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The Bible recounts how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin, sending fire from the sky to obliterate them. Now, scientists say they have found physical evidence that exploding space rock and the ensuing rain of fiery, molten material follows the Bible’s description. That’s according to archaeologist Christopher R. Moore as reported by Yahoo News.
Escavated remains of what was once Sodom in ancient Israel.
Scientists have discovered evidence of an icy space rock hurtling through the atmosphere at about 38,000 mph toward the ancient Biblical city Sodom, now called Tall el-Hammam, roughly 3,600 years ago, Moore wrote. The Bible describes the destruction of an urban center near the Dead Sea, with stones and fire falling from the sky. You can even visit the area today.
In 2018, Science News reported the findings of how the cities were destroyed were revealed at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research by archaeologist Phillip Silvia of Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The scientists released radiocarbon dating and unearthed minerals that instantly crystallized at high temperatures at what used to be cities and farming settlements north of the Dead Sea, suggesting that a massive air-burst, like that of a meteor or meteors, destroyed communities in a 15-mile-wide circular plain. The event left an indelible mark on the people at the time, one they would have passed down to future generations.
Scientific study verifying the Bible story has fascinated many since the general location of the two cities has been known for over a hundred years.
The discovery is the result of 15 years’ worth of excavation work, Moore wrote. Scientists suspect a firestorm led to the city’s destruction due to the presence of a roughly 5-foot-thick jumbled layer of charcoal, ash, melted mudbricks and melted pottery, called a destruction layer.
The group was able to determine through analysis that the only event that could have raised temperatures enough to melt many of the materials found at the site was a cosmic impact, Moore wrote. Similar evidence was found at other suspected cosmic impacts, such as the world’s largest crators.
Scientists used the Online Impact Calculator, which “allows researchers to estimate the many details of a cosmic impact event, based on known impact events and nuclear detonations,” to aid their efforts to learn about the cause.
Scientists estimate the rock exploded about 2.5 miles above ground, creating a blast around 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Moore wrote. Air temperatures would have then skyrocketed to 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius), setting the entire city of Sodom on fire.
A massive shockwave would have followed, moving at roughly 740 mph, faster than any tornado on record, demolishing every building and killing all inhabitants, Moore wrote.
There are currently more than 26,000 near-Earth asteroids and one hundred short-period near-Earth comets that could cause a cosmic impact with similar consequences, Moore wrote.
“One will inevitably crash into the Earth,” he added. “Millions more remain undetected, and some may be headed toward the Earth now.”
–Daily Caller and wire services
