Sodom and Gomorrah "destroyed in major asteroid explosion"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a powerful asteroid, according to archeologists, The Daily Star says.

These ancient cities were believed to lie on the northeastern edge of the Dead Sea.

In the Bible, they were destroyed with “brimstone and fire” by God in retaliation of the sinful lives of their residents.

But scientists think they’ve discovered the real reason the cities burned — a 10 megaton asteroid explosion.

For comparison, all of the nuclear bombs released in WW2 amounted to three megatons of TNT.

In the archeological site, scientists have discovered minerals they believe were created by an asteroid explosion.

Carbon dating indicates this catastrophic explosion happened about 3,700 years ago.

Archeologist Phillip Silvia excavating the ruins of the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam, near Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Trinity Southwest University professor and his team believed it was bizarre the fertile land was abandoned and this had “begged investigation”.

Writing on the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, they said the area was “thriving for at least a thousand years as an open agricultural community” after it was established around 4th millennium BCE.

They added: “The phenomenon resulting in the destruction of civilisation on ‘the well watered plain of the Jordan’ and repelling reoccupation for so many centuries is now coming to light through analyses performed by ‘impact’ researchers from seven participating universities.