“Where were Sodom and Gomorrah?” Scientists have come to unexpected conclusions
MOSCOW, Dec 22 — RIA Novosti, Anton Skripunov. Scientists are close to solving the mystery, which has more than two thousand years: exactly where and how it destroyed the famous “sin city” — Sodom and Gomorrah.
American archaeologists claim that they were not where assumed. However, in the scientific community agree with them, not all. On a hot historical debate — in the material RIA Novosti.
Alien crystals
Archaeologists have studied the remains of ancient pottery, found in the village of tall al-Hammam (Jordan) North-East of the Dead sea, and found in them something strange.
Radiocarbon analysis showed that each of the pieces of pottery littered with microscopic crystals of various minerals, as if they were stuck together under high temperatures. This could happen only under one condition — was a powerful explosion.
In addition, scientists have found ruins of a fortified wall age about 3700 years — the bricks from it were scattered in a strange way. It turned out that the wall was literally blown away in seconds.
“Most likely, were of this settlement of about four thousand years ago destroyed the meteorite,” — said the archaeologists on a scientific conference in Colorado (USA).
This explains the high content of sulfur in the Dead sea and coastal soil.
In addition, the proposed version, according to scientists, more or less fits the biblical description of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — as in literally “heavenly punishment”.
“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and (all) the vegetation in the land”, — is spoken in the Book of Genesis.
It is noteworthy that the meteorite has a twin brother. The head of excavations at tell al-Hammam Philip Silva pointed out that the size of the destroyed biblical city space alien roughly coincides with the famous Tunguska meteorite, which fell in 1908: here and there the area of the epicenter of the explosion (that is used for determining the dimensions of a celestial body), according to experts, was 15 kilometers.
“Symbols of sin”
And what is said about Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible? In this area lived a Lot, the nephew of Abraham, considered the forefather of the Jewish people. In the land of Canaan they are the commandment of the Lord came to the city of Ur in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq).
Sodom and Gomorrah were in the valley of Siddim, are extremely fertile: it is located below sea level, and here from the surrounding mountains flowed down the many rivers. One of them was the Jordan river, whose name literally translates as “descended”.
In this valley there were three city — Sivom, Zoar and ADMA. According to the Bible, all five of the settlements was in a military Alliance.
“It was a city-state. Described in the Bible period dates from about 2000 years before our era,” explains senior lecturer of philosophical faculty of Moscow state University, theologian Ilia Veverka.
Between “Sodom pativrata” and the surrounding city-States constantly clashed. They even participated Abraham — for this he sent a detachment of 318 warriors.