Sodom and Gomorrah: Researchers May Have Found Evidence of God's Wrath in Middle Eastern City

 

According to an article published in The Conversation, hundreds of researchers have been excavating an ancient Middle Eastern city now called Tall el-Hammam. They first began looking into the city’s history about 15 years ago, when it was covered in about five feet of charcoal, ash and melted material. 

Researchers said the “destruction layer,” as it came to be known, could not have been caused by a volcano, earthquake or battle of any kind. None of those events could melt metal or pottery, which were both found in the layer. 

As a result, the research team used the Online Impact Calculator, which can “estimate the many details of a cosmic impact event, based on known impact events and nuclear detonations,” to model possible scenarios. 

They concluded that a small asteroid was likely the cause of the destruction, but it didn’t make it all the way to the ground. Instead, researchers believe the asteroid likely exploded into a fireball about 2.5 miles above the city. 

Clothing and wood would have immediately burst into flames, while pottery, swords and spears would have started melting as air temperatures skyrocketed to over 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit. 

That would coincide perfectly with God’s word in Genesis 19:24-25, which says: Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 

It wasn’t just an online calculator that led these researchers to their conclusion. They also found significant physical evidence that would back their claims. At Tall el-Hammam, scientists discovered sand grains known as shock quartz that only form at 725,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. 

In addition, they found microscopic diamonoids, each smaller than a flu virus. 

“It appears that wood and plants in the area were instantly turned into this diamond-like material by the fireball’s high pressures and temperatures,” the scientists wrote. 

After conducting experiments using laboratory furnaces, researchers concluded the pottery and mudbricks found in Tall el-Hammam melted at temperatures over 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The location of Tall el-Hamman near the Dead Sea is very similar to the description of Sodom in Genesis. “It’s possible that an oral description of the city’s destruction may have been handed down for generations until it was recorded as the story of Biblical Sodom,” the researchers said. 

“The Bible describes the devastation of an urban center near the Dead Sea – stones and fire fell from the sky, more than one city was destroyed, thick smoke rose from the fires and city inhabitants were killed. Could this be an ancient eyewitness account?”