CAPAS RESEARCH PROJECT - DUANE HAMACHER When Stars Fall: understanding apocalyptic experiences of meteorite impact events
Humans have experienced destructive events throughout history that have caused widespread death and destruction, which have influenced cultural traditions, directed social and political systems, and driven scientific research. Among these, the impact of meteorites with the Earth stands as one of the most potentially destructive, but least researched, areas of natural hazards. These cataclysmic events serve as the foundation of ideas about the apocalypse, from Aboriginal traditions of meteorite impacts to the Biblical end of the world, to widely publicised modern events that were recorded on camera and viewed across news outlets around the world. The destructive experience and aftermath of meteoritic events, as well as lessons about causation, meaning, and survival, can teach us about the human condition, adaptation to cataclysmic events, and inform us about preventative practices that could circumvent an impending apocalypse. This highly interdisciplinary project will utilise approaches from the physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities to examine our experiences with meteorite impact events, how we can understand them, prevent them, recover from them, and derive meaning from them to secure our survival.