unsupported, a decision 11 of the 21 authors publicly disputed.
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Theories & Explanations
A Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam (2021, retracted) supports Tall el-Hammam Airburst Hypothesis — Proposed and argued for the airburst hypothesis on publication in 2021; the journal retracted the paper in April 2025, and 11 of its 21 authors publicly disputed that decision.
Events
- Tunguska Event30 June 1908
A Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam (2021, retracted) is based on Tunguska Event — Modelled Tall el-Hammam's destruction on Tunguska's estimated blast parameters; Boslough and Bruno (2025) found this comparison relied on overstated Tunguska temperature, wind-speed, and blast figures, one of the two critiques cited in the paper's retraction.