A Scientific Reports paper proposing a Tunguska-sized air burst destroyed Middle Bronze Age city Tall el-Hammam in Jordan got ~700,000 reads before retraction ~4 years later. The retraction note stated the claims were not sufficiently supported by the data. Mark Boslough led critics disputing the comparison. It was republished in Air Burst and Cratering Impacts.
Tell el-Hammam air burst paper retracted by Nature after 700,000 reads
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Key facts
- A paper proposing a Tunguska-sized air burst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, was published in Nature.
- The paper was read by approximately 700,000-732,000 people before retraction, making it one of the most-read papers in Nature's history.
- Nature retracted the paper five years after publication, stating only that they "no longer have confidence in the data," without giving a specific reason.
- Critics led by Mark Boslough argued it was improper to compare Tall el-Hammam to Tunguska.
- The paper was republished in the journal Air Burst and Cratering Impacts (ACI), where another 100,000 people read it.
Sources
Modeling how a Powerful Airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a ...scienceopen.com
The modeling shows that the explosive energy released can propel high-velocity airburst fragments to strike the Earth's surface, producing shock ...
RETRACTED ARTICLE: A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el ...nature.com
We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley ...
Retraction Note: A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el ...nature.com
The claims that an airburst event destroyed the Middle Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam appear to not be sufficiently supported by the data in the Article.
Sodom comet paper to be retracted two years after editor's note ...retractionwatch.com
Criticism of the article, “A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea,” ...
(PDF) A Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam a ...researchgate.net
We present evidence that Tall el-Hammam, a fortified Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley, was destroyed by an extraordinary high-energy event in ...
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