January 31, 2026
Fireball or fairy tale?
Sumerian Star Map Recorded the Impact of an Asteroid (2024)
Internet splits over ‘asteroid on a Sumerian tablet’ claim: genius or wild guess
TLDR: A clay tablet is claimed to record a 3123 BC sky event that some say matches the Köfels landslide, hinting at an ancient asteroid. Commenters are split between awe at the sleuthing and skeptics citing geology and radiocarbon dates—raising big questions about ancient science and bold modern interpretations.
An ancient clay tablet, a mysterious Alpine landslide, and a sky-watching Sumerian with receipts? The internet is on fire. Fans of the theory are mind‑blown by the claim that a 650 BC copy of a much older star chart recorded a fiery object streaking toward the Alps in 3123 BC—down to its path across the sky. One commenter begged for a Hollywood VFX remake, imagining a “Mediterranean flyby” fireball roasting everything in its wake.
But the skeptics came in hot. A link‑drop to a Bristol press release fueled debate, while a sharp-eyed commenter flagged a big timeline problem: radiocarbon dates tie the Köfels landslide to around 7500 BC, not 3100 BC. Others argue there’s no crater, so calling it an impact is a stretch. Cue the dunk: one user summed up the vibe as “slop vibe theorising,” which instantly became the thread’s meme.
Meanwhile, the wonder crowd cheered the sheer detective work—decoding cuneiform, reconstructing the night sky, and plotting a trajectory that allegedly lines up with Köfels. The room is split: awe at ancient astronomy vs eye‑rolls at cosmic fan-fiction. One thing everyone agrees on? This belongs on Netflix, where the asteroid either rewrites history—or gets roasted by peer review.
Key Points
- •A cuneiform tablet (British Museum No. K8538) from Nineveh is presented as a Sumerian planisphere/astrolabe documenting ancient sky observations.
- •Data analysis suggests the tablet mirrors Mesopotamia’s sky around 3300 BC, indicating Sumerian origin despite its Assyrian library findspot.
- •Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell (2008) assert the tablet records an asteroid event linked to the Köfels landslide in Austria around 3123 BC.
- •Modern simulations reportedly match the tablet’s recorded trajectory within one degree to an impact at Köfels; the tablet notes planets, cloud cover, and a large object.
- •The Köfels landslide is described as massive (500 m thick, 5 km diameter); absence of a crater challenges typical impact-site expectations.