Christian Koeberl - Böcker

A comprehensive study of the iron objects found in Tutankhamun’s tomb that include daggers, quivers, arrows, and an elaborately decorated bow caseA century after Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon’s sensational discovery in 1922 of the virtually intact tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, the boy-king and his treasures continue to fascinate people all over the world. Although nearly 5,400 objects accompanied the young pharaoh on his journey to the afterlife, many of them have not been investigated in detail.Iron from Tutankhamun’s Tomb analyzes iron artifacts from the tomb in depth for the first time. This group consists of small iron chisels set into wooden handles, an Eye of Horus amulet, a miniature headrest, and the blade of a richly decorated golden dagger. The most important of these were placed in close proximity to the king’s mummy, emphasizing the high value attributed to this rare material in late Bronze Age Egypt—a time when iron smelting was not yet known in the land of the Nile.Written by a research team of archaeologists, scientists, and conservators, this comprehensive study explores in fascinating detail the context and meaning of these artifacts, while establishing for the first time that Tutankhamun’s iron came from meteorites. They complete their examination with the results of chemical analyses, offering in the process a rich overall understanding of iron and its significance in ancient Egypt.

This volume is the third in a series of impact books resulting from the activities of the scientific programme, Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes (IMPACT), funded by the European Science Foundation. The volume begins with an overview of impact markers in the stratigraphic record, and is followed by three general papers on various aspects of impact cratering, ranging from a suggested nomenclature of impact product to a treatment of the hypothesis that impacts can trigger mantle plumes. Then follow 10 original contributions on various impact deposits in the stratigraphic record, ordered by increasing age, ranging from the Late Eocene Popigai impact crater to the K-T boundary to the J-K boundary and Late Devonian and Ordovician deposits.

This volume is the latest of eight books as a result of the activities of the scientific program on ”The Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes” (IMPACT) of the European Science Foundation (ESF). The ESF is the European association of national funding organisations of fundamental research, with more than 60 member organisations from more than 20 countries. One of the main goals of ESF is to bring European scientists together to work on topics of common interest. The ESF IMPACT program deals with all aspect of impact research, mainly through the organisation of workshops, exchange program, short course, and related activities. An important aspect of the program is to stimulate interdisciplinary and international research. Impacts of asteroids or comets on the earth surface have played an important role in the evolution of the planet. The ESF IMPACT program is an interdisciplinary program aimed at understanding impact processes and their effect on the earth system, including environmental, biological, and geological changes, and consequences for the biodiversity of ecosystems. The key goal of the program, to comprehend the processes that are responsible for these interactions, has been met with by eight workshops and published proceedings from these. The workshop from which this volume resulted, was devoted to impact tectonic studies. It was located in the small town of Mora in the western part of the ring basin of the very large Siljan impact structure in Sweden.

The diversity of papers presented in this volume attest to the fact that impact cratering is very much a biological process. This volume is the tenth in a series of books resulting from the activities of the scientific programme, "Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes" (IMPACT), by the European Science Foundation. The papers were presented at an international meeting at King's College, Cambridge in 2003. These papers investigate the effects of asteroid and comet impacts on a diversity of biological and evolutionary processes including the survival of organics and microbial ecosystems to the extinction of organisms.

This volume synthesizes 16 years of geological and geophysical studies which document an 85-km-wide impact crater buried 500 m beneath Chesapeake Bay in south eastern Virginia, USA. The authors integrate extensive seismic reflection profiling and deep core drilling to analyze the structure, morphology, gravimetrics, sedimentology, petrology, geochemistry, and paleontology of this submarine structure. Of special interest are a detailed comparison with other terrestrial and extraterrestrial craters, as well as a conceptual model and computer simulation of the impact. The extensive illustrations encompass more than 150 line drawings and core photographs. An accompanying CD-ROM includes selected seismic profiles, scaled cross sections, detailed maps, and downhole geophysical logs.

This book provides a general introduction to impact stratigraphy, with emphasis on the recognition of distal impact ejecta in the field, by focusing on the impactoclastic layers of the Umbria-Marche sequence in Central Italy, with an almost perfect stratigraphic record over the last 200 Million years. A general introduction to impact cratering and a discussion of distal ejecta and impact layers around the world is followed by a detailed description of the record of the impact of extraterrestrial bodies in sediments of the Umbria-Marche Apennines. The volume is of interest to a diverse audience in the geological and planetary sciences, ranging from (upper) undergraduate to research level. This book can also be used by students and researchers as a field guide to some of the most important Italian impact layers.

Only 10% of the 150 or so known impact craters on Earth date from the early Precambrian Era, a time period covering some 88% of the Earth's history. Yet this Era encompasses fundamental events in the origin and evolution of our planet from the origin of life itself to the development of continents. The papers in this volume were presented at a workshop sponsored by the European Science Foundation Scientific Network on Impact cratering held in Cambridge, UK, in December 1998. The papers outline the present state of scientific understanding of the role impacts may have played in the biological and geological evolution of the Early Earth.

Scientific drilling is an indispensable tool of modern Earth science - search, as it provides the only means of obtaining direct information on processes operating at depth. Drilling allows for the determination of - situ properties of solid materials and fluids and permits testing of hypot- ses and models derived from surface observations. In addition, drill holes may be used as a natural laboratory for experiments and as observatories for long-term monitoring of on-going active processes. Earth drilling, therefore, plays a critical role in scientific research directed towards - proved understanding of the workings of our planet and has a key role in solving urgent socio-economic problems. As a rule, drilling projects are an integral component of major geosci- tific research programs, comprising comprehensive pre-site investigations, accompanying laboratory studies, the drilling phase itself, and consecutive measurements and tests in the drill hole. Such drilling programs are costly and thus only realizable to a limited extent. International cost sharing, the optimal utilization of all available resources, the incorporation of inter- tional leading experts, and the application of the existing know-how, as well as the selection of an optimal drilling location (“World Geological Site”), are thus essential elements of an international scientific drilling p- gram.

The diversity of papers presented in this volume attest to the fact that impact cratering is very much a biological process. This volume is the tenth in a series of books resulting from the activities of the scientific programme, "Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes" (IMPACT), by the European Science Foundation. The papers were presented at an international meeting at King's College, Cambridge in 2003. These papers investigate the effects of asteroid and comet impacts on a diversity of biological and evolutionary processes including the survival of organics and microbial ecosystems to the extinction of organisms.

Scientific drilling is an indispensable tool of modern Earth science - search, as it provides the only means of obtaining direct information on processes operating at depth. Drilling allows for the determination of - situ properties of solid materials and fluids and permits testing of hypot- ses and models derived from surface observations. In addition, drill holes may be used as a natural laboratory for experiments and as observatories for long-term monitoring of on-going active processes. Earth drilling, therefore, plays a critical role in scientific research directed towards - proved understanding of the workings of our planet and has a key role in solving urgent socio-economic problems. As a rule, drilling projects are an integral component of major geosci- tific research programs, comprising comprehensive pre-site investigations, accompanying laboratory studies, the drilling phase itself, and consecutive measurements and tests in the drill hole. Such drilling programs are costly and thus only realizable to a limited extent. International cost sharing, the optimal utilization of all available resources, the incorporation of inter- tional leading experts, and the application of the existing know-how, as well as the selection of an optimal drilling location (“World Geological Site”), are thus essential elements of an international scientific drilling p- gram.

This volume is the latest of eight books as a result of the activities of the scientific program on ”The Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes” (IMPACT) of the European Science Foundation (ESF). The ESF is the European association of national funding organisations of fundamental research, with more than 60 member organisations from more than 20 countries. One of the main goals of ESF is to bring European scientists together to work on topics of common interest. The ESF IMPACT program deals with all aspect of impact research, mainly through the organisation of workshops, exchange program, short course, and related activities. An important aspect of the program is to stimulate interdisciplinary and international research. Impacts of asteroids or comets on the earth surface have played an important role in the evolution of the planet. The ESF IMPACT program is an interdisciplinary program aimed at understanding impact processes and their effect on the earth system, including environmental, biological, and geological changes, and consequences for the biodiversity of ecosystems. The key goal of the program, to comprehend the processes that are responsible for these interactions, has been met with by eight workshops and published proceedings from these. The workshop from which this volume resulted, was devoted to impact tectonic studies. It was located in the small town of Mora in the western part of the ring basin of the very large Siljan impact structure in Sweden.

" . . . bangs have replaced whimpers and the geological record has become much more exciting than it was thought to be. " Derek Ager (1993) The New Catastro­ phism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p xix Scientific and public interest in asteroids, comets, and meteorite impacts has never been more intense than right now. Much of this interest stems from the fervent debates surrounding the causes of the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinctions and their possible relationships to a giant bolide impact in Mexico's Yucatan Penin­ sula. Recent spectacular impacts on Jupiter, and several near misses of our own planet by Near-Earth Objects have intensified professional and popular discussion of society's imperative need to understand the process and effects of bolide im­ pacts. In the United States, the scientific community and the public, as well, were startled to learn, in 1994, that the largest impact structure in this country had been detected beneath Virginia's portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Seismic surveys and deep coring revealed a huge crater, 85 kilometers in diameter and more than a kilometer deep, stretching from Yorktown, Virginia, to 15 kilometers out onto the shallow continental shelf. Several of Virginia's major population centers, includ­ ing Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News, are located on the western rim of the crater, and still experience residual effects of the original collision, 36 million years after the impact took place. Exploration and documentation of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure has proceeded in three phases.