I examine the Dodwell hypothesis, that the earth underwent a catastrophic impact in 2345 BC that altered its axial tilt and then gradually recovered by about 1850. I identify problems with the selection and handling of certain ancient and medieval data. With the elimination of questionable data, a discrepancy may remain between ancient measurements of the earth's tilt and our modern understanding of how the tilt has varied over time. This discrepancy, if real, does not demand the sort of catastrophe suggested by Dodwell, so there is doubt that this event occurred. If there were some abrupt change in the earth's tilt in the past, the available data are not sufficient to fix the date of that event with any precision.