Yesterday I posted a “hot take” on a new #BiblicalAchaeology paper claiming that #TallElHammam in the Jordan Valley is Biblical Sodom & was wiped out when a small comet or asteroid exploded over the city. This thread is to provide more background before I critique the content.
First, a correction. I said it was in Nature. It was in Scientific Reports. I learned about it from a colleague who wrote,“I suspect you've seen the recent Nature paper about the airburst in the Jordan Valley. I wonder if we could talk about it?” I failed due diligence.
On Feb 15, 2013, an asteroid blew up over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Since I’d published models of airbursts and had identified them as the most significant asteroid threat, I was invited to travel to Russia for the Nova documentary “Meteor Strike”.
I’d already participated in a number of documentaries, including BBC’s beautifully filmed “Tutankhamun’s Fireball”, where I introduced the concept of contact airbursts, in which the high-temperature products of an asteroid explosion reach the surface.
The previous year I’d helped History Channel’s Universe series with “When Space Changed History.” Though less scientifically rigorous than Nova or BBC, it included a fun scene (19:25) in which we set off an explosive charge to show how impact craters form. dailymotion.com/video/x3l3gg2
After Chelyabinsk, asteroid airbursts became much more interesting to the scientific community. As the most visible researcher of the scientific cosmic curiosity I called “airbursts” I suddenly started getting lots of invitations.
I’d accepted invitations to give plenary lectures at two back-to-back scientific conferences in Denver, but as it happened there was a government shutdown that week. My employer, a national lab, suspended operations and banned employees from attending conferences.
So I took vacation, paid my own way, drove to Denver, stayed at my sister’s condo, and made good on my professional commitments. I also worked, off the clock, to get my simulation on the cover of an upcoming issue of @Nature (see image on 1st tweet). But I got behind on email.
Before I left I had gotten a message from the producers of History Channel’s Universe asking me if I’d help with a new episode called “Mysteries of Sodom and Gomorrah.” They told me it would feature archeologist Steve Collins' discovery of the ancient site of Tall el-Hammam.
According to the invitation, “He [Collins] has strong geographical evidence that links this site to the actual ancient city of Sodom. He will present his theory, and evidence, that the site might have been destroyed by an airburst impact..” This was early October, 2013.
"..I don't know if you're familiar with his work but he mentions you in his recent book, Discovering the City of Sodom. Collins has excavated desert glass similar to what you found in Libya. He's also uncovered glazed Middle Bronze Age pottery fired at 14,000 F.."
".. hundreds of years before the art of glazing. He's found charred, hyperextended human bones in a 4-inch thick ash layer dating back to the time period. And he's even found a chunk of rock that might be a meteorite.”
I immediately forwarded the invitation to an archaeologist colleague, who got back to me the following week with extensive background research on Collins and his work. It was not pretty, and my response was “OMG! Thank you for saving me from making a big mistake..”
“.. I assumed this guy was an academic and legitimate archaeologist, but maybe had gotten into some fringe science. It didn't occur to me that he was coming at it from a Biblical fables perspective. Ironic that he is based in Albuquerque..”
“.. I looked at his website and the address he gives is 5600 Eubank NE. I drive past it every day but have never noticed anything but strip malls and office rentals in that area… I'm having nothing to do with this..” (note, TSU has moved at least once since 2013)
“..You did a lot of work! I think that before I decline to participate I will ask the documentary producer for peer-reviewed published papers on the subject. It might be worth finding out more and if there are no legitimate sources it could be a teaching moment..”
Then to the producer: “I would be very interested in learning more about the evidence for an airburst in Jordon. Do you have any peer-reviewed publications by Dr. Collins that describes this research? Can you scan the relevant parts of the book and send to me, or have him send?”
They sent me some non-peer-reviewed links, but a couple weeks later told me that Collins had backed out of participation, saying “Collins now says he doesn't have the time to be interviewed for our show, and would be more interested if we were producing for PBS or NOVA.”
I responded: “My colleague tells me that the two authors mentioned are not really unbiased. This entire field of Biblical archeology is fraught with problems. See this, for example: world.time.com/2013/01/29/a-f…
“..It is worth noting that pottery shards from Sodom and Gomorrah would have a much greater market value than shards from some random unidentified site. The History Channel needs to know what it's getting itself into. I suspect they will back out if they start digging deeper.”
But they went ahead with it. Here’s the link. Out of dozens of invitations to appear in documentaries, this is the only one I have declined (at least that I remember). dailymotion.com/video/x1k4f1j
I immediately forwarded the invitation to an archaeologist colleague, who got back to me the following week with extensive background research on Collins and his work. It was not pretty, and my response was “OMG! Thank you for saving me from making a big mistake..”
“.. I looked at his website and the address he gives is 5600 Eubank NE. I drive past it every day but have never noticed anything but strip malls and office rentals in that area… I'm having nothing to do with this..” (note, TSU has moved at least once since 2013)
“..You did a lot of work! I think that before I decline to participate I will ask the documentary producer for peer-reviewed published papers on the subject. It might be worth finding out more and if there are no legitimate sources it could be a teaching moment..”
Then to the producer: “I would be very interested in learning more about the evidence for an airburst in Jordon. Do you have any peer-reviewed publications by Dr. Collins that describes this research? Can you scan the relevant parts of the book and send to me, or have him send?”
They sent me some non-peer-reviewed links, but a couple weeks later told me that Collins had backed out of participation, saying “Collins now says he doesn't have the time to be interviewed for our show, and would be more interested if we were producing for PBS or NOVA.”
I responded: “My colleague tells me that the two authors mentioned are not really unbiased. This entire field of Biblical archeology is fraught with problems. See this, for example: world.time.com/2013/01/29/a-f… "
“..It is worth noting that pottery shards from Sodom and Gomorrah would have a much greater market value than shards from some random unidentified site. The History Channel needs to know what it's getting itself into. I suspect they will back out if they start digging deeper.”
But they went ahead with it. Here’s the link. Out of dozens of invitations to appear in documentaries, this is the only one I have declined (at least that I remember).
dailymotion.com/video/x1k4f1j

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More from @MarkBoslough

22 Sep
As I promised yesterday, I’m going to start addressing the specific scientific claims of the #BiblicalArchaeology paper on #TallElHammam, just published in Scientific Reports @SciReports which I will tag #TEHburst from now on. (Art credit: Don Davis) Image
There are supposedly 17 lines of evidence. Given that I have a day job, I’d be lucky to finish by mid-October even if I debunked one every day. But this is as much about entertainment as it is about enlightenment so I expect some diversions & do-loops.
I think it’s the backstory that will keep everyone engaged & entertained. So I will also alternate with human interest stories & fun threads with history & anecdotes. I’ll try to continue until I finish or everyone loses interest, whichever comes first.
Read 40 tweets
22 Sep
This will be my final thread of the day on the controversial #BiblicalArchaeology paper published yesterday by @SciReports (Scientific Reports). Here's a link to my previous thread:
It’s hard to know where to start in a critique of a paper so full of data & claims. Kyle Hill @Sci_Phile says “I have yet to see anyone actually refute the 17 different lines of evidence that seem to at least point in the air burst direction.”
“There wouldn't be a team of geologists poring over that sediment looking for impact evidence if it hadn't been brought to them by people convinced it was from Sodom” is a good point made by @joeroe90 & this is a better place to start my next thread.
Read 23 tweets
20 Sep
The prestigious international journal @Nature has expanded its scope beyond science and is now publishing papers in the field of Biblical archaeology. A paper published today asks the question "Did God smite the sinners of Sodom with an #asteroid?" nature.com/articles/s4159…
I just skimmed through the paper and see that my model of asteroid airbursts is cited as the mechanism by which God smote this evil city. Here's a screenshot of the paper's Figure 53, which shows a cross-section of a fire-and-brimstone event I simulated. Image
It must sound like I'm making this up, especially if you recall my April Fool's joke claiming that the Alabama legislature proclaimed that the value of pi is exactly 3 (see snopes.com/fact-check/ala…). But this is Biblical archeology, not Biblical math, & so within @Nature's scope.
Read 23 tweets
18 Sep 20
Here's today's "worst-week" graph showing each state's highest 7-day per capita increase in confirmed case count since Memorial Day, color coded by the policy that led to that growth rate (one month prior to the end of the highest growth week).
Since yesterday, red-state West Virginia has leapfrogged blue-state Washington because it had a higher rate for the 7-day period ending today than Washington had during its worst week. WV moved to the right & WA was displaced to the left, continuing the self-sorting process.
Likewise, red Montana leapt over blue Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Mexico. Yesterday I listed 11 states (all red) that have experienced their worst 7-day growth the last week. Today there are 12, with the addition of Utah.
Read 8 tweets
1 Sep 20
@GovMLG @NMDOH September begins with a remarkable tale of two states. One state (New Mexico) has strong leadership and a science-guided, risk-conservative heath policy. The other state (South Dakota) has laissez faire leadership, a science-denying governor, & health policy that neglects risk.
@GovMLG @NMDOH Which state is doing better? Four weeks ago today, South Dakota was still doing relatively well despite the hands-off approach to regulation of meat packing plants that had been the primary source of COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
@GovMLG @NMDOH New Mexico's outbreaks had been dominated by prisons, detention centers, Native American communities, and senior care facilities. On Aug. 4, SD was ranked 15th out of 56 in terms of weekly total of new cases (about 70 per 100,000).
Read 7 tweets
15 Jun 19
As I prepare slides & we pack bags for Luxembourg & #AsteroidDay, something strange is appearing in skies over #NewMexico & around the world. Noctilucent clouds—shimmering wisps in twilight sky—are normally only seen on poleward side of 50°. This year they're below 35°. Why!?
NLCs are easily visible to naked eye, but were never reported before the industrial revolution had kicked into high gear. The first confirmed observations were in 1885. It's tempting to link them to fossil-fuel driven climate change but could that generate clouds 50 miles up?
Human-caused global warming causes stratospheric & mesospheric cooling, which might suggest more condensation of ice particles that make up NLCs. But colder air means crystals are also smaller, with a counterintuitive visibility reduction. earther.gizmodo.com/humans-are-mak…
Read 24 tweets

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