Fiery Destruction - Middle Bronze II
Tall el-Hammam’s final Middle Bronze II occupation ended
in a fiery, high-temperature destruction that left a
distinctive matrix containing ash/soot/charcoal, abundant
fragmented debris, human remains, and multiple classes of melted materials,
including melts associated with pottery, melted
roofing clay,
and melted
mudbrick. The
cause of this destruction is a
matter of dispute, with the argument extending through a
published rebuttal letter and a subsequent editorial
retraction of the original article over the objections of
many of its authors.
Bunch et al. (2021:1) framed
the Middle Bronze II destruction as an unusual,
short-duration thermal event that included melted
ceramics, melted mudbricks and roofing clay,
shocked quartz, multiple
types of
high-temperature spherules, and other
high-temperature melts and enrichments, along
with an influx of salt that produced
hypersalinity and
inhibited agriculture
after the destruction.
Chronologically, the destruction layer is placed
near ~1650 BCE using
Bayesian analysis
(
OxCal–Combined) of
radiocarbon measurements from
26 organic samples recovered from the
destruction layer "in and around the Palace" (Bunch et al. (2021:8)).
Archaeologically,
Bunch et al.
(2021:18–21) also reported directional
patterning in the debris in “~100 excavated
squares across the site,” indicating a
consistent SW–NE trend of materials such as
“melted pottery, melted mudbricks,
blow-over detritus, general building
material, seeds and grains, and
potsherds.” They also described a preferred SW–NE
collapse direction within the destruction
layer.
Bunch et al.
(2021:1) further argued that the
destruction coincided with a regional
occupational gap on the
Jordan Valley kikkar, describing Tall el-Hammam as
abandoned for roughly six centuries after
the event, while ~120 other sites within a
25 km radius were abandoned for
approximately 3–6 centuries. Bunch et al.
(2021:48–49) suggested that elevated soil
salinity contributed to the long
abandonment period by inhibiting
agriculture until excess salts were leached
from the soil.
Bunch et al. (2021) argued that the short-duration thermal event was the result of a
“
cosmic airburst”. Their argument was largely built around what they
presented as
shock metamorphism in quartz,
ultra-high-temperature melts/mineral phases, and a geochemical signature indicative of meteoric materails
such as
enrichments in Platinum Group Elements (PGEs). These, they contend,
would be difficult to explain by ordinary fires.
Jaret and Harris (2022) targeted
the inferential chain of “mineralogic and geochemical observations” by
Bunch et al. (2021), arguing that the observations are not
uniquely diagnostic for an impact or airburst and do not conclusiely show that
shock metamorphism and meteoritic geochemistry is present in Tall el-Hammam's
Middle Bronze II destruction layer.
Jaret and Harris (2022) argue that the
reported “shocked quartz” imagery/criteria are not convincing
as presented, and that the PGE (platinum-group elements) case is not adequately
demonstrated (including concerns that the dataset is limited
and that the analytical approach they describe as used by
Bunch et al. is inadequate for low-level PGE confirmation).
They also emphasize that, in archaeological debris, human
ceramic/metallurgical technologies can generate high
temperatures and materials that complicate “impact-like”
signals.
That leaves a set of observations that
Jaret and Harris (2022)
did not contest, as these lie outside the
mineralogic and geochemical issues they
addressed. Among the remaining undisputed
observations are a stratigraphy documenting a
city-ending MB II fiery destruction layer,
reported or interpreted shearing and
levelling of the Middle Bronze Age palace to
foundation level, radiocarbon placement
around ~1650 BCE, and the reported
directional patterning in the debris.
Additional observations include a
post-destruction, multi-site
occupational hiatus in the kikkar, along
with the suggestion that the surrounding
kikkar experienced hypersalinity after the
event. In other words, even if the “cosmic”
interpretation is rejected, a high-energy, high-heat destruction
episode and a major discontinuity in
occupation remain as the core archaeological
phenomena requiring explanation.
One high-temperature scenario was not considered by
Bunch et al. (2021): ignition or explosion of
natural gases.
Hydrocarbon seepage, gas reservoirs, and combustible gases are
well documented in the Dead Sea basin, where tectonic activity
along the Dead Sea Transform can release pressurized fluids and
gases to the surface. Studies of the region report methane-rich
gas fields, asphalt seeps, and hydrocarbon inclusions associated
with active faults and rift-related structures, indicating that
combustible gases are present and can migrate upward during
tectonic activity.
The reported presence of
diamond-like carbon in the destruction layer by
Bunch et al. (2021:11-13) is also
consistent with this type of scenario.
Although such carbon nanostructures have been
used as indicators of impact events, they are
also known to form in hydrocarbon deposits
and coal, and can be produced by the
pyrolysis of carbon-rich materials during
high-temperature events. Their occurrence at
Tall el-Hammam therefore does not uniquely
indicate a cosmic airburst as it is also
compatible with combustion or explosion of
hydrocarbon-rich gases.
Geological research in the western Dead Sea area suggests that
earthquakes may trigger hydrothermal or gas-driven explosions,
with expelled hydrocarbons and
hydrogen sulfide igniting at the
surface and producing fires and
brecciation. Such processes have
been proposed as natural mechanisms for earthquake-related fires
in the region and are supported by evidence for hydrocarbon-rich
fluids, gas seepage, and
combustion features in Dead Sea rift
rocks. See, for example,
Gilat and Vol (2015) and
Sokol et al. (2012).
Bunch et al. (2021:9–10)
report that no evidence of military activity
was identified at the site during Middle
Bronze II, noting that “not a single arrow
point or sling stone has been uncovered.”
They also observed that no evidence of
military activity was found in the
contemporary destruction layers at nearby
Jericho and
Tall Nimrin.
Bunch et al. (2021)'s article
was retracted by the journal’s editors in 2025
(nature.com). The retraction notice
records that roughly half of the authors disagree with the
retraction, the others did not respond to the
correspondence about it, and the lead author
(Ted E. Bunch)
was, unfortunately, deceased when the retraction occurred.
