Wi the Clovis Comet didn't impact North America

lets just say that its trajectory is changed in such a way so that it slams into and explodes over Antarctica.

how would this the history of the Americas on the whole?
 
lets just say that its trajectory is changed in such a way so that it slams into and explodes over Antarctica.

how would this the history of the Americas on the whole?

Assume you're referring to something like this site:

Shouldn't the question be how would this change history as Europe and the Mid East were also affected by the Younger Dryas?

If we assume that the comet impacts Antarctica then with the heat generated something are bound to melt - right?
This may upset something like global water level, global temperature and thermal balance - right?
I for one can't count all the effects of such an occurence.

If we stick with the general effects of the comet like Younger Dryas effects on Europe and the Mid East you could get something like:

Europe - Mid East:
If you accept the Pitman/Ryan theory of flooding the Black Sea 5700 bc this could well happen following the impact around 12800 years ago or so.
The Black Sea could become a low salinate inland sea and thus something not of the Oasis Pitman/Ryan conclude. This changes the history of mankind in the area.

Americas:
Ahhhhh, horses get to survive in large numbers - right? Among many other species! ;)
Mankind have a much better future in this part of the world and could get out of the stone-age early. Bronze/iron age Americas explore the world?

Or you wouldn't get as bad effects on the northern hemisphere as OTL and thus a quite different development of mankind in there - no indo europeans, no tocharians, no... :eek:
But still - horses in America! If they're not eaten. (But this could be the reason of horses going extinct in NA - right? :cool:
 
this is indeed what i was referring to.

i was thinking that the comet doesn't destroy the Clovis people in the Americas. however, the melted ice from Antarctica could more or less instantly vaporize and rain down over the entire world. since there is little to no plant life on Antarctica at this time (im assuming) there would be very little widespread fires. and as such, no soot to block out the sun or land on the ice-sheets to increase their melting speed (for one, the Antarctic would have very little ice left). so the water level would rise and disrupt the atlantic currents, causing an ice age. this would probably force much of the water to freeze up in that Arctic like in OTL. so the peoples of the Old world could still come over to the Americas. the ice age would start sooner than in OTL. and as such, the Asiatic peoples may not be able to come over. the resources of the americas would possibly be stripped sooner, and civilization in the Americas would begin much much sooner than they Mayan...probably as far back as 1500 BC for the first civilization
 
this is indeed what i was referring to.

i was thinking that the comet doesn't destroy the Clovis people in the Americas. however, the melted ice from Antarctica could more or less instantly vaporize and rain down over the entire world. since there is little to no plant life on Antarctica at this time (im assuming) there would be very little widespread fires. and as such, no soot to block out the sun or land on the ice-sheets to increase their melting speed (for one, the Antarctic would have very little ice left). so the water level would rise and disrupt the atlantic currents, causing an ice age. this would probably force much of the water to freeze up in that Arctic like in OTL. so the peoples of the Old world could still come over to the Americas. the ice age would start sooner than in OTL. and as such, the Asiatic peoples may not be able to come over. the resources of the americas would possibly be stripped sooner, and civilization in the Americas would begin much much sooner than they Mayan...probably as far back as 1500 BC for the first civilization

Ehm, Younger Dryas was just before the ending of the 3W iceage! But the way you put it the Wisconsin/Weichel/Würm iceage would get another life span before OTL de-glaciation.
Now I'm no expert on weather systems and their impact upon glaciation/de-glaciation but such melting of the Antarctic ice-cap would that automatically change the salination of the northern hemispere resulting in longer 3W ice-age?
Raising of sea-level would be one thing but a longer iceage would certainly change the history of mankind. In this scenario I see much later civilization world wide. (but I could get you wrong!)
 
the melted ice from Antarctica could more or less instantly vaporize and rain down over the entire world.

The Younger Dryas impact* event happened over the Laurentide Ice Sheet OTL. Massive amounts of glacial ice was vaporized, Atlantic currents changed, and the world got a lot cooler.

If the comet hit* over the Antarctic it probably would vaporize even more ice. Sea levels may get higher than they went OTL but maybe not - depends on how much ice had land under it. As you stated, there would not be massive ash as in OTL, so over all, I'm not convinced that things would get colder ATL than in OTL.

Can we assume that the Southern hemisphere would be more effected than the Northern one? The Atlantic current my alter but would not flip-flop like they did in OTL. So Northern Atlantic Europe would be warmer ATL than in OTL due to these currents. The human populations there would be larger.

If the weather cools by a similar amount then small game dies off in the Levant as in OTL giving agriculture a kick in the pants as in OTL (I don't know how speculative this is). Can we say the Mediterranean comes out the same but life in South America, Australia, and/or Southern Africa is stressed or wiped out?

In North America there would still be a megafauna die-off due to climate change, but it would not be nearly as severe. What lives? Dire wolves, horses, camels, short nosed bears, saber tooth tigers? Could wholly mammoths survive, but African elephants become extinct?

Greater human population and much greater genetic diversity would exist in NA (diversity will help with disease resistance later on if its needed).

lots of vids here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ld...2D58A9793&index=1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL


* The impact was probably an air burst.
 
With the Clovis impact happening over Antarctica and with the major change in weather taking place in the southern hemisphere, mankind would face a bleak future in Southern Africa, South America (sorry no Inca's) and Australia.

With no or milder Younger Dryas event in the northern hemisphere we could see no extinction of smaller game in the Mid East but agriculture is advanced due to larger populations.
In North America part of the large fauna survives, especially HORSES. :D
And there'd be horsemen soon (well not that soon but anyway).

The re-glaciation of the southern hemisphere might eek out the waterlevel rise on the northern so there'd be some sort of balance and global waterlevel rising like OTL. (still I'm no expert on this)

So civilization in Eurasia and North America should get a boost in this scenario - TL? :D
 
the inca civilization was very sheltered. and in OTL the majority of the natives in South America supposedly didn't reach there until the siberians crossed over Beringa
 
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