Sodom, the biblical “city of sin,” was one of the most impressive metropolises in the region 3,600 years ago. But it is not God’s wrath that incinerates him. Scientists claim to have discovered the real cause of the end of the mighty city.
Since 2005, archaeologists have been digging in the Tal el-Hamam area near the Dead Sea in Jordan. They believe they have discovered the biblical city of Sodom, and their hypothesis fits surprisingly well into the biblical version of the cremation of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Sodom was a rich and impressive city
More
Israeli archaeologists found a biblical scroll from the Dead Sea
–
The completely destroyed city was once one of the most impressive metropolises east of the Jordan River – five to ten times larger than other cities in the region. It is located on one of the most important trade routes, is protected by high walls and gates and is surrounded by fertile and well-watered land.
But about 3,600 years ago, this mighty city was suddenly destroyed, and with it was swept away one of the flourishing civilizations of the Bronze Age. The collapse of the city is a traumatic event that is reflected in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and the Qur’an. The Bible, for example, describes that God’s wrath buried Sodom in a rain of fire and brimstone.
A meteorite destroyed the legendary city?
In a large-scale study, scientists from around the world present new evidence that the city discovered near Tal el-Hamam was most likely destroyed by a meteorite that exploded above it. Therefore, “fiery and sulfur rain” may actually be pieces of the meteorite.
More
They found out what was due the resilience of megaliths in Stonehenge
–
An international team of scientists has discovered ceramic pieces whose surface has melted to glass. Human remains have also been found, including a skull whose orange color indicates it has been exposed to temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius, the study said.
It also states that the powerful explosion may have caused the collapse of the walls of the biblical city of Jericho, located about 22 kilometers west of Tal el-Hamam. According to the Old Testament, the walls of the city collapsed at the sound of the trumpets of the conquerors.
Engraving by Gustave Doré on the escape of Lot and his family from Sodom (Photo: Getty Images)
Over 2000 degrees
The meteorite exploded a few kilometers above the city. As a result, it is completely destroyed. “We found evidence of temperatures above 2,000 degrees Celsius,” said James Kenneth, one of the study’s authors.
“I think one of the most important discoveries is the shock quartz found,” he explains. For the emergence of the so-called. shock quartz requires a serious explosion. Such quartz was discovered after underground tests with atomic bombs. It can also be found in craters formed by a meteorite impact. Researchers have also discovered diamonoids. These are small molecules that are as hard as a diamond. They associate them with meteorite impacts.
More
Why Karl Bryulov he also painted himself among the victims on the cremation of Pompey?
–
According to an international team of researchers, these are “indications of a high-temperature event”, which they say is “stronger than the explosion of the so-called Tunguska meteorite in Siberia in 1908 and much hotter than anything the technology of the time could produce “.
For the so-called The Tunguska meteorite is said to be between 56 and 60 meters in size and in 1908 caused an explosion equal to 185 atomic bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima. The devastation covered a radius of about 50 kilometers.
According to scientists, the explosion of the meteorite over today’s Tal el-Hamam powerful shock waves “scattered” huge amounts of salt. The hot salt from the Dead Sea fell like a kind of rain over the once fertile land, which later became a barren desert.
According to the study, this may have caused the “vacuum in the late Bronze Age.” After this event, the people left the lower part of the Jordan Valley because nothing was growing on the once fertile soil.
19th century illustration of the cremation of Sodom and Gomorrah (Photo: iStock by Getty Images)
Legends of the crash
More
They did a genetic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls
–
Here, too, researchers see possible references to the Bible. Shortly before the city was destroyed, the angels warned Lot to leave the city quickly and not to look back. But Lot’s wife disobeyed the angels, looked back at the city, and instantly became a pillar of salt.
The story of this dramatic natural disaster was probably passed down from generation to generation and thus eventually became the source for the written description of the cremation of Sodom in the Bible, the researchers write in their study.
Author: Alexander Freund / Deutsche Welle
More
The oldest brewery in the world was discovered in Egypt
–
More
Archaeologists have discovered ancient town, buried in the sands in Luxor
–
More
Artifacts of For 105,000 years, the Kalahari have challenged the idea that civilization came into being in coastal areas
–
More
The civilization of Easter Island has been destroyed, after the Europeans brought disease and slavery
–
More
On the territory of China there was a developed civilization, more ancient from Rome?
–
