Tell el-Hammam air burst paper retracted by Nature after 700,000 reads. 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.
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.
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.
Related site: Tell el-Hammam — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: A Comet, a Cover-Up, and a Crater in Greenland, ft CRG’s Allen West by The Cosmic Summit