Truly a world class and definitive work that is destined to become THE essential reference for cometary impact for many many years to come. A "landmark" ("essential point of reference") work both for geology and for the study of comets.

Unlike Tunguska, where the impact site is a very remote swamp, (bog), here both the geology and the ease of access supported a definitive type study. By this work, these German researchers have managed to move their institution to world status, and have given Germany a prominent role in impact work within the ESA.

I am sure that the suppot or lack of financial support that this team enjoyed is going to be a topic of discussion in German and European scientific circles over the coming days. No doubt their future funding is assured. This discussion will not only be important in terms of German funding levels, but in terms of CNRS funding levels for French researchers as well. Of particular importance here is investigation of the Bazas' Impact of 580 CE, as well as the French work under Dr Courty et al. on the Ullikummi Impact.

One important area is in the development In Europe of software to automatically count craters in planetary images. While I wish that the situation was different, I hope that the international scientific community is not going to have to wait for the work of Chapman's team for this, or for NASA to spend sufficient money to insure that it gets done right -

In terms of US science, the lack of any need to have the work refereed by Morrison undoubtedly did much to speed its publication. As is well known, Morrison claims that cometary impacts are a very small part of total impacts, so it is possible that the cometary science done in this study would likely not have made it out of review. As for the speed of publication, note that Masse's work on Rio Cuarto has yet to be published; I also don't know where Schultz's funding for research there stands.

Whether the work leads to a change in US funding for impact research from NASA, and how this might occur, probably depends on whether or not there is a new Administrator appointed after the elections, and who that person may be. Whether O'Keefe remains as Administrator or not, my guess is that private reviews of NASA's performance in dealing with the impact hazard will be taken sometime betwen February and March of next year, but not too much before then.

In the broader scheme of things, there is hope for NASA, as Mazanek's NASA Langley team's CAPS [Comet and Asteroid Protection System] study is still definitive.

In terms of publicity, a new major astronomical exhibit featuring is scheduled to open in Germnay the next few days. As usual, Dr Peiser will be helping science journalists get their interviews with the principals.

Now to the anthropological aspects. The C14 dating is the first step. Of course, a few of the tress which were blown down by the blast more than likely survived by being blown into nearby swamps, anaerobic enviornments, and if these could be located then we could have the impact's date established nearly to the year.

Given simply the lack of resistance which the attacking Romans met in this region, and at this point nothing else, my guess is that this impact occured 208-204 BCE, and the impactor was a chunk of Comet Encke. If this date turns out to be correct, this impact will help to fill in that spot in the historical records of Encke's fragments' impacts, and provide more evidence that Clube and Napier's hypothesis on Encke's distintegration was correct.

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My guess is that this is part of the