05/06/2024
S***m (present day Tall el-Hammam, Jordan):
An international team of experts discovered pieces of pottery, whose outer surfaces had melted into glass, blistered clay bricks and partially melted building material in a 1.5-meter-thick layer of fire.
Human remains were also found, including a skull. The orange coloring of the skull indicates that it was exposed to temperatures of over 200 degrees Celsius, the study says.
The researchers found evidence of temperatures in excess of 2000 degrees Celsius. In addition to molten metals, the team also found globules rich in iron and silica in the soil and sediment of the blast layer.
One of the most important discoveries is the shock quartz that was found, because it takes tremendous forces to create shock quartz. Such shock quartz has been found after underground atomic bomb tests. Shock quartz is also found in craters formed by meteorite impacts.
The researchers also discovered diamonoids. These are tiny, diamond-hard molecules that have been linked to meteorite impacts.
According to the study, the meteorite explosion above today's Tall el-Hamman is said to have been equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima nuclear bombs! It threw up large amounts of salt. As the extremely hot brine from the Dead Sea trickled down on the surrounding areas, the once fertile land was turned into a barren desert. As a result, people left the lower Jordan Valley because nothing grew on the once fertile soil.
This brings researchers to the conclusion that this is the very spot referenced in the bible where angels warned Lot to leave the city quickly and not to look back. But Lot's wife does not listen to the angels, looks back at the city and immediately freezes into a pillar of salt.
