The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah the Christian Bible says were destroyed by God 3,700 years ago for their wickedness were in all likelihood annihilated by a massive asteroid that exploded in the air above them.
These two cities, as well as other cities and towns in this area, were destroyed by a mid-air asteroid explosion 500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Ground surveys indicate more than 100 small settlements in the area were also obliterated by the horrendous blast, killing an estimated 40,000 to 65,000 people that lived there.
This conclusion was revealed as part of the preliminary findings from a 10 year-long archeological study of the Middle Ghor region in the Jordan Valley along the Dead Sea.
Analysis of archaeological sites north of the Dead Sea suggests the "sulfur and fire" raining from the heavens upon the biblical cities have the hallmarks of an asteroid that exploded in mid-air. The airburst was the equivalent of an explosion caused by a 10 megaton atomic bomb.
The study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, seems to prove there may be some truth to the biblical story after all. But the destruction was caused by a natural process -- in this case a massive asteroid -- and not by Divine Punishment.
The study says the airburst instantly obliterated everyone and everything inside a 25 kilometer-wide area.
Analyses of the Tall el-Hamman archaeological site in Jordan (located just northeast of the Dead Sea) suggest the area was occupied continuously for 2,500 years before its inhabitants suddenly disappeared at the end of the Bronze Age.
Researchers said radiocarbon dating shows mud-brick walls of almost every structure disappeared 3,700 years ago, leaving behind just their stone foundations. Oddly, outer layers of pottery show signs of melting.
Researchers concluded that a "high heat explosion" wiped-out "100 percent of the Middle Bronze Age cities and towns." This cataclysm also destroyed agricultural soils from once-fertile fields because brine from the Dead Sea salts pushed over the land, rendering it useless for planting for six centuries.
Trinity Southwest University archaeologist and biblical researcher Phillip Silvia, who co-authored the study, said the shockwave from the exploding asteroid likely forced a tsunami of Dead Sea brine over what was once fertile farmland. Those that survived from the 50,000 or so people living in the area at the time would have been forced to leave.
The study points out that an airburst yield of 10 megatons over the northeast corner of the Dead Sea was sufficient to produce the physical damage observed 10 km away at Tall el-Hammam. It said the explosion was only one-half the yield of the Tunguska airburst event (in Siberia).
The impact caused Middle Ghor to remain uninhabited for another 700 years. The study says this affirms that Tall el-Hammam "also tells the Right Story -- that the evidence of destruction is consistent with Genesis 19:22-28."
