Bronze Age towns and peasant farms in the vicinity of the Dead Sea flourished until they were burned by a meteorite explosion.
In the distant past, the Dead Sea was not so salty and was surrounded by a desert that was not nearly as lifeless as it is today. Until now, numerous traces of ancient cities and peasant settlements have been preserved in its vicinity. In particular, excavations of the remains of five low-lying cities on the Jordanian coast of the Dead Sea have shown that they remained inhabited throughout the Bronze Age, for at least 2,500 years. About 120 smaller settlements were discovered nearby: scientists believe that by the end of this period the local population reached 40-50 thousand.
Everything changed dramatically about 3,700 years ago: a fiery tornado from heaven - a red-hot meteorite - exploded in the air, quickly destroying life across the once fertile plain. Archaeologist Phillip Silvia of Trinity University Southwest spoke about this recently at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Studies (ASOR). The scientist has been digging for 13 years at Tall el-Hammam, a walled Bronze Age settlement in what is now Jordan.
Already traditional radiocarbon dating has shown that the city, once inhabited and developing, ceased to be built suddenly and immediately - in some places only the foundations remained, the work on which people abandoned "halfway". Sylvia and his colleagues associate this with a catastrophe that occurred due to the fall of a celestial body: this is indicated by the finds of minerals that survived impact metamorphism, transformations occurring rapidly, but at extremely high temperature and pressure - upon impact.
Like most other towns in the area, Tal El Hammam remained uninhabited throughout the late Bronze Age / © Steven Collins, ASOR
A striking example of this is ancient earthenware, the surface of which has partially turned into glass, in which zircon crystals are baked. Apparently, it was formed in a split second in the immediate place of impact, from where small particles were blown away by a powerful and hot wind. Perhaps the blow led to overheating of the Dead Sea water, which could flood the coastal areas with salty boiling water. According to Philip Sylvia, people did not return to these places for another 600-700 years, after which they repopulated the shores - until the next disaster.