Found this article extremely interesting.

Abstract

We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea. The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a ~ 50-m-wide bolide detonated with ~ 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. A city-wide ~ 1.5-m-thick carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contains peak concentrations of shocked quartz (~ 5–10 GPa); melted pottery and mudbricks; diamond-like carbon; soot; Fe- and Si-rich spherules; CaCO3 spherules from melted plaster; and melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Heating experiments indicate temperatures exceeded 2000 °C. Amid city-side devastation, the airburst demolished 12+ m of the 4-to-5-story palace complex and the massive 4-m-thick mudbrick rampart, while causing extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans. An airburst-related influx of salt (~ 4 wt.%) produced hypersalinity, inhibited agriculture, and caused a ~ 300–600-year-long abandonment of ~ 120 regional settlements within a > 25-km radius. Tall el-Hammam may be the second oldest city/town destroyed by a cosmic airburst/impact, after Abu Hureyra, Syria, and possibly the earliest site with an oral tradition that was written down (Genesis). Tunguska-scale airbursts can devastate entire cities/regions and thus, pose a severe modern-day hazard.

Long but interesting read at link.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wcb6092,

Link?

I saw reference to that possible incident some time ago, but it was evidently still controversial at the time.

Spaceship exploding? I wonder if Ancient Aliens has covered this?

Seriously though, there is speculation this may be the root event for the biblical story of Sodom.

Fixed the link.

Ancient astronaut theorists say YES!

God destroys entire cities in the Bible, this may have been one of them…

quote:

Originally posted by recoatlift:
Ancient astronaut theorists say YES!

I'll hold my thoughts until Kyle of DeVry Institute weighs in.

The entire article was fascinating. Thanks again for the post.

I was not aware of the other similar events in the Middle East, so they warranted quick checks. That got me to thinking about Why the ME? and the it dawned on me that such events no doubt occur over much of the Earth’s surface, but if they’re rare and on land, that region would be best for both the presence of cities to be affected and best for preservation of the evidence over thousands of years. It’s easy to understand how certain cultural myths and tales get started. An unexplained and unexplainable catastrophe leads to stories that get handed down across generations, then someone adds in a morality lesson or two, someone else finally decides to write it down, and voilà: Divinely-inspired history.

It’s also a sobering reminder of how something like that could occur again without warning, and now there are many more much richer targets available.

... what a read, thanks for sharing.

I keep stumbling over the "... extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation ..."

Disassembly? Like blown apart?
Reducing the body to fragments of muscle and bone?

Cheesh.

And yes, the inexplicable explanations, stories and supreme being revelations. Sodom, perhaps Gomorrah too; pillar of salt ... and the Dead Sea that remains ... and somewhat 'recent' in terms of the planet's history.

I ... yeah, more ... Sunday musings now ...

</chris>

I found the article fascinating, not least for the rigor and attention to detail demonstrated by the authors.

My thanks to the OP for the post and the link, which I will pass on to friends and relatives who may be interested.

I wonder if the archeological site--or any of the artifacts--can be seen by the public.

Before it was named Tall el-Hammam, it was called Sodom.

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
Before it was named Tall el-Hammam, it was called Sodom.

Indeed it was Sodom. Why is the writer using a different name?

It's interesting to read how a celestial or geological occurrence was misunderstood as some supernatural event by primitive man.
There are some carvings on the pillars found at the Göbekli Tepe site they believe are of the Younger Dryas event being of theological origins. Seems this is a reoccurring theme for some people.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
It's interesting to read how a celestial or geological occurrence was misunderstood as some supernatural event by primitive man.
There are some carvings on the pillars found at the Göbekli Tepe site they believe are of the Younger Dryas event being of theological origins. Seems this is a reoccurring theme for some people.

You must be quite the expert, another Robert Noyce. He was one of the founders of Intel, avowed atheist. Died at 61 y.o., not a smoker, lean, healthy, etc. but had an attitude.

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
Before it was named Tall el-Hammam, it was called Sodom.

Most experts agree that Sodom and Gomorrah were much further south near the southern end of the Dead Sea. That is, if memory serves, a good 40-50 miles away.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
It's interesting to read how a celestial or geological occurrence was misunderstood as some supernatural event by primitive man.
There are some carvings on the pillars found at the Göbekli Tepe site they believe are of the Younger Dryas event being of theological origins. Seems this is a reoccurring theme for some people.

You must be quite the expert, another Robert Noyce. He was one of the founders of Intel, avowed atheist. Died at 61 y.o., not a smoker, lean, healthy, etc. but had an attitude.

I'm curious as to how you make a connection with my interest in anthropology and a guy who invented things for the tech industry.

"Seems this is a reoccurring theme for some people."

This comment appears to indicate that you view other's opinions as inferior to yours. Robert Noyce had that sort of attitude.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
"Seems this is a reoccurring theme for some people."

This comment appears to indicate that you view other's opinions as inferior to yours. Robert Noyce had that sort of attitude.

Apologies for answering with a question. Is my statement not a fact rather than an opinion?
I certainly do have my opinion. I don't see it as superior or inferior to any one else's, just the one I have. Everyone else is entitled to their own as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
Before it was named Tall el-Hammam, it was called Sodom.

Most experts agree that Sodom and Gomorrah were much further south near the southern end of the Dead Sea. That is, if memory serves, a good 40-50 miles away.

Something that happened 3600 years ago and it is within 40-50 miles. Yeah that is big miss. No way it can be that. Jeesh

And why don't you show some links to the experts you quote?

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Something that happened 3600 years ago and it is within 40-50 miles. Yeah that is big miss. No way it can be that. Jeesh

No kidding. Just like today we finally know the hanging gardens were built by King Sennacharib, not Nebudchannezar, and at Nineveh in Assyria, not Babylon - a distance of over 300 miles. The oral and written history isn’t always accurate, but the archaeology is hard to argue.