Meteorite could have destroyed the biblical city of Sodom

The biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most famous of the Old Testament. With a new study, researchers have now set up the theory that a meteorite impact could have provided the inspiration for this.

The team found evidence that a city was made up of the Bronze Age in the Tall-el-Hammam region about 3,600 years ago was destroyed very suddenly. This city is considered a possible candidate for it to be the biblical city of Sodom. They found collapsed buildings and melted pots, among other things.

The scientists found evidence of sudden mass extinction and a barren, charred landscape. Your guess: A meteorite exploded in the air and left great devastation. The study finds a total of 14 signs Therefore.

1,000 times more energy than Hiroshima bomb

The Meteorite should be larger than that of Tunguska have been who 1908 fell over Siberia. Tunguska is estimated to be between 30 and 80 meters tall. The energy released when the meteorite exploded in Jordan is said to be 1,000 times higher than at the Hiroshima atomic bomb . That would explain why a region over 3,000 years was fertile enough to house many people and then suddenly became uninhabitable for hundreds of years.

Whether it is actually in the biblical city of Sodom has not been proven. However, the researchers note that the descriptions would fit the course of such a meteorite impact. There is talk of stones falling from the sky, smoke and fire. The results of the multi-year investigations of the Tall el-Hammam excavation project in Jordan were published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports published.