Case file · Cosmic event
The Kaali meteorite craters
Around 3,500 years ago a meteorite exploded over Saaremaa in Estonia, gouging a main crater about 110 m wide and eight smaller ones, close to human settlements.
1,500 BCE · 58.37, 22.67 · status: explained
The account
The impact released energy comparable to a small nuclear bomb and would have been seen and heard across the island. A Bronze Age fortified settlement and animal bones found at the crater lake suggest it became a sacred site. Writers have linked it to Estonian and Finnish myths of the sun falling to earth and to the name Thule.
The sceptical view
The impact is certain; its link to particular myths is speculative.
Connections in the atlas
- The spark of the new sun falls into a lake