Arcadia Discussion Zone

From The TimesMarch 31, 2008

Clay tablet identified as asteroid that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
The clay tablet, which is 6cm in diameter

Lewis Smith, Science Reporter
A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness’s account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across.

The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700BC copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.

He referred to the asteroid as “white stone bowl approaching” and recorded it as it “vigorously swept along”.

Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123BC.

About half the symbols on the tablet have survived and half of those refer to the asteroid. The other symbols record the positions of clouds and constellations. In the past 150 years scientists have made five unsuccessful attempts to translate the tablet.

Mark Hempsell, one of the researchers from Bristol University who cracked the tablet’s code, said: “It’s a wonderful piece of observation, an absolutely perfect piece of science.”

He said the size and route of the asteroid meant that it was likely to have crashed into the Austrian Alps at Köfels. As it travelled close to the ground it would have left a trail of destruction from supersonic shock waves and then slammed into the Earth with a cataclysmic impact.

Debris consisting of up to two thirds of the asteroid would have been hurled back along its route and a flash reaching temperatures of 400C (752F) would have been created, killing anyone in its path. About one million sq km (386,000 sq miles) would have been devastated and the impact would have been equivalent to more than 1,000 tonnes of TNT exploding.

Dr Hempsall said that at least 20 ancient myths record devastation of the type and on the scale of the asteroid’s impact, including the Old Testament tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Ancient Greek myth of how Phaeton, son of Helios, fell into the River Eridanus after losing control of his father’s sun chariot.

The findings of Dr Hempsall and Alan Bond, of Reaction Engines Ltd, are published in a book, A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels’ Impact Event.

The researchers say that the asteroid’s impact would explain why at Köfels there is evidence of an ancient landslide 5km wide and 500m thick.


Tale of devastation

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and he overthrew those cities and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities . . . [Abraham] looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

Source: Genesis 19:24-28

"Mark Hempsell, discussing the Köfels event, said: "Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt. "



A cuneiform clay tablet that has puzzled scholars for over 150 years has been translated for the first time. The tablet is now known to be a contemporary Sumerian observation of an asteroid impact at Köfels, Austria and is published in a new book, 'A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels' Impact Event.'



The giant landslide centred at Köfels in Austria is 500m thick and five kilometres in diameter and has long been a mystery since geologists first looked at it in the 19th century. The conclusion drawn by research in the middle 20th century was that it must be due to a very large meteor impact because of the evidence of crushing pressures and explosions. But this view lost favour as a much better understanding of impact sites developed in the late 20th century.

In the case of Köfels there is no crater, so to modern eyes it does not look as an impact site should look. However, the evidence that puzzled the earlier researchers remains unexplained by the view that it is just another landslide.

This new research by Alan Bond, Managing Director of Reaction Engines Ltd and Mark Hempsell, Senior Lecturer in Astronautics at Bristol University, brings the impact theory back into play. It centres on another 19th century mystery, a Cuneiform tablet in the British Museum collection No K8538 (known as "the Planisphere").

It was found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the Royal Place at Nineveh, and was made by an Assyrian scribe around 700 BC. It is an astronomical work as it has drawings of constellations on it and the text has known constellation names. It has attracted a lot of attention but in over a hundred years nobody has come up with a convincing explanation as to what it is.

With modern computer programmes that can simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago the researchers have established what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on the 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar). Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, the same as any other night, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space. The astronomers made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels.

The observation suggests the asteroid is over a kilometre in diameter and the original orbit about the Sun was an Aten type, a class of asteroid that orbit close to the earth, that is resonant with the Earth's orbit. This trajectory explains why there is no crater at Köfels. The in coming angle was very low (six degrees) and means the asteroid clipped a mountain called Gamskogel above the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometres from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point. As it travelled down the valley it became a fireball, around five kilometres in diameter (the size of the landslide). When it hit Köfels it created enormous pressures that pulverised the rock and caused the landslide but because it was no longer a solid object it did not create a classic impact crater.

Mark Hempsell, discussing the Köfels event, said: "Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt.

"The ground heating though very short would be enough to ignite any flammable material - including human hair and clothes. It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast."

Source: University of Bristol

http://www.physorg.com/news126183668.html

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The following info is not related to the heat generating pyramid, but it is interesting info about existing sharp pyramids.

I found that Alexander Golod, a scientist and now Director of a State Defense Enterprise in Moscow has built many sharp pyramids. Alexander had decided to build these pyramids because he believed that they would produce an energy field that could affect biological and non-biological objects. The largest and most recently built of the pyramids is located about 200 miles northwest of Moscow on Novorizhskoe Highway. It is 144 feet high and was completed in 1999. It weighs about 55 tons and cost over 1 million dollars to build. It is made of fiberglass. The Great Pyramid has a slope of about 52 degrees and these pyramids rise at about a 73-degree angle. The reason Alexander Golod chose this angle was based on experimental designs that also included the mathematical relationship called the Golden Section.

Soon after the construction of this pyramid near Moscow, botanists noticed extinct flowers starting to grow near it. It is unknown why this has happened and has mystified botanists.

One of the most interesting observations regarding these pyramids comes from Russian Air Force “Radar” (or “Locator” as they call it). The first indication that the pyramids were producing strange
atmospheric effects was when the 144 foot or largest pyramid was in the process of being built. The planned pyramid would be composed of 30 main layers or sections of fiberglass. At the completion of the 11th section, Air Force radar picked up an ion column coming right off the pyramid. This ion column was very large and in fact was over 1 mile high. As the pyramid construction continued, the ion column still remained.

Look at the slope of the French Pyramid as well.

In haste,
Sheila

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Och, where I come from in Scotland there is Radon A & Radon B, but unfortunately due to addled brain (as it's well past my bedtime..) I can't remember which one is which but one is not harmfull, I think radon A is okay as long as...like us Scots, you musn't live in a sealed environment with central heating & all that stuff.

Short & concise article on the so called "Light Bulbs" of Denderah....(or not as the case may be)...I don't hold with either theories, but until I come up with a better explanation myself ....here it is from Mr Coppens.

http://www.philipcoppens.com/denderah.html

some clear images by the way...let us hear what you think.

When the Asteroid broke up it could look like fire and brimstone

Thanks lov,

I've forgot why Jakeabf deleted all his posts on this thread, he must have got the hump about something.

Calling MT....can you remember?