In the 21st century, the Middle East is perhaps the most war-affected region globally, with frequent armed conflicts and airstrikes. But, even thousands of years ago, it wasn’t a safe place, reveals a new study.
As per the study, the present-day Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley, was destroyed by a cosmic airburst 3,600 years ago. A giant space rock barreling toward the city at about 61,000 kmph was the most likely cause of the destruction of this ancient Middle Eastern city and its residents.
If this sounds familiar to you in any way, it's probably because of its similarity to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah—the Biblical cities that were burnt down as a result of God's wrath. Now, archaeologists who worked on the Tall el-Hammam (TeH) site believe that the city might very well be Sodom itself!
TeH—now a mound of ancient ruins—has been subjected to archaeological excavations since 2005. Under the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's Department of Antiquities patronage, the project is being coordinated by the School of Archaeology at Veritas International University in Santa Ana, CA, and the College of Archaeology at Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, NM. The results of the excavations reveal some startling facts.
Once a thriving urban centre
The ruins possess stratified remains of a fortified urban centre, which is currently known as the southern Levant's biggest continuously populated Bronze Age city. Located on highland in the southern Jordan Valley, northeast of the Dead Sea, it was ten times the size of Jerusalem and five times the size of Jericho at the time. Evidence suggests that it was the urban hub of a city-state that lasted continuously for 3000 years during the Chalcolithic Period and Bronze Age, between 4700 BCE and 1650 BCE.
Upon excavating the final stratum (1.5 m) of the Middle Bronze Age II, the archaeologists uncovered unusual debris patterns. These patterns were consistent in ancient cities that had been destroyed either by warfare or earthquakes. However, an earthquake or war would not explain the other stuff they found: human bones, pottery sherds with outer surfaces melted into glass, some bubbled as if 'boiled'; melted and 'bubbled' mudbrick fragments; partially-melted roofing clay and melted building plaster.
These findings implied that unknown high-temperature events—and we're talking temperatures greater than 2,000°C—were probably responsible for the city's destruction.
TeH's downfall
In 1908’s Tunguska Event, a 56-60-meter meteor broke the Earth's atmosphere above the Eastern Siberian Taiga, resulting in a 12-megaton airburst. Something similar is likely to have happened in the form of a massive cosmic airburst that caused TeH's downfall 3,600 years ago.
A likely scenario proposed was that the boulder burst in a massive flame about 4 kilometres above the ground as it hurtled through the atmosphere. The detonation was 1,000 times more intense than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Anyone who peered upon it would have been blinded instantly. Temperatures quickly rose to above 3,600°F (nearly 2,000°C); clothing and wood would've caught fire right away, while swords, spears, mud bricks, and pottery all started to melt at the same time. The city must have been engulfed in flames in a matter of a few seconds.
As per the researchers, the force of the explosion above TeH was sufficient to destroy the city, levelling the palace and surrounding walls and mudbrick constructions.
Rock-hard evidence
A variety of investigations on soil and sediments from the key layer gave more evidence as tiny iron and silica-rich spherules, as well as molten metals. Shocked quartz, finely fragmented sand grains that only form at 725,000 pounds per square inch of pressure (5 gigapascals) were among the most important findings.
The distribution of bones suggested "severe disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans". The destruction layer also contains small diamonoids (named that because they are as hard as diamonds). Each diamonoid was the size of a flu virus. The fireball's extreme pressures and temperatures appear to have quickly transformed the wood and plants in the area into this diamond-like material.
Did anyone witness and survive the blast?
An oral account of the city's destruction was probably passed down for generations before being written down as the Biblical Sodom story. The destruction of an urban centre near the Dead Sea is described in the Bible: stones and fire fell from the heavens, more than one city was destroyed, heavy smoke ascended from the burning, and many residents were killed.
While Genesis' findings are consistent with a cosmic airburst, archaeologists don't have any scientific evidence to prove that this devastated city is the Old Testament's Sodom as of now. Other archaeologists believe that we must let the site speak for itself and then propose it as Sodom if the evidence supports it.
The study was published last week in the journal Nature and can be accessed here.
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