All posts by Archaeology World Team

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Britain’s Giant Roman Arcade Discovered Under A Block Of Flats in Essex

Britain’s Giant Roman Arcade Discovered Under A Block Of Flats in Essex

Britain’s largest known Roman arcade has been revealed beneath an apartment block in Colchester, Essex. Experts believe the ancient covered walkway included more than 28 archways topped by a grand gateway and was at the heart of the once-bustling Roman town.

Ruins of the grand 393ft long (120 metres) structure have now been used to create a computer model to show what the arcade would have looked like 1,800 years ago.

It is thought to have been on the same scale as the grand arcades of Rome, with some sections measuring at least 26ft (eight metres) tall.

Britain’s Giant Roman Arcade Discovered Under A Block Of Flats in Essex
What is arguably Britain’s greatest Roman arcade has been revealed beneath an apartment block in Colchester, Essex. Part of the foundations is shown above. It is thought to have been on the same scale as the grand arcades of Rome, with some sections measuring at least 26ft (eight metres) tall

While builders stumbled across Roman ruins at the site 62 years ago, Colchester Archaeological Trust has now excavated part of the arcade, beneath the recently-constructed One Castle House apartment block.

The archaeologists said the elaborately arched building would have provided an impressive frontage to the Temple of Claudius, built-in 54 AD.  Today that temple forms the base of the town’s Norman Castle. The Temple of Claudius was the only Roman temple dedicated to an imperial cult in Britain. 

Experts believe the ancient covered walkway is the largest of its kind in the UK and included 28 archways topped by a grand gateway. A rendering of what it may have looked like is shown above. The history-steeped settlement of Colchester dates back almost 2,000 years
Ruins of the grand 393ft-long (120 metres) structure have been used to create a computer model (pictured) to show what the arcade would have looked like 1,800 years ago. The archaeologists said the elaborately arched building would have provided an impressive frontage to the Temple of Claudius, built-in 54 AD

He came to Camulodunum – the Iron Age precursor of Colchester – during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD. Colchester Archaeological Trust director, Dr Phillip Crummy said: ‘The discovery of this monumental arcade was originally made in 1954 but it was left untouched.

‘It is the biggest Roman structure of its kind to be discovered in the UK.

‘Its closest rival in terms of size stands in northern France, and shares some of the architecture we can see here today.’

A similar arcade is being investigated in the small town of Pont-Sainte-Maxence about 25 miles (40km) north of Paris.

He continued: ‘The original arcade and its grand columns are similar to those you see in Bath at the Roman Baths.  

An arcade is a series of arches supported by columns and a solid wall to create a covered walkway providing access to shops. They were used by the Romans for large public spaces such as the Forum in Rome (ruins pictured), as well as for aqueducts
Remains of the ancient building will go on public display this summer under three glass panels, giving visitors a chance to learn more about Britain’s oldest recorded town. They were found under and near this apartment block which is being built

‘It really is an extraordinary find and it shows how much history Colchester has to offer.’

Remains of the ancient building will go on public display this summer under three glass panels, giving visitors a chance to learn more about Britain’s oldest recorded town. Dr Crummy’s team has also produced an exhibition to go on the show, where computer graphics showing what the arcade would have looked like will be projected onto a wall behind the original ruins.

‘We’ve now managed to work out the dimensions of the columns found at One Castle House in Roman feet,’ he said.

‘These calculations have allowed us to design a digital reconstruction, as we have displayed here on a projector.

‘With this discovery, we can now show Colchester what it was really like to live in a Roman arcade – 1,800 years ago.’

Historians are particularly interested in the arcade and Temple of Claudius because they think a large religious procession or pompa – including the chariots and horses – would have travelled from the temple to the town’s Roman circus before the start of chariot races.

The trust said that the temple precinct would have resembled the Forum in Rome and would have been a busy place, with people going to and from the temple.

READ ALSO: BOUDICCA REVOLT: ESSEX DIG REVEALS ‘EVIDENCE OF ROMAN REPRISALS’

It may have also been the site of socialising and shopping at market stalls. ‘They would have entered the precinct through the archways of the arcade,’ the trust said.

The precinct is thought to have been standing at the time of the Norman invasion of England and only demolished when the castle was built. The history-steeped settlement of Colchester dates back almost 2,000 years.

Roman military chiefs established a pivotal fortress on the site shortly after conquering Britain in 43 AD as they set out to extend their power and control throughout East Anglia.  

Colchester Archaeological Trust director, Dr Phillip Crummy said: ‘It is the biggest Roman structure of its kind to be discovered in the UK. Here, Emma Holloway from the trust works at the site
EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

Traces Of An Ancient Road In A Lake

Traces Of An Ancient Road In A Lake

Anyone travelling from the German city of Brandenburg via Berlin to Frankfurt an der Oder at the Polish-German border does so along with an ancient route that reaches far into Poland.

From a raft, the team uses a hollow cylinder to punch through the lake bottom thus getting sediments with layers. The layers are called warves and preserve traces from historic developments and landscape changes, e.g. pollen or ashes.

German and Polish researchers have now documented the influence of this East-West connection on the history of the landscape by examining the sediments of Lake Czechowskie in the Bory Tucholskie and also evaluating historical sources.

According to the results, three phases of landscape development can be distinguished in the last eight hundred years: from an almost untouched landscape through an intermediate phase lasting several centuries—characterized by alternations between strong settlement activity and the return of nature after wars—to today’s cultural landscape.

One of the two main authors, Achim Brauer of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, says: “Wars had a clear influence, as the Via Marchionis was repeatedly used for troop transports that led to local destruction and devastation.

In this study, for the first time, we have shown the impact on the landscape of every war in the region’s history. In general, wars have led to greater or lesser devastation (‘renaturalization’) of the landscape, which has also lasted for varying lengths of time.”

At other times, it was political developments that left their mark on the landscape, such as an agrarian reform in 1343, which led, with a certain time lag, to an accelerated “anthropogenization” of the landscape, that is, to clearly a visible human influence. In the sediments of Lake Czechowskie this is shown by a strong increase of rye pollen and the decrease of birch and pine pollen.

Because sediments in a lake exhibit annual stratification similar to tree rings, the German-Polish team was able to pinpoint the year from which pollen originated by counting the individual layers (“warves”) down to a resolution of five years.

According to this, the landscape remained largely untouched by humans until about 1350 AD. Extensive forests and natural grasses dominated. Then followed five turbulent centuries.

The expansion of agriculture and the formation of larger towns were favoured by a warm climate and politically calm times. However, between 1409 and 1435 there was war between the Teutonic Order and Poland—fields became fallow land, forests expanded again.

After peace was concluded, five quiet decades followed again, during which an increase in handicrafts was also evident. Hardwood was cut to obtain building material and potash—thus, birch pollen disappeared from lake sediments, rye again increased massively.

Sediments from the bottom of lakes are often layered. The individual layers, called warves, preserve information from the past and can be “read” like tree rings. By identifying pollen or ashes, landscape evolution, climate and even political events can be traced.

Huge army campaigns with thousands of riders and foot soldiers, plague epidemics in several waves and some very cold years with crop failures are also documented. Then, from the middle of the 19th century, the influence of agriculture, settlements and economic activity took over to such an extent that one can speak of a predominantly human influence, which continues to this day.

READ ALSO: ANCIENT ROMAN ROAD DISCOVERED AT THE BOTTOM OF VENICE LAGOON

First author Michał Słowiński says that “the most important result is that this development did not take place uniformly. Rather, we see an alternation of phases of rapid development and significant regressions.

The reasons for this are complex interactions of socio-economic, political and climatic factors.”

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

The Discovery of ancient Peruvian burial tombs sheds new light on Wari culture

Discovery of ancient Peruvian burial tombs sheds new light on Wari culture

A team of archaeologists in northern Peru discovered the remains of 29 people, including three children, that could help experts rewrite the history of the pre-Incan Wari civilization, the lead researcher said on Friday.

Discovery of ancient Peruvian burial tombs sheds new light on Wari culture
An undated handout picture was released by the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum of one of the 29 human remains discovered at an ancient ceremonial site in Lambayeque.

The skeletons were buried more than 1,000 years ago in Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala, an ancient ceremonial centre in the coastal region of Lambayeque, 750 kilometres to the north of Lima.

The burials of the three children and a teenager at the front of the temple indicated they were human sacrifices from the Wari culture, Edgar Bracamonte, the lead researcher, told AFP.

It is the first time a discovery linked to the Wari civilization has been made this far from their area of influence, said Bracamonte.

“These discoveries allow us to rethink the history of the Lambayeque region, especially the links to Wari and Mochica occupations in the area,” said Bracamonte.

The Wari culture flourished in the central Peruvian Andes from the seventh to 13th centuries.

The Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala enclosure, in the form of the letter ‘D’, was built between 800 and 900 AD.

“We found a ceremonial temple with 29 human remains, 25 belonging to the Mohica era and four to the Wari culture,” said Bracamonte.

The Mochica, or Moche, culture developed from 100 to 700 AD on the northern Peruvian coast.

The 25 Mochica remains were found in clay tombs and burial chambers in a temple. Researchers also found pieces of pottery and the remains of camelids—such as llamas and alpacas—and guinea pigs.

One of the most significant discoveries related to the Mochica culture was in 2006 with the unearthing of the fifth century Lady of Cao mummy, which showed the civilization included female leaders.

The 1987 discovery of another mummy, the third century Lord of Sipan, is considered by experts one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the last few decades, as the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves.

EUROPE, IRELAND, WORLD

Human Remains Discovered Under 19th-Century Pub in Ireland

Human Remains Discovered Under 19th-Century Pub in Ireland

The first skeleton was unearthed almost two weeks ago and works have now uncovered the remains of six people, believed to predate the 19th-century building on the site. The skeletal remains of six people have now been found under a partially demolished pub near the medieval heart of Cork city.

Human Remains Discovered Under 19th-Century Pub in Ireland
The fragmentary remains of the first skeleton were discovered on the site.

Confirmation of the new discoveries on the site of the former Nancy Spain’s pub on Barrack St comes almost two weeks after the discovery of a partial human skeleton during groundworks on the site, which is being cleared for a Cork City Council social housing project.

City archaeologist Ciara Bret, confirmed an archaeological excavation, which has been ongoing since by a licensed archaeological consultant and an osteoarchaeologist, a human bones specialist, in consultation with her and the National Monument Service, has uncovered the remains of six individuals.

“The remains are fragmentary and predate the current 19th-century building on the site,” she said.

“Given that the site is still being archaeologically investigated, it is not possible at this time to definitively date the remains but they are likely to be 18th century or earlier.

“It is important to note that it is only through post-excavation analysis, which will include examination by the osteoarchaeologist and radiocarbon dating of the bones, that a complete understanding of the remains will be achieved.” 

The human remains are being fully recorded and will be removed by experts under an archaeological license issued under Section 26 of the National Monuments Act 2004.

Gardaí is on duty on the site of the former Nancy Spain’s pub on Barrack Street, Cork, where suspected human remains have been discovered.

Following the completion of the post-excavation analysis, the skeletal remains will be prepared for acquisition by the National Museum of Ireland or will be re-interred at “an appropriate location”.

Ms Brett said because the Barrack Street area forms part of the former suburbs of the medieval city, it is of important historical and archaeological significance, and all groundworks at the site were being archaeologically monitored.

The main contractor, MMD Construction, appointed archaeologist John Cronin and Associates to oversee the groundworks.

An archaeologist was present for the excavation of the ground floor slab but during the final stages of the excavation, there was what Ms Brett described as “a notable change in ground conditions” and it was decided that a hand exploration of the area would be required.

It was during this process that the first skeleton was uncovered.

Following a preliminary visual inspection of the remains in situ by the archaeologist and Garda scenes of crime experts, the bones were deemed a historic find and the Garda investigation was stood down.

The site was then handed back to the builders and the hand exploration continued, leading to the discovery of the other remains nearby.

Nancy Spain’s was once one of Cork’s best-known music venues. Singer-songwriter David Gray played his first Cork gig there in 1992.

The city council plans to build 32 apartments on the site.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

11,000-year-old ‘abandoned’ site found with ‘erected penis’ pillars and head carvings

11,000-year-old ‘abandoned’ site found with ‘erected penis’ pillars and head carvings

Archaeologists in Turkey have found evidence that an 11,000-year-old prehistoric site was used for a ceremonial parade through a building containing phallus-shaped pillars and a carving of a human head.  

11,000-year-old 'abandoned' site found with 'erected penis' pillars and head carvings
Scientists have been left to speculate how the penis pillars were erected

Called Karahantepe, the site is located in southern Turkey, east of Şanlıurfa, and has a series of buildings that date back to long before writing was invented.

Within the remains of the buildings, archaeologists found carvings of human heads, snakes and a fox, as well as several interestingly shaped pillars. 

For instance, the archaeologists discovered 11 pillars near a carving of a human head. “All pillars are erected and shaped like a phallus,” Necmi Karul, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at Istanbul University, wrote in a paper recently published in the journal Türk Arkeoloji ve Etnografya Dergisi. 

Researchers excavate at the site of Karahantepe in Turkey on Sept. 30, 2021.

In the journal article, Karul did not speculate as to why the heads and phallus-shaped pillars were built or what meaning they may have had. 

This building is connected to three others to form a complex of sorts.

Ancient people may have held a ceremonial parade through this complex, Karul said. Current evidence suggests that people used the complex for “a ceremonial process, entering the building from one end and exiting at the other end, having to parade in [the] presence of the human head” and the phallus-shaped pillars, Karul wrote in the journal article.

More excavation and analysis will need to be done before archaeologists can say for certain that this parade took place, Karul wrote. 

Rather than being abandoned, the buildings were filled in with dirt, possibly during a decommissioning ceremony of sorts. 

READ ALSO: 2,000-YEAR-OLD ROMAN MILLSTONE FOUND WITH MASSIVE PENIS ENGRAVED ON IT

The site dates to a similar time as Gobekli Tepe, another archaeological site that has large buildings and carvings of animals and human heads.

Gobekli Tepe is also located near Şanlıurfa, and archaeologists are trying to determine the relationship between the two sites.

Although Karahantepe was discovered in 1997, excavations didn’t start until 2019. Between those years, researchers completed several archaeological surveys of the site. Karul did not reply to requests for comment. 

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Amethyst Seal Showing Biblical Persimmon and Maybe an Ibis Found in Jerusalem

Amethyst Seal Showing Biblical Persimmon and Maybe an Ibis Found in Jerusalem

Archaeologists working in the Old City of Jerusalem have discovered an ancient seal carved out of amethyst, which may show the biblical persimmon plant, one of the ingredients in the incense offered in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.

Amethyst Seal Showing Biblical Persimmon and Maybe an Ibis Found in Jerusalem
Amethyst seal that may show biblical persimmon, not the fruit, and a dove. Or an ibis

Until now we had not known what that looked like. We may still not, but that is what the archaeologists excavating the site think the seal may show.

Also known as bosem, balsam, or the “Balm of Gilead,” the plant is not related to the orange persimmon fruit that we are familiar with today. It was used during the Second Temple period in the production of expensive perfumes, medicines and ointments, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

Many scholars believe this plant, Commiphora gileadensis, the Arabian balsam tree, a shrub, is the legendary Biblical persimmon plant, which was medicinal and used to make incense.

“If it is indeed the famous and expensive biblical persimmon, then it is likely that the seal owner was a Jew with means since the production and trade that took place around the persimmon plant was tightly controlled at the time by Jews living in the Dead Sea basin, where the fruit was grown,” said Prof. Shua Amorai-Stark, the co-author of an upcoming paper on the find.

Seal that may show biblical persimmon may have belonged to a well-to-do Jewish resident of Jerusalem

The seal also bears the image of a bird, which may be a dove, she says. “The dove is also a positive motif in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish world. It symbolizes wealth, happiness, goodness and success,” said Prof. Shua Amorai-Stark, the co-author of an upcoming paper on the find.

Or, judging by the shape of its beak, perhaps the seal shows an ibis, a bird the ancient Egyptians associated with the god Thoth, who among other things, judged the dead.

While thought to be about 2,000 years old, the seal’s dating cannot be categorical but the use of gems and semi-precious stones, not only in jewellery but in seals, was relatively common in the late Second Temple period. Its location is also telling.

The amethyst seal was found at the Emek Tzurim National Park, operated by the City of David Foundation, where soil from Israel Antiquities Authority excavations conducted along the foundation stones of the Western Wall was being sifted.

The City of David Foundation says it had been in a drainage system along the street connecting the Siloam pool and the Temple Mount, which at the time housed the Second Temple, erected by King Herod, though some believe he didn’t live to finish the job.

Supporting the notion that the amethyst seal shows biblical persimmon, some Biblical commentators believe that King Solomon gifted the precious plant to the Queen of Sheba, the IAA points out, adding that the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote that Mark Antony presented persimmon orchards that formerly belonged to King Herod, to his beloved, Cleopatra.

READ ALSO: ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND A 2,700-YEAR-OLD TOILET IN A LUXURIOUS PALACE IN JERUSALEM

“This is an important find because it may be the first time a seal has been discovered in the entire world with an engraving of the precious and famous plant, which until now we could only read about in historical descriptions,” archaeologist Eli Shukron, who conducted the excavation at the foundations of the Western Wall on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David, said in a statement.

“The research that takes place around the finds allows us to get a glimpse into the daily lives of the people who lived in the days of the Second Temple, the glory days of Jerusalem.”

Other seals made of gems or semi-precious stones like amethyst have been found in Jerusalem. Just months ago archaeologists excavating the so-called City of David just south of the Temple Mount found a gem carved with the face of Apollo. That was also tentatively dated to about 2,000 years ago, the Second Temple period, and was also discovered in the ancient Jerusalem sewer system. The god’s image was shown featuring flowing long hair, a small but firm chin and a large nose.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Giant ram head statues found on ‘Avenue of Sphinxes’ in Egypt

Giant ram head statues found on ‘Avenue of Sphinxes’ in Egypt

Three giant statues of ram heads — at least one of which had a cobra on top — have been discovered south of Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egyptologists announced. 

Karnak Temple was built between roughly 4,000 and 2,000 years ago, and much of it is dedicated to Amun-Ra, a god associated with the sun and Thebes, the capital of ancient Egypt (now the modern-day city of Luxor). The temple complex covers over 250 acres (100 hectares). 

On Oct. 11, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that three giant ram heads had been found by an Egyptian archaeological team south of a gateway built by the Ptolemies, a dynasty of pharaohs descended from one of Alexander the Great’s generals that ruled Egypt between 305 B.C and 30 B.C. 

Giant ram head statues found on 'Avenue of Sphinxes' in Egypt
An entire avenue of the ram-headed statues connected Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple.
The ram’s head would have rested on a body (shown here). They are shaped a bit like a sphinx.

In ancient times, these ram heads were part of three larger statues that had the bodies of creatures that looked a bit like sphinxes.

The statues featured in a large avenue of ram-headed statues that went south, running for 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometres) between Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple, Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the news site al-Monitor. 

This avenue is often called the “avenue of the sphinxes” and consisted of around 700 statues.

“An estimated 700 sphinxes lined the route between Karnak and Luxor temples and its magnificence can scarcely be imagined,” wrote Elizabeth Blyth, an independent scholar in her book “Karnak: Evolution of a Temple” (Routledge, 2006). While many of the surviving sphinxes date to the reign of Nectanebo I (380-362 B.C.) artwork suggests that the avenue existed at least as early as the 18th dynasty (1550-1295 B.C.), wrote Blyth. 

Avenue of the sphinxes or criosphinxes leading to the Karnak Temple Complex at Luxor, Egypt.

Egyptologists are in the process of conserving the ram heads and will put them back on statues showing the bodies of the creatures, Waziri said in the statement. 

READ ALSO: EGYPT’S SECRETS REVEALED: POSSIBLY A SECOND SPHINX & MYSTERIOUS HIDDEN CHAMBERS??

Archaeologists unearthed another discovery — the remains of a cobra statue — Waziri announced Oct. 17 on his Facebook page. This cobra statue would have originally been on top of one of the ram heads, so the conservation team plans to put it back on, Waziri said. 

The age of the statues is being investigated, but Waziri told Al-Monitor that the design of one of them suggests that it may date back to the reign of Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt between 1390 B.C and 1352 B.C.,

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s list of Egyptian rulers, and was the grandfather of King Tutankhamun. Excavation, analysis and conservation work is ongoing. 

ASIA, JORDAN, WORLD

Researchers find 3,600-year-old evidence that Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by a ‘cosmic airburst’

Researchers find 3,600 year-old evidence that Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by a ‘cosmic airburst’

A research team including East Carolina University’s Dr Sid Mitra, professor of geological sciences, has presented evidence that a Middle Bronze Age city called Tall el-Hammam, located in the Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea, was destroyed by a cosmic airburst.

Researchers have discovered 3,600-year-old evidence that the ancient city of Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by a ‘cosmic impact,’ which may have inspired the Bible story of the destruction of Sodom
Experts uncovered pottery shards that had their outer surfaces melted into glass, ‘bubbled’ mudbrick and partially melted building material in a 5-foot thick burn layer
Melted pottery (a and b) while (c) shows a 6-cm wide potsherd storage jar from the lower tall, displaying an unaltered inner surface, and (d) the highly vesicular outer surface
Experts uncovered pottery shards that had their outer surfaces melted into glass, ‘bubbled’ mudbrick and partially melted building material in a 5-foot thick burn layer

Archaeological excavation of the site began in 2005, Mitra said, and researchers have been particularly interested in a citywide 1.5-meter-thick destruction layer of carbon and ash.

The layer, which dates to about 1650 B.C.E. (about 3,600 years ago), contains shocked quartz, melted pottery and mudbricks, diamond-like carbon, soot, remnants of melted plaster, and melted minerals including platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite and quartz.

“They found all this evidence of high-temperature burning throughout the entire site,” Mitra said. “And the technology didn’t exist at that time, in the Middle Bronze Age, for people to be able to generate fires of that kind of temperature.”

The site includes a massive palace complex with thick walls and a monumental gateway, much of which was destroyed.

The researchers developed a hypothesis that there had been a meteorite impact or bolide — a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere.

The researchers compared the airburst to a 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a 50-meter-wide bolide detonated, generating 1,000 times more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Researchers in a variety of fields were called upon to analyze evidence from the site, including Mitra, whose lab focuses on the analysis of soot.

“So we analyzed the soot at this site, and saw that a large fraction of the organic carbon is soot, and you just can’t have that unless you have really high temperatures,” Mitra said. “So that’s what led us to provide support to the story that this was a very high-temperature fire. … And that then supported the idea that this was an external source of energy such as a meteor.”

Other research that supported the hypothesis included the presence of diamond-like carbon, melted pottery, mudbricks and roofing clay; the directionality of the debris; high-pressure shock metamorphism of quartz; high-temperature melted minerals; and human bones in the destruction layer.

There is also a high concentration of salt in the destruction layer, which could have ruined agriculture in the area, explaining the abandonment of more than a dozen towns and cities in the lower Jordan Valley in the following centuries.

The researchers considered and dismissed other potential processes that could explain the destruction, including volcanic or earthquake activity, wildfire, warfare and lightning, but none provided an explanation for the various lines of evidence as well as a cosmic impact or airburst.

The paper, titled “A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea,” also speculates that “a remarkable catastrophe, such as the destruction of Tall el-Hammam by a cosmic object, may have generated an oral tradition that, after being passed down through many generations, became the source of the written story of biblical Sodom in Genesis.”

Genesis 19:24 describes sulfur raining down out of the heavens and the destruction of the cities and all those living in them, as well as the vegetation in the land.

“So some of the oral traditions talk about the walls of Jericho (about 13 1/2 miles away) falling down, as well as the fires if they’re associated with Sodom,” Mitra said. “Again it’s science; you look at your observations, and in this case, it’s the historical record, and you see what you hypothesize and if it fits the data and the data seem to fit.”

The study does not attempt to prove or disprove that possibility, but its explanation of the destruction of the city could be consistent with the biblical accounts.

Mitra said it was rewarding to work with other researchers who were approaching the question from different angles. Most of them he had never worked with before, he said.

“That type of approach tends to be a robust study,” he said. “If someone comes along and says you didn’t do this right or there’s no way that this could have happened, you can still fall back on [all these] other things that support the same argument.”