Estonia was thought to be undeveloped significantly during the Bronze Age due to a general shortage of pieces. However, the discovery of numerous remains in the first excavations of the fortified hill of Asva in the s revealed an entire culture unknown until then. Archaeological evidence showed a stratified agrarian society with the existence of metallurgical workshops in fortified establishments that suggested control of metal production and its technology, with Asva and other similar sites being the main places of an entire network of constructions. Furthermore, they presented a specific ceramic typology different from that of the fortifications of neighboring Latvia or Lithuania, and which suddenly disappeared from the records with the decline of this type of establishments. In the case of Asva, the existence of a cm stratum formed by charred remains has been confirmed that can be considered indicative of a fire of great intensity and extension.
Is there a relationship between the meteorite that created the Kaali crater and the destruction of Asva? Based on the trace left, it has been estimated that it was a body weighing up to , tons , striking at an B2B Email List angle of ยบ and that due to friction with the atmosphere it fragmented into several pieces. The largest of approximately tons impacted at km/s creating the Kaali crater with a diameter of - m and m deep. The remaining fragments created another eight satellite craters between and m in diameter and up to m deep. The total energy released was equivalent to about kilotons of TNT, on the same order as that caused by the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
It is possible to estimate its effects compared to similar events. The Tunguska event was three orders of magnitude larger, but as the explosion of its meteorite took place at a height of - km, the shock wave that reached the ground produced a magnitude earthquake, with an energy of - km. kilotons of TNT, therefore comparable to the Kaali event. In Tunguska there was a devastation of square km of forest and a radial fire of more than square km occurred. On the other hand, the Hiroshima bomb produced smaller, more circular devastation, with the collapse of buildings up to a radius of km and the ignition of dry combustible material up to a distance of km from the epicenter.