So this is how the dinosaurs felt when they were suddenly hit by a meteor, huh?
After 15 years of intense research and excavations, about a dozen scientists from the US, Canada, and Czech Republic have successfully published their findings regarding the lost city near the Dead Sea in the journal Scientific Reports.
About 3600 years ago, an ancient city which is presently known as Tall el-Hammam was wiped out as a giant space rock came speeding towards the residents at about 38000 mph, erasing their existence. The rock exploded in a massive fireball some 2.5 miles above the ground and was about 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima. Anyone that stared at it was instantly blinded by the bright light as the temperature began to rise rapidly above 3600 degrees Fahrenheit, instantly turning wood into flames and melting the pottery. After the rock collided, a massive shockwave smashed into the city, moving at a speed of 740mph and demolishing any building that stood in its way.
This is the tragic fate met by the people of Tall el-Hammam a few hundred years back and is a summary of all the events that might have taken place on the day of the accident. When archaeologists stumbled upon the excavation site, they found a dark, 5-foot thick jumbled layer of charcoal, ash, melted mudbricks, and melted pottery covering the site. It was known as the destruction layer as an intense firestorm had caused this heavy damage.
After much research, it was found out that the cause of the destruction was a small asteroid similar to the one that knocked down 80 million trees in Tunguska, Russia in 1908 and a very small version of the giant rock that brought extinction to the dinosaurs some 65 million years back. What’s unsettling about this revelation is that even today, any city could face the same fate as there are about 26,000 known asteroids near the Earth and they may decide to change their pathway any minute and pay us a visit.