The evidence was in the pottery.
For generations Sodom was treated as mythology — a city destroyed by God in Genesis 19, possibly symbolic, probably invented, certainly not something that left physical evidence behind in the archaeological record.
Then a team of archaeologists spent fifteen years excavating a Bronze Age site called Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan valley of modern Jordan, just northeast of the Dead Sea — in the exact geographic region where Genesis locates the cities of the plain.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports in 2021 and authored by a team of more than twenty scientists from multiple disciplines, described something that changed the terms of the conversation.
The excavation revealed a prosperous, densely populated Middle Bronze Age city with sophisticated architecture and a population estimated in the tens of thousands — suddenly and violently destroyed around 1650 BC in a single catastrophic event.
The evidence for what caused the destruction was unlike anything previously found at an ancient Middle Eastern site. Building materials had been melted. Pottery had been vitrified — converted to glass by temperatures in excess of what any ancient human technology could produce. Roof clay was found that had been instantly transformed by temperatures reaching roughly 1500 degrees Celsius or higher.
The destruction layer contained shocked quartz — minerals deformed by enormous instantaneous pressure — and tiny spherules of melted metals, including platinum, consistent with material falling from a cosmic impact or airburst event.
The scientists concluded that the most consistent explanation was a low-altitude airburst from a small asteroid or comet fragment, exploding above or near the city and releasing energy vastly exceeding any ancient volcanic or human cause.
The city was abandoned. The entire region showed no significant resettlement for several centuries.
A cosmic airburst. In the right location. At the right time. Destroying everything. Followed by centuries of abandonment.
#Sodom #TallElHammam #Archaeology #BibleFacts
For generations Sodom was treated as mythology — a city destroyed by God in Genesis 19, possibly symbolic, probably invented, certainly not something that left physical evidence behind in the archaeological record.
Then a team of archaeologists spent fifteen years excavating a Bronze Age site called Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan valley of modern Jordan, just northeast of the Dead Sea — in the exact geographic region where Genesis locates the cities of the plain.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports in 2021 and authored by a team of more than twenty scientists from multiple disciplines, described something that changed the terms of the conversation.
The excavation revealed a prosperous, densely populated Middle Bronze Age city with sophisticated architecture and a population estimated in the tens of thousands — suddenly and violently destroyed around 1650 BC in a single catastrophic event.
The evidence for what caused the destruction was unlike anything previously found at an ancient Middle Eastern site. Building materials had been melted. Pottery had been vitrified — converted to glass by temperatures in excess of what any ancient human technology could produce. Roof clay was found that had been instantly transformed by temperatures reaching roughly 1500 degrees Celsius or higher.
The destruction layer contained shocked quartz — minerals deformed by enormous instantaneous pressure — and tiny spherules of melted metals, including platinum, consistent with material falling from a cosmic impact or airburst event.
The scientists concluded that the most consistent explanation was a low-altitude airburst from a small asteroid or comet fragment, exploding above or near the city and releasing energy vastly exceeding any ancient volcanic or human cause.
The city was abandoned. The entire region showed no significant resettlement for several centuries.
A cosmic airburst. In the right location. At the right time. Destroying everything. Followed by centuries of abandonment.
#Sodom #TallElHammam #Archaeology #BibleFacts
The evidence was in the pottery.
For generations Sodom was treated as mythology — a city destroyed by God in Genesis 19, possibly symbolic, probably invented, certainly not something that left physical evidence behind in the archaeological record.
Then a team of archaeologists spent fifteen years excavating a Bronze Age site called Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan valley of modern Jordan, just northeast of the Dead Sea — in the exact geographic region where Genesis locates the cities of the plain.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports in 2021 and authored by a team of more than twenty scientists from multiple disciplines, described something that changed the terms of the conversation.
The excavation revealed a prosperous, densely populated Middle Bronze Age city with sophisticated architecture and a population estimated in the tens of thousands — suddenly and violently destroyed around 1650 BC in a single catastrophic event.
The evidence for what caused the destruction was unlike anything previously found at an ancient Middle Eastern site. Building materials had been melted. Pottery had been vitrified — converted to glass by temperatures in excess of what any ancient human technology could produce. Roof clay was found that had been instantly transformed by temperatures reaching roughly 1500 degrees Celsius or higher.
The destruction layer contained shocked quartz — minerals deformed by enormous instantaneous pressure — and tiny spherules of melted metals, including platinum, consistent with material falling from a cosmic impact or airburst event.
The scientists concluded that the most consistent explanation was a low-altitude airburst from a small asteroid or comet fragment, exploding above or near the city and releasing energy vastly exceeding any ancient volcanic or human cause.
The city was abandoned. The entire region showed no significant resettlement for several centuries.
A cosmic airburst. In the right location. At the right time. Destroying everything. Followed by centuries of abandonment.
#Sodom #TallElHammam #Archaeology #BibleFacts
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