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Artifact-in-impactite: a new kind of impact rock. Evidence from the Chiemgau meteorite impact in southeast Germany

Authors:
Barbara Rappenglueck at Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Gilching
Barbara Rappenglueck
  • Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Gilching
M. Hiltl
M. Hiltl
M. Hiltl
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Kord Ernstson at University of Wuerzburg
Kord Ernstson
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Abstract

A hitherto worldwide unique evidence of a new type of impactite contains particles of metallic bronze and iron artefacts in a strongly shocked polymictic impact breccia from an archaeological excavation in the crater strewn field of the Chiemgau impact, dating the impact to relatively precise 900-600 BC.
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365
X. Минералогия астроблем и метеоритов
4. Shumilova, T. G., Isaenko, S. I., Ulyashev, V. V., Makeev,
B. A., Rappenglück, M. A., Veligzhanin, A. A., Ernstson,
K. Enigmatic GlassLike Carbon from the Alpine Foreland,
Southeast Germany: A Natural Carbonization Process//
Acta Geologica Sinica. 2018. V. 92, P. 2179—2200.
5. Shumilova, T. G., Isaenko, S. I., Ulyashev, V. V.,
Kazakov, V. A., and Makeev, B. A. Aftercoal diamonds: an
enigmatic type of impact diamonds // Eur. J. Min. 2018.
V. 30. P. 61—76.
6. Shumilova, T. G., Ulyashev, V. V., Kazakov, V. A.,
Isaenko, S. I., Vasil`ev, E. A., Svetov, S. A., Chazhengina, Y.,
Kovalchuk, N. S. Karite — diamond fossil: a new type of
natural diamond // Geoscience Frontiers, 2019. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2019.09.011
Artifact-in-impactite: a new kind of impact rock.
Evidence from the Chiemgau meteorite impact in southeast Germany
B. Rappenglück1, M. Hiltl2, K. Ernstson3
1Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, D82205 Gilching, Germany; b.rappenglueck@infis.org
2Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, D73447 Oberkochen; mhiltl@online.de
3University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; kernstson@ernstson.de
Introduction
The Chiemgau impact (Fig. 1) as a meanwhile
established Holocene impact event has featured
quite a few exceptional observations in the last 15
years, which are summarized in [1, and referenc
es therein]. From the beginning of research it was
clear that a huge catastrophe in the Bronze Age or
Celtic era must have already affected densely pop
ulated regions, and in a routine archeological ex
cavation at Lake Chiemsee the worldwide unique
constellation was encountered that an impact ca
tastrophe layer was excavated sandwiched be
tween settlement layers of the Stone Age/Bronze
Age and the Roman Period (Fig. 1, 2) [2]. Among
the finds of ceramics, stone tools, bones and metal
artefacts also featured externally rather unsight
ly lumps, which were found by use of metal de
tectors and were addressed as «slag» by the ex
cavator. Here we report on specifically conducted
mineralogicalgeochemical investigations on 16
«slag» samples which have led to very remarkable
results.
Fig. 2. Inventory of the Stöttham archeological site (from left to right): diamictite of the catastrophic layer; archeological
finds; carbon, metallic and glass spherules; strongly corroded and fractured cobbles, metalrich «slag»
Fig. 1. Location map for the Stöttham archeological excavation (B) in the Chiemgau impact crater strewn field
Modern Problems of Theoretical, Experimental, and Applied Mineralogy (Yushkin
Readings — 2020) - Proceedings of Russian conference with international participation
- Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia
366
Юшкинские чтения — 2020
Fig. 3. Cut faces (to the left) and scanned images of corresponding thin sections accenting the shredded iron metallic par
ticles as parts of the polymictic impact breccia. p = pottery shard merging into vesicular fusion. Rightmost: EDS spectrum
of an iron particle (a nail fragment?). Apart from a little carbon Fe is the only element
Fig. 5. «Slag» containing high leaded bronze fragments and mottled matter, and possibly Sn bronze
Fig. 4. Shock metamorphism in polymictic «slag» breccias. Photomicrographs
Material and analyses
On preparation of the «slags» by cutting and
thinsection analyses with the polarizing micro
scope (Fig. 2), the «slags» turned out to be poly
mictic breccias with all signs of an impact melt rock
with vesicular remnants of alpine Quaternary cob
bles of the region mixed with multicolored rock
fragments and abundant glass (Fig. 3). As a notice
able portion, partially shredded metal particles in
terpenetrate the breccia, which the metal detector
had obviously classified as slag (Fig. 3). As already
demonstrated earlier in the diamictite of the catas
trophe layer [2], the «slag» breccias contain abun
dant shock effects, here with greater density and in
tensity (Fig. 4).
The most remarkable observation in the «slag»
proved to be bronze fragments, which according
to SEMEDS analyses are an unusual high leaded
bronze (Fig. 5), which according to EDS penetrates
the breccia also in fine and finest particles (Fig. 5). In
addition to probable normal tin bronze (Fig. 5), iron
particles (Fig. 3) are particularly noticeable, which
according to EDS consist only of iron without any
other element apart from very little carbon (Fig. 3),
a composition indicating iron in some processed
condition.
Conclusions
The new investigations demonstrate once
more impressively that the Stöttham archeological
site had been involved in a meteorite impact
invent, the Chiemgau impact. The original
finding of a meteorite impact layer between two
archeological horizons was to be classified as
unique worldwide. From the point of view of both
archeology and impact research, the new analyses
have put the crown on it by revealing human
objects and impact shock intimately intertwined
in the same samples — a worldwide novelty
defining an artifactinimpactite as a new kind of
impact rock. A more exact dating of the Chiemgau
impact, based on the metallic components, is a
significant side effect of these unusual samples
367
X. Минералогия астроблем и метеоритов
and their investigation, scheduling the impact
event between 900 and 600 BC [3].
References
1. Rappenglück, M. A., Rappenglück, B.,
Ernstson. K. Cosmic collision in prehistory. — The
Chiemgau Impact: research in a Bavarian meteor
ite crater strewn field (in German) // Zeitschrift für
Anomalistik. 2017. V 17. P. 235—260.
2. Ernstson, K., Sideris, C., Liritzis, I., Neumair,
A. The Chiemgau meteorite impact signature of the
Stöttham archaeological site (Southeast Germany)
// Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.
2012. V. 12. P. 249—259.
3. Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Rappenglück,
M., Ernstson, K. The Chiemgau Impact — a mete
orite impact in the Bronze/Iron Age and its ex
traordinary appearance in the archaeological re
cord. In: Wolfschmidt, G. (ed.) Himmelswelten
und Kosmovisionen — Imaginationen, Modelle,
Weltanschauungen. Nuncius Hamburgensis.
Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften
51, Hamburg: tredition. 2020 (in print). P. xxxx.
... The following are some proposed examples of low-altitude Type 2 airbursts that caused extensive damage to Earth's surface: (i) Chrudim/Pardubice in the Czech Republic [12,13], (ii) Nalbach/Saarlouis in Germany [14][15][16]. (iii) Chiemgau in Germany [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], (iv) Niederrhein in Germany [28], (v) Franconia in Germany [29], (vi) Sachsendorf Bay in Germany [30], (vii) seven possibly related strewn fields across about half of the Czech Republic [13], (viii) a 6400-year-old strewn field in Finland [31], (ix) the Luzice melt rock and megabreccia outcrops, proposed as evidence of a low-altitude airburst [32], (x) the 20-km-diameter Kolesovice airburst crater in the Czech Republic [33], (xi) a 2600-year old strewn field in Kansas [34], (xii) a human settlement whose destruction by a cosmic airburst led possible eyewitnesses to construct an oral history that was written down centuries later [1]. For further discussions of this evidence, see Bunch et al. [1] and references [2][3][4][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82]. ...
... In the Chiemgau district of southeast Germany, extensive evidence exists of a significant Holocene-age airburst event [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The Chiemgau field is roughly elliptical, covering an area of about 60 km by 30 km (1,800 km 2 ) and containing more than 100 impact craters ranging from a few m to 1,300 m. ...
... The strewn field displays shocked quartz, feldspar and mica, glass-filled fractured quartz, microspherules, microtektites, meltglass, glass-covered cobbles, ballen quartz structures, toasted quartz, shock-spallation cobble deformations, and shatter cones. The Chiemgau event can be dated to ∼2900-2600 years ago in the Bronze Age/Celtic Era, using a unique new kind of impact rock, artifact-in-impactites, in which culturally datable artifacts are embedded in melted impact rocks [21,22]. ...
Modeling how a Powerful Airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city near the Dead Sea
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2024
A previous study presented evidence supporting the hypothesis that a low-altitude airburst approximately 3600 years ago destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city northeast of the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. The evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a widespread charcoal-and-ash-rich terminal destruction layer containing shock-fractured quartz, shattered and melted pottery, melted mudbricks and building plaster, microspherules, charcoal and soot, and melted grains of platinum, iridium, nickel, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Here, we report further evidence supporting a cosmic airburst event at Tall el-Hammam. Fifteen years of excavations across the city revealed a consistent directionality among scattered potsherds from individually decorated vessels, including one potsherd group distributed laterally approximately southwest to northeast across ∼22 m, spanning six palace walls. Similar trails of charred grains, charcoal, and bone fragments were also found distributed across multi-meter distances inside the destroyed city. Although an earlier report of the directionality of this debris was challenged, further evidence presented here strengthens that interpretation. We also report Middle-Bronze-Age partially melted breccia that likely formed at >2230 °C, consistent with a cosmic event. We investigated additional glass-filled fractured quartz grains using ten analytical techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cathodoluminescence (CL), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). These grains are inferred to have formed by high-pressure shock metamorphism, consistent with an earlier report that has been challenged. To test that the mode of destruction could have been an airburst, we produced a hydrocode computer model of a Type 2 or touch-down airburst, in which a high-temperature, high-pressure, high-velocity jet intersects Earth’s surface, producing meltglass, microspherules, and shock metamorphism. The modeling shows that the explosive energy released can propel high-velocity airburst fragments to strike the Earth’s surface, producing shock metamorphism and creating superficial craters potentially susceptible to geologically rapid erosion. Although the probability of such airbursts is low, the potential for substantial damage is high, especially in cities.
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... In the Chiemgau district of southeastern Germany, extensive evidence exists for a significant Holocene-age touchdown airburst event [107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116]. The Chiemgau field is approximately elliptical, covering an area of about 60 km by 30 km (1,800 km 2 ) and containing more than 100 impact craters ranging in diameter from a few m to 1,300 m. ...
... The Chiemgau event has been dated to ∼2900-2600 years ago in the Bronze Age/Celtic Era using a novel impact proxy (artifact-in-impactites), in which culturally datable artifacts are embedded in shocked impact meltrocks [111,112]. ...
... As discussed in the previous section above, impact researchers have proposed at least eight touch-down airbursts within the last ∼11,700 years across Western Europe (2.2 million km 2 ): (i) Chrudim/Pardubice in the Czech Republic [102,103], (ii) Nalbach/Saarlouis in Germany [104][105][106]. (iii) Chiemgau in Germany [107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116]142], (iv) Niederrhein in Germany [118], (v) Franconia in Germany [138]. (vi) Sachsendorf Bay in Germany [139], (vii) Seven possibly related strewn fields across about half of the Czech Republic [103], and (viii) a 6400-year-old strewn field in Finland [141]. ...
Modeling airbursts by comets, asteroids, and nuclear detonations: shock metamorphism, meltglass, and microspherules
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2024
Asteroid and comet impacts can produce a wide range of effects, varying from large crater-forming events to high-altitude, non-destructive airbursts. Numerous studies have used computer hydrocode to model airbursts, primarily focusing on high-altitude events with limited surface effects. Few have modeled so-called “touch-down” events when an airburst occurs at an altitude of less than ∼1000 m, and no known studies have simultaneously modeled changes in airburst pressures, temperatures, shockwave speeds, visible materials, and bulk material failure for such events. This study used the hydrocode software Autodyn-2D to investigate these interrelated variables. Four airburst scenarios are modeled: the Trinity nuclear airburst in New Mexico (1945), an 80-m asteroid, a 100-m comet, and a 140-m comet. Our investigation reveals that touch-down airbursts can demolish buildings and cause extensive ground-surface damage. The modeling also indicates that contrary to prevailing views, low-altitude touch-down airbursts can produce shock metamorphism when the airburst shockwave or fragments strike Earth’s surface at sufficiently high velocities, pressures, and temperatures. These conditions can also produce microspherules, meltglass, and shallow impact craters. Regardless of modeling uncertainties, it is known that bolides can burst just above the Earth’s surface, causing significant damage that is detectable in the geologic record. These results have important implications for using shocked quartz and melted materials to identify past touch-down airbursts in the absence of a typical impact crater. Although relatively rare, touch-down events are more common than large crater-forming events and are potentially more dangerous.
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... t al. 2011;Isaenko et al. 2012;Shumilova et al. 2012;Rappenglück et al. 2013;Bauer et al. 2013;Neumair and Ernstson 2013;Rappenglück et al. 2014;Ernstson et al. 2014;Ernstson 2012Ernstson , 2016Ernstson and Poßekel 2017;Rappenglück et al. 2017;Shumilova et al. 2018;Poßekel and Ernstson 2019;Bauer et al. 2019;Bauer et al. 2020;Ernstson et al. 2020a;B. Rappenglück et al. 2020;Poßekel and Ernstson 2020;Ernstson et al. 2020b;Rappenglück et al. 2021), be described as probably the most important terrestrial impact crater strewn field at present, leaving the Wyoming strewn field now described far behind in scientific importance. This great Chiemgau impact is not mentioned with a word in the Kenkmann et al. article ...
... Physical and archeological dating confines the impact event to have happened between 900 and 600 B.C. Liritzis et al. 2010, B. Rappenglück et al. 2020, 2021. The impactor is suggested to have been a roughly 1,000 m sized low-density disintegrated, loosely bound asteroid or a disintegrated comet in order to account for the extensive strewn field , Rappenglück et al. 2017. ...
Secondary cratering on Earth: The Wyoming impact crater field. More than three question marks. – Comment on the Kenkmann et al. article (GSA Bulletin)
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2022
Secondary craters in impacts on moon, planets and their moons are a well known phenomenon, which has been investigated many times. In the article commented by us here, the authors report on a crater strewn field in the American state of Wyoming, which is interpreted as a field of secondary craters of a so far unknown larger primary impact structure and as a first on Earth. We compare the Wyoming crater strewn field with the Chiemgau impact crater strewn field in SE Germany and find that both have nearly identical characteristics of virtually all relevant features, in terms of geometries and petrography. We conclude that the alleged Wyoming secondary crater field is a fiction and the craters attributable to a primary impact. The alleged evidence is very poor to easily refuted. A primary crater does not exist to this day. The negative free-air gravity anomaly referred to, but not even shown, is invalid for this purpose. The Bouguer gravity map shows no indication of a possible large impact structure. Also unsuitable is the use of asymmetries with elongations of assumed secondary craters with a very questionable corridor intersection for the ejecta. Of 31 craters surveyed as proven, 15 are circular (eccentricity 1) and more than half (19) have an eccentricity ≤1.2. Circular and elongated craters are intermixed. The evaluated crater axes may just as well originate in a multiple primary impact. Elongated craters may also result from doublets of overlapping craters that are no longer fresh, as described by the authors themselves. In their paper, the authors do not show a Digital Terrain Model with contour lines for any of the surveyed craters, but only aerial photos blurred by vegetation. A verification of the crater measurements with the deduced eccentricities and strike directions is impossible. Not a single topographic profile over even a single crater in the strewn field is shown, either from DTM data or from an optical leveling, which could have been accomplished in an instant given the relatively small craters. Grave is the misconception that such a large crater field of 90 km length with three separate clusters is not possible according to 20 years old model calculations. A primary impact with multiple projectiles could perhaps be conceivable under rare circumstances, which are described by the authors as not relevant. The alleged impossibility of such a large primary strewn field with referring to the known small impact fields of Morasko, Odessa, Wabar, Henbury, Sikhote Alin, Kaalijärv, and Macha is contradicted by the three larger impact strewn fields of Campo del Cielo, Bajada del Diablo (very likely), and Chiemgau, which are best described in the literature but are not mentioned by Kenkmann et al. with a single word. The comparison of the Wyoming strewn field with the Chiemgau impact crater strewn field of about the same size here in the commentary article proves the scientifically clearly much greater significance of the Chiemgau impact, which must be considered as currently the largest and most significant Holocene impact despite the rejection and ignoring in some parts of the so-called impact community.
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... Based on current analyses, Abu Hureyra is the earliest example of a human settlement catastrophically affected by a cosmic impact event. There also are younger impacts proposed to have negatively affected contemporary human populations, including the Holocene Native American culture by Tankersley et al. [41]; the Chiemgau impact event in Bavaria during the Bronze Age/Iron Age (Ernstson et al. [42,43] Rappengluck et al. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50]); at Bronze Age Tall el-Hammam, Jordan (Bunch et al. [51]); in Northern Syria in the Bronze Age (Courty et al. [52][53][54]); and in western Kouvola, Finland in the Holocene (Ahokas [55]). Sample ES15 came from just outside a pit house, E305 from within a pit house, E326 from a pit, E301 from a work area, and E313 from a work area outside a pit house entrance. ...
Abu Hureyra, Syria, Part 2: Additional evidence supporting the catastrophic destruction of this prehistoric village by a cosmic airburst ~12,800 years ago
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2023
At Abu Hureyra, a well-studied archeological site in Syria, the onset boundary of the Younger Dryas climatic episode ~12,800 years ago has previously been proposed to contain evidence supporting a near-surface cosmic airburst impact that generated temperatures >2000°C. Here, we present a wide range of potential impact-related proxies representing the catastrophic effects of this cosmic impact that destroyed the village. These proxies include nanodiamonds (cubic diamonds, n -diamonds, i -carbon, and lonsdaleite-like crystals); silica-rich and iron-rich micro-spherules; and melted chromite, quartz, and zircon grains. Another proxy, meltglass, at a concentration of 1.6 wt% of bulk sediment, appears to have formed from terrestrial sediments and was found to partially coat toolmaking debitage, bones, and clay building plaster, suggesting that village life was adversely affected. Abundant meltglass fragments examined display remarkably detailed imprints of plant structures, including those of reeds. The nanodiamonds are proposed to have formed under anoxic conditions from the incineration of plant materials during high-temperature, impact-related fires, while geochemical evidence indicates that the micro-spherules formed from the melting of terrestrial sediments. Broad archeological and geochemical evidence supports the hypothesis that Abu Hureyra is the oldest known archeological site catastrophically destroyed by cosmic impact, thus revealing the potential dangers of such events.
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... Based on current analyses, this would be the earliest example of a human settlement catastrophically affected by a cosmic impact event. There also are younger impacts proposed to have negatively affected contemporary human populations, including the Holocene Native American culture by Tankersley et al. [20]; the Chiemgau impact event in Bavaria during the Bronze Age/Iron Age (Ernstson et al. [21,22] Rappenglück et al. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]); at Bronze Age Tall el-Hammam, Jordan (Bunch et al. [30]); in Northern Syria in the Bronze Age (Courty et al. [31][32][33]); and in western Kouvola, Finland in the Holocene (Ahokas [34]). ...
Abu Hureyra, Syria, Part 3: Comet airbursts triggered major climate change 12,800 years ago that initiated the transition to agriculture
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2023
This study investigates the hypothesis that Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet, triggering Younger Dryas climate change 12,800 years ago. This collision created environmental conditions at Abu Hureyra, Syria, that favored the earliest known continuous cultivation of domestic-type grains and legumes, along with animal management, adding to the pre-existing practice of hunting-and-gathering. The proposed airburst coincided with a significant decline in local populations and led to architectural reorganizations of the village. These events immediately followed the deposition of the Younger Dryas Boundary layer that contains peak concentrations of high-temperature meltglass, nanodiamonds, platinum, and iridium. These proxies provide evidence of a nearby low-altitude airburst by a comet-like fragment of a former Centaur, one of many <300-km-wide bodies in unstable orbits between the giant planets. This large body is proposed to have undergone cascading disintegrations, thus producing the Taurid Complex containing Comet Encke and ~90 asteroids with diameters of ~1.5 to 5 km. Here, we present substantial new quantitative evidence and interpretations supporting the hypothesis that comet fragments triggered near-global shifts in climate ~12,800 years ago, and one airburst destroyed the Abu Hureyra village. This evidence implies a causative link between extraterrestrial airbursts, environmental change, and transformative shifts in human societies.
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"Earth's Impact Events Through Geologic Times": Comment on Schmieder & Kring article in Astrobiology
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2021
We use Schmieder and Kring's article to show how science still works within the so-called "impact community" and how scienti c data are manipulated and "rubber-stamped" by reviewers (here, e.g., C. Koeberl and G. Osinski). We accuse the authors of continuing to list the Azuara and Rubielos de la Cérida impact structures and one of the world's most prominent ejecta occurrences of the Pelarda Fm. in Spain 1 2 as non-existent in the compilation. The same applies to the spectacular Chiemgau impact in Germany, which has been proven by all impact criteria for several years. For the authors' dating list, we propose that the multiple impact of Azuara is included together with the crater chain of the Rubielos de la Cérida impact basin as a dated candidate for the third, so far undated impact markers in the Massignano outcrop in Italy.
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Cosmic collision in prehistory - The Chiemgau Impact: research in a Bavarian meteorite crater strewn field (translated from the German original)
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2019
In English: “Chiemgau Impact” is an event which took place in the Bronze Age / Iron Age with the creation of a large meteorite strewn field by the impact of a comet / asteroid in southeast Bavaria. The research is interdisciplinary from the outset. It covers, among other things, geology, geophysics, limnology, archaeology, mineralogy, speleology, astronomy, and historical sciences. The research results show that a major disaster must have taken place in the area between Altötting, the Lake Chiemsee, and the Alps. Finds of exotic material, found only in meteorites, extremely stressed and altered rocks, caused by extreme pressures, high temperatures and the action of acid, strange carbon spherules, glass-like carbon, nanodiamonds, magnetic anomalies, soil compaction, sinkholes, and many other abnormalities can be explained by the hypothesis of a post-ice impact. All the impact criteria required according to scientifc standards were demonstrated. The impact associated with a large air blast may have produced considerable regional and probably transregional effects. People not only from the Chiemgau region were witnesses of the fascinating, shocking and disturbing event. Perhaps quite accurate descriptions of the event and the regional effects were even described in the ancient Greek myth of the young racer Phaeton, driving the solar chariot. Te paper presents the current (2017) state of knowledge and briefly also the research history.
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The Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Signature of the Stöttham Archaeological Site (SE Germany)
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2012
Archaeological excavation at Chieming-Stöttham in the Chiemgau region of Southeast Germany revealed a diamictic (breccia) layer sandwiched between a Neolithic and a Roman occupation layer. This exotic layer bears evidence of its deposition in a catastrophic event that is attributed to the Chiemgau meteorite impact. In the extended crater strewn field produced by the impact, geological excavations have uncovered comparable horizons with an anomalous geological inventory intermixed with archaeological material. Evidences of extreme destruction, temperatures and pressures including impact shock effects suggest that the current views on its being an undisturbed colluvial depositional sequence as postulated by archaeologists and pedologists/geomorphologists is untenable
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The Chiemgau Impact - a meteorite impact in the Bronze-/Iron Age and its extraordinary appearance in the archaeological record
Conference Paper
  • Mar 2021
The largest meteorite impact of the Holocene known to date occurred during the Bronze/Iron Age in southeastern Bavaria, between Altötting and the edge of the Alps. The event is known as the "Chiemgau Impact". More than 100 craters with diameters from 5 m up to several hundred meters are distributed over an area of about 60 km length and 30 km width. Finds of meteoric material confirm the event as well as the widespread evidence of so-called shock metamorphosis in the rock. The article focuses on new investigations of "slags" from an archaeological excavation in Chieming-Stöttham, on the eastern shore of Lake Chieming. Six objects analysed with polarisation microscope and SEM-EDS turned out to be complex combinations of rock and metal particles. While the rock components show the shock metamorphosis typical for a meteorite impact, the metallic components proved to be remnants of artefacts made of bronze or iron with a high lead content. Together they form an impact rock. To our knowledge, these are the first examples worldwide in which artefacts have become components of an impact rock. In addition, the special nature of the metallic components and the consideration of the archaeological context allow the more precise dating of the Chiemgau Impact to approximately 900-600 BC.
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