In 2021, James Kennett, Malcolm LeCompte, along with an astrophysicist research team studying the Bronze Age ruins at the site found evidence of a 3,600-year-old meteor blast, in the form of an "cosmic airburst," which levelled the settlement. The research team identified microscopic evidence of shocked quartz, sand grains believed to result from high velocity meteor impacts. According to the evidence, the temperatures likely exceeded 2,000°C, which bubbled mud brick, melted pottery into glass, and partially melted building materials at a 1.5 metre depth, as well as shattered human remains.[1][2]
In 2021, researchers discovered evidence of the city having been destroyed by a meteor air burst about 1650 BCE. They said this may have led to the biblical account of the destruction of Sodom.[3]
The team claimed that they have found melted pottery and metals suggesting very high temperatures that can only happen after a meteorite explosion. The research team also claims that their findings supports the theory that the biblical city of Sodom was obliterated by a meteor as described in the old testament.[4] According to their 2021 paper, a meteor larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, about 1650 BCE (~3600 years ago), caused an airburst and temperatures over 2000 °C.[5]
- ^ Lebans, Jim (2021). "Ancient Jordanian town destroyed by a meteor blast may have inspired Biblical stories, scientists say". CBC Radio. Canada. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- ^ Devis, Deborah (2021). "A cosmic meteor brought desolation to an ancient city – Did it inspire Sodom?". Cosmos. Australia. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- ^ Bunch, Ted E.; LeCompte, Malcolm A.; et al. (20 September 2021). "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea". Nature. Springer Nature. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Binyon, Michael (2021). "Meteor destroyed Sodom, Tell el-Hammam valley archaeologists believe". The times.
- ^ Bunch, Ted E.; LeCompte, Malcolm A.; Adedeji, A. Victor (December 2021). "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 18632. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97778-3.