蜜芽传媒

Could a meteor or comet strike on a massive ancient city in Jordan more than 3,000 years ago have inspired the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah? In the bible, the two cities are destroyed by God for their wickedness.

Now, archaeologists have discovered evidence that the bronze age settlement of Tell el-Hammam was probably hit by an object from space when it was destroyed around 1650 BC. The say the destruction, which included melted buildings and metals and wreckage blown far from the site, suggests a high impact and temperatures which would have been hotter than any stemming from an earthly cause.

Dr Malcolm LeCompte of the Comet Research Group is a space scientist who's worked at the site. He described the signs of destruction that had been found.

"It's more akin to the blast of an atom bomb... The city was pretty much destroyed, you've got skeletons that have been discovered: disarticulated, scattered bones. It's quite dramatic, it's quite horrifying to witness the remains of these poor people who were killed in an instant."

(Photo: A drawing of the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah - with Lot's wife looking back. Credit: Getty Images).

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