The ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah might have been destroyed, but it wasn't by human wickedness, a new study suggests.
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The work, co-published by 21 authors in the science journal Nature on Monday, presents evidence that a Middle Bronze Age city located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea at a site now known as Tall el-Hammam, was razed by a cataclysmic "cosmic airburst."
In the Book of Genesis, the event is recounted as God's destruction of the cities for their wickedness.
Now, researchers think that the explosion at Sodom and Gomorrah was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, when an air burst of a stony meteoroid about 50 to 60 meters (160 to 200 feet) in size caused a massive 12-megaton blast.
The researchers involved in the study conclude that if the airburst hypothesis is true, it would make modern-day Tall el-Hammam the second-oldest known city or town believed to have been destroyed by an airburst. The oldest is Abu Hureyra in Syria, which scientists think was hit by a comet 12,800 years ago.
The authors warn that cosmic events are expected to recur every few thousand years, saying that "although the risk is low, the potential damage is exceedingly high, putting Earth's cities at risk and encouraging mitigation strategies."
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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